Edible Manhattan

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We Are Totally Into Foraging. Dig?

1 comment | July 30, 2011 | By

 

Those of you who spent the morning at the farmers market may not have read today’s New York Times, but when you’ve finally got the corn in the fridge, sunflowers in a case, and squid ceviche in citrus, put your feet up and savor the (front-page) story on the pleasures and perils of foraging for food in city parks. The piece—which references Edible Manhattan’s regular urban foraging coverage and quotes our column’s author and covergirl Marie Viljoen—finds the phenomenon is on the rise, and reports that City Parks officials wish it weren’t, citing indiscriminate cityfolk who overharvest edibles. But pro weed eaters, including Wildman Steve Brill, and Leda Meredith, often emphasize invasives—and teach their pupils to do the same.

Here at Edible, we hold foraging dear, so perhaps tomorrow we’ll hit city green spaces instead of Greenmarkets. But only after an all-nighter memorizing field-guide flashcards—after all, some of the most delicious wild plants can be poisonous.

And for an op-ed-y call-to-action on this topic, see what sister magazine Edible East End has to say here.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Wildman-Steve-Brill/1132497100 Wildman Steve Brill

    How can gathering so-called “weeds” before the mowers get them be harmful? Who of the thousands of people who’ve foraged with me can point out where we eradicated the dandelions, garlic mustard, Asiatic dayflowers, quickweed, or any other super-abundant species my many large groups have been enjoying with me over the past 3 decades? If people are concerned with the environment, there are plenty of serious threats, but gathering ginkgoes and nibbling on greenbriar shoots doesn’t even make the bottom of a very long list!

    Of course, would-be foragers need to be educated, or they could just as soon be dead, as well as harming their surroundings, but this is no different from driving a car without knowing what you’re doing, and no one’s pushing to ban driving.

    To learn more about intelligent foraging, check out my site, http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com, or download my app, http://tinyurl.com/6zcnuna.

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