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wild:wild_food [2026/03/17 15:26] – Dave Darbywild:wild_food [2026/04/22 06:06] (current) – [What are the benefits of wild food?] Otto Hague
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-# Wild food foraging+This topic is part of [[gt:bushcraft|Bushcraft & Nature]]. 
 +====== Wild food foraging ======
  
  
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-## What is wild food?+===== What is wild food? =====
  
 Wild food is anything edible that has had no management to increase its production. This subject really also encompasses [coastal foraging](/coas/coastal_foraging), [wild mushrooms](/wmus/mushrooms), [fishing](/fish/fishing), [crayfish](/cray/crayfish) and [game](/game/game), but we've listed these as separate topics; we focus mainly on wild land plants (leaves, berries, fruits, [nuts](/nuts/nuts), roots or sap) in this topic. Wild food is anything edible that has had no management to increase its production. This subject really also encompasses [coastal foraging](/coas/coastal_foraging), [wild mushrooms](/wmus/mushrooms), [fishing](/fish/fishing), [crayfish](/cray/crayfish) and [game](/game/game), but we've listed these as separate topics; we focus mainly on wild land plants (leaves, berries, fruits, [nuts](/nuts/nuts), roots or sap) in this topic.
  
 Wild food was once necessary for human survival, but now most traditional knowledge of wild food has been lost. In recent years there has been a widespread revival in foraging, and you can now do [courses](/wild/wild_food) all over the UK from the wilds of Scotland to urban centres like London. Wild food was once necessary for human survival, but now most traditional knowledge of wild food has been lost. In recent years there has been a widespread revival in foraging, and you can now do [courses](/wild/wild_food) all over the UK from the wilds of Scotland to urban centres like London.
 +
 +Wild food harvesting in Britain and Ireland is mostly done by individual hobbyist foragers. While this is the most straightforward way to integrate wild food into your diet, it might risk over-harvesting, spreading invasive species, or other issues. Foragers can work together in a Wild Food Common, learning from past and present community management of wild food resources.
  
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-## What are the benefits of wild food?+===== What are the benefits of wild food? =====
  
 As long as we are sensitive when collecting wild food and consider other species, harvesting wild food can be beneficial to the environment. Wild food has no packaging, no chemicals to force it to grow, and can be picked local to your area, minimising food miles and pollution from vehicle exhausts. As long as we are sensitive when collecting wild food and consider other species, harvesting wild food can be beneficial to the environment. Wild food has no packaging, no chemicals to force it to grow, and can be picked local to your area, minimising food miles and pollution from vehicle exhausts.
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-There are health benefits too, as seasonal food matches the body’s needs. For example the spicy peppery leafy greens that arise in spring are good for renewal after the winter, and clean out the digestive tract. Our prehistoric ancestors browsed on wild foods from their local area, gaining the nutrients needed for healthy immune systems. Collecting wild foods is also thought to have a therapeutic value and is a great incentive to enjoy the countryside.+There are health benefits too, as seasonal food matches the body’s needs. For example the spicy peppery leafy greens that arise in spring are good for renewal after the winter, and clean out the digestive tract. Our prehistoric ancestors browsed on wild foods from their local area, gaining the nutrients needed for healthy immune systems. Store-bought food has been bred for transport, appearance, and sweetness, not nutrition, so wild food often contains more nutritional value than store-bought food (Stark et al., 2020) and also poses a lower risk to diabetics. Collecting wild foods is also thought to have a therapeutic value and is a great incentive to enjoy the countryside.
  
-Collecting, processing and eating food from your landscape, in the season it grows, can provide a real sense of connection to the land and time of year.+Collecting, processing and eating food from your landscape, in the season it grows, can provide a real sense of connection to the land and time of year. An interesting exercise is to start writing down a personal foraging calendar, based on what wild foods //you// can find in //your area//, and when. This will "tune you in" to the changing of the seasons in your specific landscape. 
  
