Our hometown newspaper has an article about two young men who teach at Northern Michigan University in Marquette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula who spend less than $200 a year on store-bought food by supplementing their diet through foraging for wild fruits such as cranberries and apples, as well as through hunting, road kill and dumpster diving in town. (If road kill were my only option, I would go from mostly vegetarian to vegan in a flash.)

In typical Gannett fashion, you learn a lot less from the article than you would like, but it does tell you that these two industrious young men rely on foraged food for up to 70% of food intake, depending on the season. Competing with the birds, deer and other wildlife for tree fruits and berries can be a great way to enjoy food that is fresh, nutritious and free.

Sixty years ago, I accompanied my maternal grandmother by bus to Gordon Park in Cleveland to search for mushrooms and a wild spinach called Lamb’s quarter that she mixed with various meats to make dumplings. Wearing a babushka and sturdy shoes and carrying a walking stick, grandmother would stride into the woods with me trailing after her, making me swear never to reveal the secret places where she would harvest the white oyster mushrooms she loved. (My father always refused to eat any of the mushrooms she picked, insisting that her eyesight could no longer be trusted, and she might just want to poison him.)

Foraging fell out of fashion after World War II when progress and prosperity meant buying all your food at the supermarket. Then in the late Sixties, hippies and environmentalists rediscovered foraging because of naturalist Euell Gibbons, whose book Stalking The Wild Asparagus served as a guide to living off the land. Kids who lived in communes particularly liked the idea of finding your own free food. A regular fixture on talk shows in that the era, the charming Mr. Gibbons extolled the virtues of roadside delicacies like wild asparagus, cattails and water lilies.

Gibbons grew up during the Depression in Texas, when foraging helped people survive. Yet one reason he did not like the The United States Army’s (Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants) was because he felt you should forage for food not out of desperation but because of a love of nature. He wrote his book because he was concerned that people were becoming disconnected from where their food comes from. Gibbons talked about trying to teach a six-year-old about the joys of picking blackberries, but the boy thought food in the wild was nasty and should come from a nice, clean store instead. Foraging not only provides free nourishment but it also reconnects us to nature and gets us moving at the same time.

When I first moved out there to the country 40 years ago, I would see people stop their cars and appear to gaze into the distance. I finally realized they were looking for the telltale fringes of the wilds asparagus growing by the roadside. Over the years, the asparagus disappeared, and I suspect that any remaining stalks would be tainted with the effluent from car exhaust.

Caveats about foraging

As this suggests, there can be downsides to foraging. One concern is trespass. Unless you have your own woods or you confine yourself to public land, you need to remember to ask permission to wander through other people’s woodlots.

Another concern is pollution. Sadly, the days when you could safely drink from a stream and eat whatever you find are gone. You don’t want to find those great-tasting berries sit atop a superfund site.

Then there’s always the chance you will mistake a deadly mushroom or berry for a safe one. Critics of Gibbons cautioned that some of the wild foods he recommended could cause some people problems.

An article in Orion on groundnuts quotes today’s foremost forager Sam Thayer warning that some people can develop a sensitivity to groundnuts over time. Though peanuts are also called groundnuts, these wild plants produce a starchy rhizome that has three times the protein of potatoes. Author Tamara Dean proposes it as a great hedge against famine, though Thayer warns that people can exhibit an allergic response even after eating the plants safely for years.

However, it pays to remember that many people are allergic to or intolerant of food items they purchase in stores. Some people are genetically incapable of digesting lactose or gluten, and others can have life-threatened allergies to foods such as peanuts and eggs. Dr. Andrew Weill notes that a far larger group of people are sensitive to certain foods for reasons that remain mysterious. Skin-prick food allergy tests are often unreliable, so Weill says that the best bet is to learn what your body likes and dislikes.

Guidebooks that can help

The key, however, is to make sure you aren’t harvesting something that is downright dangerous or poisonous. Thayer’s guidebooks (The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants and Nature’s Garden: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants) are must-haves for fledgling foragers. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America (Peterson Field Guide) is another good choice.

Various bloggers offer tips on foraging, including one who reminds us that fall is the time to go hunting for edible nuts.

Michigan resources

Michigan residents are truly fortunate to have forager Barbara Barton available to teach them how to forage and what’s safe and what’s not. Barb’s website Where the Wild Foods Grow includes a calendar of upcoming classes for women. She can teach you how to forage for acorns and then turn them into flour. She also knows which plants have medicinal qualities. She and Nahnie Barberio Copiaco of Tongue and Groove Catering collaborate on hosting dinner parties where guests can dine on wholesome local and foraged food.

You can email Barb at barb@wherethewildfoodsgrow.com about upcoming classes. You can email Nahnie at nahnie@tongueandgroo​vecatering.com to be placed on the email list that announces upcoming dinners.