Description
From the Back Cover
A passionate wild foods expert, Leda Meredith emphasizes local varieties and traditions, showing you what to look for, when and where to look, and how to gather in a responsible way. A seasonal guide for foraging year-round Detailed information for safe identification Collecting tips for sustainable harvesting Tips for preparation and use
Product Description
“An invaluable guide for the feast in the East.” —Hank Shaw, author of the James Beard Award–winning website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
The Northeast offers a veritable feast for foragers, and with Leda Meredith as your trusted guide you will learn how to safely find and identify an abundance of delicious wild plants. The plant profiles in Northeast Foraging include clear, color photographs, identification tips, guidance on how to ethically harvest, and suggestions for eating and preserving. A handy seasonal planner details which plants are available during every season. Thorough, comprehensive, and safe, this is a must-have for foragers in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
Review
“Although I have over 200 books on foraging in my collection, I would rate this as one of the very best.” —Wildness Magazine
“Northeast Foraging is detailed, accessible, and useful to new and experienced foragers alike.” —NYBG’s Plant Talk
“Leda Meredith’s personable field guide is as close as you can come to having the author take you by the hand.” —Gary Lincoff, author of The Joy of Foraging and instructor at The New York Botanical Garden
“An invaluable guide for the feast in the East.” —Hank Shaw, author of the James Beard Award–winning website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
“A wonderful, thorough guide for both beginners and seasoned foragers.” —Tom Kearney, chef at The Farm on Adderley
“It’s the most comprehensive.” —Sean Patrick Morrison. chef at Plate
About the Author
Leda Meredith is a lifelong forager and a certified ethnobotanist. She is an instructor at the New York Botanical Garden and at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, specializing in edible and medicinal plants. The author of four other books, Meredith writes for Mother Earth News and leads tours internationally for organizations including Slow Food, Green Edge, Cornell University, and Purchase University.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface: Confessions of a Lifelong Forager
“Yes, that’s the right plant. We’re going to cook the leaves tonight with a little garlic and olive oil, then we’ll add a little lemon juice and—” My great-grandmother pressed the four fingers and thumb of one hand together and brought the fingertips to her lips for a smacking kiss. Her eyes sparkled with the anticipated pleasure of eating the dandelion greens I’d just helped her pick. We were in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and I was three years old.
Great-grandma was from Greece, where to this day foraging for wild edible plants is part of the culture, as it is in many other countries. I doubt she ever learned the word foraging. To her, going out to pick the free, choice vegetables growing wild nearby was a normal thing to do. And naturally, she wanted to teach her great-granddaughter which plants were not only safe to eat, but tasty. And because she was excited about them, I was, too.
Excited is an apt way to describe how I feel to this day about foraging for wild edible plants. I get excited when I happen upon an unexpected, wonderful food find such as the abundant patch of mayapples I found this past summer. I get excited as each new ingredient comes into season—and into my kitchen and onto my taste buds.
When I travel I sometimes get to taste a wild food for the first time, something that only grows there, and that, too, is exciting—I love learning what here tastes like. I am as passionate about edible wild plants today as my great-grandma was.
Home to me for the past several decades has been New York
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