 Plus it's free! Plus it's free!
 +
 +<WRAP center centeralign>
 +<figure>
 +{{personal_foraging_calendar.jpg?direct&300}}
 +<caption>
 +_A personal foraging calendar is built piece by piece, as you encounter wild foods in your landscape. They take information floating around in books and on the internet and ground-truth them in your landscape._
 +</caption>
 +</figure>
 +</WRAP>
  
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 <caption> <caption>
-_Wild garlic (or ramsons) is thought to be healthier than cultivated garlic due to it’s green pigment chlorophyll. It grows in abundance in spring, giving off a strong smell. It is delicious in salads or used as a flavouring in cooking._+_Wild garlic (or ramsons) is thought to be healthier than cultivated garlic due to its green pigment chlorophyll. It grows in abundance in spring, giving off a strong smell. It is delicious in salads or used as a flavouring in cooking. However, wild garlic is being pushed out in areas by invasive species like *Allium paradoxum*._
  
 </caption> </caption>
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-## What can I do?+===== What can I do? =====
  
 Foraging for wild food is exciting, as you never know what you are going to find. Wild plants and fungi grow in many places, even on wasteland in towns. Wild food is not only free but has also grown without us having to do any work. Foraging for wild food is exciting, as you never know what you are going to find. Wild plants and fungi grow in many places, even on wasteland in towns. Wild food is not only free but has also grown without us having to do any work.
  
-Learning from someone who knows about wild food is a great start - a mentor or course provider. Being shown the plants in their natural habitat is really helpful when wanting to find and identify them later.+Learning from someone who knows about wild food is a great start - a mentor or course provider. Being shown the plants in their natural habitat is really helpful when wanting to find and identify them later. Why not ask [on our forum](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/bushcraft) if there is someone who can show you the ropes?
  
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-Getting a good [book](/wild/wild_food) or two will really help - especially if you can take them with you when you go out foraging. It can be a good idea to have a field guide and a wild food book - as field guides are often much more accurate for identification, but don't necessarily tell you whether you can eat things.+Getting a good book or two will really help - especially if you can take them with you when you go out foraging. It can be a good idea to have a field guide and a wild food book - as field guides are often much more accurate for identification, but don't necessarily tell you whether you can eat things. We recommend the [Bloomsbury "Concise Foraging Guide" by Tiffany Francis-Baker](https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/concise-foraging-guide-book-tiffany-francis-baker-9781472984746?pid=9826646622481), and [Collins Gem "Food for Free" by Richard Mabey](https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/food-for-free-book-richard-mabey-9780007183036?pid=9779819446545). Don't buy any random book, as nowadays there are [LLM-generated "guides" for sale that might well kill you](https://civileats.com/2023/10/10/ai-is-writing-books-about-foraging-what-could-go-wrong/).
  
 Anyone can pick their own wild plants and fungi; however there are some simple principles, and laws, that must be followed, for your own safety, and the preservation of plant populations. Anyone can pick their own wild plants and fungi; however there are some simple principles, and laws, that must be followed, for your own safety, and the preservation of plant populations.
  
-### Safe foraging+==== Safe foraging ====
  
 - Be 100% sure of your plant identification... 'if in doubt, leave it out'. We have some seriously poisonous plants in the UK, so get to know them, as well as getting to know the edible ones. - Be 100% sure of your plant identification... 'if in doubt, leave it out'. We have some seriously poisonous plants in the UK, so get to know them, as well as getting to know the edible ones.
  
-- Double check the location you are foraging - avoid pesticides or other toxic substances, and foraging beside busy roads.+- Double check the location you are foraging - avoid pesticides or other toxic substances, and foraging beside busy roads (as cars can shed cadmium, lead, and microplastics (Stark et al., 2020). Forage above knee level if close to a trail, unless you want some dog urine  in your diet.
  
