“GUIDE TO WILD FOODS”
Be Sure to Read the Appendix on “Safe Families”
By Christopher Nyerges
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When I was working on my very first book, “Guide to Wild
Foods,” it was really a collection of random notes about the uses of the wild
plants I had been studying and tasting.
I wasn’t sure how I would get it published, but I knew it should contain
the overview of how to use wild plants for food that I’d been obsessed with.
The members of the non-profit WTI also wanted to see a local
book on wild foods, and their efforts dovetailed with my work. Eventually, I was working as a typesetter for
a local newspaper, and I was able to prepare the entire first draft of the book
for the printer.
The book is still in print, eight or so editions later.
One of the most important parts of the book is an Appendix
that I think next to no one ever reads.
This is the section that I call “Safe Families,” which I developed under
the tutelage of Dr. Leonid Enari, who was my teacher at the time, and who
helped with me with many aspects of the book.
Dr. Enari encouraged me to continue to learn how to identify and use
individual plants, of course, but he also emphasized the great leap forward
that would occur if I began to see plants in terms of their Family relationships.
There are many plant families, of course, and the concept of
a “family” is one that has developed over a few hundred years of observing
similarities of plants, and the realization that even the chemistry of plants
flows within families.
Dr. Enari was uniquely qualified to guide me in this
direction, as he earned a Phd in both ethno-botany and chemistry in his native
Estonia. We spent many afternoons in his
office discussing families that were entirely safe, or worthy of consideration,
with certain qualifications. This was
not intended as a shortcut to learning individual plants, but rather a way to
open the door to using all plants within a specific family. You had to know how to definitively identify
a specific family in order for all this to make sense.
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Dr. Enari and I identified quite a few families whose
members could all be eaten, again, within certain guidelines. When the first edition of my “Guide to Wild
Foods” was published, we provided a list of 13 entirely safe to consume
botanical families. Each family
description included how to recognize that family, and whatever considerations
you might need to take into account as you pursue that path.
Over time, in various articles I’d written for Backpacker
magazine, Mother Earth News, and others, I’d mention these safe families, and I
began to see that the idea was being picked up by others.
By the way, this is not a short cut to identifying edible
plants. The widely touted “short cut” is the so-called Universal Taste Test,
where you are instructed to taste a little bit of an unknown plant. If it is not distasteful in any way, you are
instructed to swallow a little and wait 8 or so hours to see if any sickness
results. If no sickness, you are instructed to repeat the experiment and wait
another 8 hours. I think it is terrible
advice and I have never been an advocate of this potentially dangerous
shortcut.
The list of Safe Families in my book includes only those
families that most beginners would be able to identify with a bit of work.
For example, we included the Grass family, which is one of
the biggest plant families on the face of the earth. You can eat any mature seeds, and you can eat
the young leaves, ideally juiced or cooked.
Of course, I warn the reader to be cautious around commercial lawns and
golf courses, where toxic substances might have been used to keep the lawn
green.
Onions, once part of the Lily Family, are another safe
family. They look like little green
onions, but if you have a bad sense of smell, you might have trouble here.
Another edible family is the Mustard Family, the same family
that gives you broccoli and watercress and radish. In the wild, you have need to see the flower
– especially if you’re a beginner – to know that a plant is a member of the
Mustard Family. The flower has to have
four sepals, four petals, one pistil, and six stamens (four tall, two
short). So you need to know what all
those flower parts are before you go randomly eating what you think are Mustard
Family members. And even then, you’re
only eating tender parts of these plants, since some members can be very woody.
“Guide to Wild Foods” also mentions the Amaranth Family, the
Cactus Family, the Mallow Family, the Goosefoot Family, and more.
In the very beginning of pursuing this method, I did receive
some pushback from at least one botanist who objected to what he thought was a
“shotgun” approach. However, I countered that my listed families all included
thoughtful considerations of what could go wrong. In time, I have found that the consideration
of plant families has gained prominence as a way to teach about ethno-botany,
and to see the relationships between similar useful plants.
“Guide to Wild Foods” is still in print, all color now, and
we have slightly expanded the Appendix on Safe Families. Yes, it is the part of the book which nearly
no one reads, but I hope you’re one of those who will read it, and discover
that it assists your learning about this field which can be challenging.
Now titled “Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants,” the book has been used as a textbook in some
schools. It is available at Amazon, at
bookstores, and at the store at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com
