Foraging or The Earth Provides pt. 1

Illustration by simmons3d on Flicker.

The corporate induced reality of fast food franchises, super super marts, internationally distributed processed food products, and convenience driven consumerism has divorced humankind of the intimate embrace from our source of sustenance. Ask one person where our food comes from and they may answer "the Grocery store". Ask another with a broader view and they may say "the farm". Ask the farmer and they may say "from the garden, the fields, the tilled and seeded earth, unless it is a corporate farm then they will likely say "Monsanto". In reality it is in the natural places, the places untouched by the saw or plow, that the most enriching and diverse sources of sustenance can be found.


One does not have to find a pristine old growth forest, or an undisturbed ecosystem, to find food, despite their being optimum. The abandoned city lot, the river bank, the city park, or the overgrown fence row can provide an amazing amount of natural, nutritional, food sources. In fact there are many urban wild edibles. I'm sure that, everyday, hungry people walk unaware past untapped sources of naturally occurring nutrition in their quest for nourishment.

A plate of Wehani rice, with sauteed dandelion greens.

Let's begin with an edible plant that can be found in the majority of cities in the U. S.. Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) are considered the bane of many lawn owners. It is possible to make money from home owners in exchange for removing the dandelions.


Every part of the dandelion is edible. The roots can be boiled and stir fried like other vegetables. It can also be roasted and used as a coffee substitute.


The leaves can be boiled in salt water like spinach. Eaten raw on sandwiches or in salads for a green with stronger taste.


The flowers can be stir fried as a vegetable. They have long been used to make dandelion wine.


Here is a video with the recently deceased Frank Cook, a man very connected to nature and an immense repository of plant knowledge, of Plantsandhealers.com discussing the dandelion.



We will continue this topic in later posts.