 - If you are foraging water plants, always cook them - the risk of Liver Fluke and other water-borne illnesses is high in the UK. - If you are foraging water plants, always cook them - the risk of Liver Fluke and other water-borne illnesses is high in the UK.
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 </figure> </figure>
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-### Responsible foraging+==== Responsible foraging ====
  
 - Take only what you need and can realistically eat. - Take only what you need and can realistically eat.
  
-- Leave plenty behind. Different people have different proportions they like to leave - always leave some for wildlife and other foragers.+- Leave plenty behind. Different people have different proportions they like to leave - always leave some for wildlife and other foragers. If it's out of reach, take that as a hint to leave it.
  
 - Don't pick rare or endangered plants - even if they're in your wild food book! Some species are protected by law. For a list see the [Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland](https://bsbi.org). - Don't pick rare or endangered plants - even if they're in your wild food book! Some species are protected by law. For a list see the [Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland](https://bsbi.org).
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 - Be aware of where you're treading - be careful of damaging other plants as you reach for the juiciest blackberries! Try to damage the plant you're picking from as little as possible. - Be aware of where you're treading - be careful of damaging other plants as you reach for the juiciest blackberries! Try to damage the plant you're picking from as little as possible.
 +
 +There is a philosophical or spiritual angle to foraging, if you would find it useful. [Robin Wall Kimmerer](https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/) is a professor of ecology and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. In her book //Braiding Sweetgrass//, she brings up the idea of asking plants for consent: is that blackberry within reach? Does that elderberry cluster overhang a deep river? If you cannot access the forage without trouble (climbing, injuring yourself), the plants are not consenting. Using the concept of plant consent keeps you safe and prevents overharvesting.
  
