Misconceptions

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There exist many misconceptions when it comes to wild plants as food.  Some of these fallacies are unintentional (though still erroneous), while others are related to human psychology (e.g., ego, belief systems).  The information on this web page is provided to help potential students understand the value of receiving instruction from experienced, wild food educators.

1. Wild carrot and water-hemlock are easily confused.  I don't agree and no one I have showed these two species to agrees with the statement (even when those persons were complete novices).  Simply because two plants occur in the same plant family doesn't mean they look similar to each other (for example, no one warns of collecting manioc, used for tapioca, because castor-bean belongs to the same family).  Though these types of warning statements are well intentioned, they really only serve to stifle enthusiasm for wild plant foraging.  Though it is certainly true that people have become ill or even died from accidental ingestion of poisonous plants, these were the result of gross identification errors.  Many wild plants are very distinctive and can be easily learned.  This is especially true when students are taught botanical vocabulary, a set of descriptive terms to accurately describe plant parts and growth patterns.  Understanding plant morphology (i.e., the outward expression of features) serves to supply students with real confidence, because they can verify the plant in question is what they believe it to be.  It is also important for aspiring foragers to be aware that humans (and other hominids) have been eating wild plants for a very long time.  We have developed over many generations an important warning system that is quite accurate—taste.  In most cases, if a plant tastes extremely bitter, acrid, or very rank, or provides a burning sensation, in all likelihood, it should not be ingested (at least not in its current form or not in quantity).  This is not to promote throwing caution to the wind, but rather to explain that the obstacles to learning which plants can be safely eaten are surmountable to anyone. 

2. The forest will provide for me.  Perhaps, but only if you know which plants can be gathered, what time of year to gather them, how they are to processed, and what manner to cook them in.  It is important for people to be aware that wild plants sometimes require a good deal of time to collect and process.  This is especially true for some important staples (e.g., acorns, wild rice).  However, this is no different from cultivated foods (wheat, olives, rice, and beans all require processing and/or extended cooking to make them nutritious food).  Wild places are not banquets.  In fact, they aren't even gardens.  The wild foods that grow there are often distributed in a diffuse array of different sizes and age classes.  People who forage learn flow with the landscape and how to ethically gather from these diverse places (very different than a uniform row of vegetables in a garden setting).  However, the work required to gather and process wild foods is rewarding, as it puts us in direct contact with wild beings, provides us with valuable nutrition, and contributes to an active lifestyle (all of which is often lacking in modern society).  Further, it can contribute to community, as foraging is often best when enjoyed with friends and family who can help make short work of shelling, peeling, separating, washing, etc.

3. Wild sarsaparilla roots taste like root beer.  It certainly does not, at least not like any root bear that I would pay money for (one person described it to me as tasting like "bog water").  But that is exactly what can be read in the foraging literature.  Students must be made aware that most foraging books (including several very popular texts) are written by people who have relied extensively on what has been published before them (i.e., they do not have personal experience with all the plants they write about).  This frequently means that errors have been perpetuated through the generations of wild food literature.  Some of these errors will affect your enjoyment of wild plants as food (or scare you away outright from plants that are delicious once correctly processed).  I wish I could regain the hours I have spent trying to ingest distasteful foods and attempting processing methods that were ineffective.  Contributing to the confusion is the fact many foraging instructors are poor taxonomists (meaning that they utilize outdated plant names and often use imprecise terms for describing plant features).  I encourage aspiring foragers to seek out dedicated wild food educators who themselves spend a great deal of time gathering wild foods, as they can help streamline the learning process and provide effective methods of gathering and processing wild foods.  For what is may be worth, I have as yet found only one foraging book that does not contain erroneous information (The Forager's Harvest by Sam Thayer, see the Web-links page)