Americans forage for wild plants and trash

Some people are finding a way to get food for free -- from the trash.

"More people are becoming open to it," said Cindy Rosin, of Freegan.info, an informational site...

Others forage for wild plants. "Wildman" Steve Brill, who leads foraging tours through New York's parks, said he's seen more people on his tours. They forage for plants such as chickweed, a low-lying weed that tastes a bit like corn, or ginko seeds.

www.iht.com...

Knowing edible and useful wild plants is a good skill to have.

Google up a long deceased (media created) folkhero 'Ewell Gibbons' (phonetically)

he used to do commercials on TV about making junk like pinecones
or suff like dandelions & even the cardboard boxes that once held your 'natural' breakfast cereal... into mouthwatering entrees

(of course, the popular consensus was that he & the sponser were all freaks)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

but that was in another era, about 20-30 years ago...
now-a-days, we should be prepared to embrace a little regarded source of protein.... former pets

[edit on 29-3-2009 by St Udio]

Don't talk about it too much -
Or - they will no doubt draw up a bill that makes eating a wild plant -
or out of the trash -
illegal.

reply to post by St Udio


Here is a link to the info on the guy you mentioned.

en.wikipedia.org...

He seems like a very interesting guy.

I think that kind of recycling is a good idea. When I was little we were poor enough that we would regularly pick up furniture left for the garbage collectors, and my mothers friend had an uncle that ran a pig farm, and we would often go through the food destined to become slop. It isnt as bad as it sounds. All those wilted cabbages and cracked eggs from the grocery store end up in places like that, and they are still edible.

It got us through a lot of hard times.

Restaurants also waste a LOT of perfectly good food. It is against many restaurant policies, but I convinced a manager to let me take the leftover food to the dumpster with a wink and a nod, and I would give it to the homeless people that hung around out there. We never spoke of it, but between the two of us, we helped quite a few hungry people. It was destined for the trash anyway, it wasnt stealing, it was simply violating their rule against making use of it rather than wasting it.

Nowdays, there are companies that recognize that their waste can feed people and they willingly donate it. (Einstein Bagels is one, yea for them!)

I forage for edible wild plants but not because of the global meltdown.

Just so we're all clear.