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 +----
  
-## Further resources+===== Wild Food Commons ===== 
 + 
 +We mentioned in the introduction that most wild food harvesting in Britain and Ireland is done by individuals. When the number of people doing this is low, the possibilities of harming the environment is small, but the more people harvest wild food, the more of an impact it has.  
 + 
 +For example, wild garlic harvesting is increasingly popular, and some people uproot the plant, making its populations more sparse. At the same time, its habitat is favourable to the invasive garlic, //Allium paradoxum//, known as the [few-flowered leek](https://www.wildfooduk.com/wild-plants/few-flowered-garlic/), which spreads easily by getting stuck in boot treads and dog paws. Foraging for wild garlic might put the plant's population towards being endangered. *Take the few-flowered leek instead!* It's also edible!  
 + 
 +The most responsible way to harvest wild food is to avoid acting individually. Connecting with your community opens up possibilities for educating each other and for management of wild food resources. You may not have known about the few-flowered leek until you read about it just now: //we badly need networks to circulate information and responsibilities!// 
 + 
 +<WRAP center centeralign> 
 +<figure> 
 + 
 +![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Allium_paradoxum_26-04-2010_545.jpg/330px-Allium_paradoxum_26-04-2010_545.jpg) 
 + 
 +<caption> 
 +_*Allium paradoxum*, the invasive few-flowered leek, grows in thick mats that almost look like grass. It will smell of garlic. The whole plant can be eaten._ 
 + 
 +</caption> 
 + 
 +</figure> 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +Here are some examples of community management of wild food resources: 
 +### Example 1: The cultivated landscapes of Turtle Island 
 + 
 +There is an abundance of examples of communally managed landscapes, built for foraging, from Turtle Island (North America). Many communities of First Nations people would burn, cut, and tend the landscape in ways that created food-rich forest-gardens that do not resemble the labour-intensive agriculture of the colonisers. For decades, and even now, this has been misconstrued as First Nations people being “backwards,” and the landscapes of Turtle Island being “untouched wilderness.” 
 + 
 +Andy Ciccone of [agroecologies.org](http://agroecologies.org) has written and spoken about many examples of First Nations landscape cultivation. As an example, we will talk about the [cultivation of the tekeneipen, or Apios](https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/groundnuts). Apios were foraged and were also purposefully planted along trails and in clearings that would be traversed during hunting, providing an additional boon for hunters and foragers travelling along them. In the Apios article, Ciccone states that the settlements and hunting paths of the First Nations were surrounded by a cornucopia of edible plants: oak, hickory, pawpaws, Apios, and others. The bounty was remarkable enough that the colonisers made note of the fact.  
 + 
 +This surrounding bounty was not “untouched wilderness,” but an ecosystem resulting from varying degrees of human management. Food plants (and particularly desirable varieties of each plant) were shared amongst communities and planted at each other's settlements, sharing in the literal fruits of the Earth. This is purposeful cultivation, but distinct from a concept of farming or gardening. Native, useful forage is planted and re-planted to ensure its availability and to have it grow in convenient places, but without the labour costs of growing a vulnerable domesticated plant. 
 + 
 +<WRAP center centeralign> 
 +<figure> 
 + 
 +![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Apios_americana_-_Urban_Greening_Botanical_Garden_-_Kiba_Park_-_Koto%2C_Tokyo%2C_Japan_-_DSC05388.jpg/330px-Apios_americana_-_Urban_Greening_Botanical_Garden_-_Kiba_Park_-_Koto%2C_Tokyo%2C_Japan_-_DSC05388.jpg) 
 + 
 +<caption> 
 +_*Apios americana*, the groundnut._ 
 + 
 +</caption> 
 + 
 +</figure> 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +### Example 2: Online knowledge sharing with fallingfruit.org 
 + 
 +[Fallingfruit.org](http://fallingfruit.org) is an online resource where people can drop pins on a map, signifying (urban) food resources. Each pin contains information on the food (species, if it is on private property, etc) and people can leave reviews to corroborate the information. It is a global knowledge-sharing platform, enabling anyone anywhere to let their local community know what food grows where.  
 + 
 +While fallingfruit.org is mainly a knowledge-sharing platform, it does have some capacity to reclaim land in common to a minor degree. Public land (government-owned) is opened up as a resource. Additionally, private landowners can either put information on the map themselves, or provide permission for others to do so. While neither truly wrests legal ownership from the government or private landowner, it does provide small inways to these lands and allows a landowner to open up their land on a temporary basis.  
 + 
 +I would encourage every private landowner reading this to put their food resources up on fallingfruit.org, to provide permission to their community to walk on their land and pick some of its bounty. 
 + 
 + 
 +### Example 3: “Forestizenship” and the extrativistas in Brazil 
 + 
 +//Reservas extrativistas// (RESEX) are state-owned lands in Brazil where access and use rights are given to predominantly indigenous communities (Pinzón Rueda & Ruiz Murietta, 1995). The communities make their living off these lands through small-scale gardens and extraction of forest resources. Their close, long-term, and often spiritual or moral connections to the forest results in these communities defending the RESEX from encroachment, including to the death, as in the case of the murder of forest-defenders [Ze Claudio and Maria do Espírito Santo](https://brazil-crimes.org/ze-claudio-maria_en.html).  
 + 
 +RESEX are structured both by the social and environmental conditions impacting the “interspecies common” (a term used by Barca, 2024) (Brown, 2001). Connectivity to other settlements, family history, encroachment by mining and logging, rainfall, de- and re-forestation, all of these are factors. Within the RESEX, the communities generally create a mosaic of landscapes: pasture, forest, and cultivated plant growth at different stages of maturity (Brown, 2001). The close association of forest and shifting cultivated lands allows fallow land to quickly “re-wild” into yet another participant in the mosaic (Brown, 2001). Remember: this kind of mosaic landscape is an enabler of increased biodiversity!  
 + 
 +Moreover, the mature forest provides essential goods to the communities, disincentivising logging (Brown, 2001). The survival of the community and their forest are inextricably linked, enough to cultivate a feeling of //florestania//, or “forestizenship” (Barca, 2024). This is the kind of deep connection that is enabled by a foraging relationship, and ultimately protects the forest.  
 + 
 + 
 + 
 +### Example 4: Thengapalli and the jungle loko in Odisha, India 
 + 
 +Singh (2013) describes a community in Odisha, India, that is protecting its forest, even while economic and legal incentives push them in the other direction. The community respects and cares for the forest, and in exchange, foraging is a prominent part of their lives and provides psychological, spiritual, and physical nutrition. Much like the //extrativistas// of the RESEX, the community considers the forest and the act of caring for the forest as fundamental to their identity. They know themselves by the term //jungle loko//, “forest people” or //jungle-jati//, “forest caste.” 
 + 
 +Forest-care is a community ritual that strengthens interspecies and intra-community bonds. One component of this care is //thengapalli//, where the role of patrolling and protecting the forest (//thenga//, a wooden baton) is passed between families, which take turns (//palli//) performing the patrol. The duty of //thengapalli// is shared and rotated, preventing the cementing of a guard-class. In some cases, //thengapalli// is not needed as the community spends so much time in the forest anyway. Using the forest regularly attunes the community to the forest’s health: what it needs, and what threatens it. Both foraging use and //thengapalli// represent labour that builds a connection and a sense of simultaneous belonging/ownership.  
 + 
 +[David Bollier interviewed Singh about her publication on Odisha](https://www.bollier.org/blog/affective-labor-community-forests-india). If you want to learn more, we would recommend checking that out. 
 + 
 +<WRAP center centeralign> 
 +<figure> 
 + 
 +![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/WV_banner_S_Odisha_Landscape.jpg) 
 + 
 +<caption> 
 +_Odisha, India, has forests protected and maintained by the communities that harvest foods from the wild._ 
 + 
 +</caption> 
 + 
 +</figure> 
 +</WRAP> 
 + 
 +===== Forum ===== 
 + 
 +This topic belongs to the section [[gt:bushcraft|Bushcraft & Nature]]. You can ask questions or add information on the corresponding [Forum section](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/bushcraft). 
 + 
 +===== Further resources =====
  
