Ever wanted to know what to eat in the wild? There are many herbs, mushrooms, roots, berries, leaves, shoots, others that can be eaten - and were eaten throughout human history before farming and the commercialization of food today. But it is dangerous to eat the wrong wild plants - these can cause sickness or even death.
One can see a list of 50 edible plants on Morning Chores. To get started on foraging for one's own food in the wild, consider taking a tour wild edible food tour. One can find local tours all around North America. These tours are also a great way to learn about the past - like how the days of the old cowboys of the West and their diets.
Free Spirit Tours - Ontario
Free Spirit Tours is based in Ontario, Canada, and offers their Wild Edibles Experience. They offer a unique and informative tour in the Southern Georgian Bay area. It is a tour led by the foraging expert, Brian McLellan-Tuck who will instruct the members of the group about wild plants and their uses.
On the two-hour foraging hike, participants will learn how to identify, harvest, and prepare common plants for food and medicine. The tour also strives to be entertaining with games incorporated into the tour to see how much about these wild plants everyone knows already.
The tour ends with everyone gathering around for a wild beverage. This tour is only offered in the spring/summer/autumn months - ie not in the winter. There is a reason why in the past so many people would starve in the winter months.
- Location: Heathcote, Ontario
- Cost: $65.00 CAD ($52 USD) On-Site In Heathcote
- Tour Number: Minimum 2 and Maximum 8
- Season: Spring/Summer/Fall
After a two-hour tour, no one is going to be a wild foods expert, but it will be a great introduction to start knowing some of the basics. One will be able to glean some of the best tips on what is and what is not edible for beginner foragers.
"Wildman" Steven Brill - New Rochelle, NY
Another expert offering tours in wild edible foods is "Wildman" Steven Brill. He teaches adults and kids about the many common, overlooked, renewable wild edible, and medicinal plants and mushrooms that people often destroy as “weeds.”
He shows how people can forage and enrich their diets and see the "weeds" and other plants in a different light. The tours are particularly focused on children with scout groups and the like but also teach adults and are available for private tours.
The purpose of these hands-on programs is to learn about the environment and get back in touch with nature.
By studying foraging and nature, we enjoy our renewable resources and reaffirm our commitment to preserving and rebuilding our ecological riches.
Public tours run from March to December (private tours can be scheduled as well.). One can also find a lot of useful information on his website - there are detailed descriptions of wild mushrooms, herbs, and other wild plants. There are books for purchase, apps to download, and videos to watch. Additionally, there are wild plants and wild mushroom recipes.
- Public Tours: From March To December
- Location: New Rochelle, NY, 10801
- Phone: (914) 835-2153
Forage - California
For folks in California, Forage offers many classes and tours to understand what wild food can be gathered. They offer classes on everything from mushroom and seaweed foraging to wild edible plants.
"We believe the more people know about nature, the more they protect it. Our classes on the sustainable collection of wild edible plants, mushrooms, and seaweeds, are our small way of helping grow a lifelong love of the outdoors."
Their belief is that more people should know about nature and the more people understand it, the more they will want to protect it. Their classes on the sustainable collection of edible plants, mushrooms, and seaweed are their way of helping to grow people's love of the outdoors.
Seaweed is a very underrated part of wild food and one that few countries outside of Asia appreciate. Follow Heidi as she teaches how to collect seaweed and make it taste delicious. These tours go at low tide and one can expect to collect up to 10 lbs of edible seaweed. Heidi has been sustainably harvesting and selling seaweed for over a decade and has plenty of knowledge of this glossed over food for free.
They have many tours, here is one example:
Wild Plants & Medicinals Walk (San Francisco):
Walk with Alexandra Hudson and learn about the abundance of wild plants and medicinals in the Bay Area. This class teaches about the most common, local wild foods, medicinal plants, and edible flowers.
- Suitable: For Novice and Veteran Foragers Alike
- Duration: 2-3 Hours
- Cost: $75.00
- Area: Around San Fransico