Mia Wasilevich Speaking in Sierra Madre 09/27

CHEF MIA WASILEVICH COOKS WITH WEEDS

Speaking in Sierra Madre this coming week

[Nyerges is an educator and author. His web site is www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.]

Mia Wasilevich is a chef, photographer, and naturalist who has learned to combine wild foods with her love of cooking. She is the author of a cookbook focusing on invasive and naturalized weeds entitled Ugly Little Greens (Page Street Publishing 2017). She's currently a food stylist in Los Angeles, California.   On Thursday, September 27, you can listen to her talk about local wild foods at the Sierra Madre CERT meeting, 7 p.m. at the Hart Building in Memorial Park.

GETTING STARTED WITH WILD FOODS

 As a young child, Mia traveled to many countries, including Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.  It became evident to her that what Americans consider "weeds" or wild plants are often regarded as food in many parts of the world.

Mia noticed that weeds and invasive plants make an appearance as food in many cultures. For example, morning glories in Asia, various types of nettles in Africa, and lambs quarters in India.

Mia began to wonder why this art of wildcrafting had faded from our own culture, except for in a few vintage cookbooks. Eventually, she met a prolific set of teachers, foragers, and “foodies” in the Los Angeles area and it inspired her to use weeds in everyday cooking.   She calls these  "everyday weeds" which she attempts to make into recipes as interesting as possible, while keeping it simple.

She’s experimented with unique dishes made from many wild foods, but mainly focuses on invasive plants, non-native plants which were brought here or have migrated here, or whose seeds hitched a ride on travelers inadvertently.  Some of the native wild plants she uses include the acorn.  One of her first creations was the acorn burger,  which is a substantial and tasty meat substitute.  She also developed elderberry ketchup and barbeque sauce that have become  yearly staples of hers when the berries are abundant.

Among the invasive green plants she uses, most can be used interchangeably and can substitute familiar vegetables such and spinach, lettuce and mustard greens. For example, chickweed (Stellaria media) and miner's lettuce  (Claytonia perfoliata) are two greens that pop up seemingly everywhere whenever it rains in the early spring and winter and carpet most backyards and hillsides. They have a lovely, delicate texture and can replace lettuce or anywhere you want a cool, fresh, and green taste. They are excellent raw but can be cooked as potherbs, as well.  The chickweed is a common European plant, while miner’s lettuce is a native.

"My favorite plants to harvest are drought-tolerant black sage (Salvia melifera) when it grows profusely and, of course, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) which many people forage when they are first learning to identify plants,” she explains.  Mia likes to infuse creams and chocolates with black sage for a wonderful heady, mint-like experience. She also likes the nettle plant, which she says is  “completely unique and I refuse to believe it tastes like spinach.”  Mia describes nettles as a plant which embodies "medicine as food," lending a complex green flavor to whatever dish it graces. She also makes a  "Nettle-ade" which uses dried nettle tea, preserved lemon, sparkling water and a bit of honey or agave.

She has created menus for special events that have included  cactus and tequila paletas (popsicles) with habanero ants, lambs quarters (Chenopodium ) seed croquettes with corn milk and sweet white clover (Melilotus albus), white fir (Abies concolor) sugar beignets and cream among other creations.

MMia, who is half Native American (from the Southwest) and half Russian (via Argentina),  grew up in Nevada and Southern California. “That’s a lot of food culture right here,” she explains. “During my many childhood travels, the very local ingredients made the foods of various places we traveled very special and memorable to me.”

She points out that living in the Los Angeles area, she doesn’t have to drive far to have an authentic ethnic food experience from just about anywhere in the world.

“Once I reached adulthood and was introduced to wild plants and foraging, I couldn’t think of a reason not to use them for food as long as it was sustainable. Foraging is  a practice in being self- reliant.  In addition, the plants that are in my book are authentic to my environment, and they are also universal. This means that these plants grow in many places all over the world and are used by so many cultures in so many different ways. I think that’s neat.”