 - [Wild food recipes](https://www.wildfooduk.com/wild-food-recipes/) - [Wild food recipes](https://www.wildfooduk.com/wild-food-recipes/)
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 - [Woodland Trust](https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/things-to-do/foraging/) - foraging: what to look out for every month - [Woodland Trust](https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiting-woods/things-to-do/foraging/) - foraging: what to look out for every month
  
-## Related topics+===== Related topics =====
  
 - [[coas:coastal_foraging|Coastal foraging]] - [[coas:coastal_foraging|Coastal foraging]]
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 - [[lifo:food|Low-impact food & drink]] - [[lifo:food|Low-impact food & drink]]
 - [[comg:commoning|Commoning]] - [[comg:commoning|Commoning]]
 +- [[sofo:social_forestry|Social forestry]]
 +
 +
 +===== Specialist curators of this topic =====
 +
 +[Otto Hague](/user/osedax)
 +
 +
 +===== References =====
 +
 +  - Barca, S. (2024). //Workers of the Earth//. Pluto Press.
 +
 +  - Brown, I. F. (2001). Extractive Preserves and Participatory Research in as Factors in the Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin, in McClain, M. E., //The Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin//. Oxford University Press.
 +
 +  - Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). //Braiding Sweetgrass//. Milkweed Editions.
 +
 +  - Pinzón Rueda, R., & Ruiz Murrieta, J. (1995). //Extractive Reserves//. IUCN - World Conservation Union.
  
 +  - Singh, N. M. (2013). The affective labor of growing forests and the becoming of environmental subjects: Rethinking environmentality in Odisha, India. //Geoforum//, 47, 189–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.01.010
  
-## Specialist curators of this topic+- Stark, P. B., Miller, D., Carlson, T. J., & Rasmussen de Vasquez, K. (2020). Open-source food: Nutrition, toxicology, and availability of wild edible greens in the East Bay. PLOS ONE, 15(9), e0239794. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202450
  
  • wild/wild_food.1773761171.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2026/03/17 15:26
  • by Dave Darby