The Fun of Urban Foraging

Who says you can't go on a nature hike just because you're in a big city? There's plenty of edible plants growing right there in the streets of Washington, DC!
During two expeditions on Friday, adventurous eaters, amateur botanists, and a handful of curious locals descended on the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of the Nation’s Capital in search of edible plants and wild foods with the renowned forager, ‘Wild Man’ Steve Brill. Our tour, co-hosted by Roadside Food Projects, Atlas Obscura, and Think Local First D.C., covered all of one block. But the number of foods we found, many of which were weeds you’d walk by without a second glance, didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the available bounty growing between the city’s streets.

Read about the safari and the things they found at Atlas Obscura. Link

(Image credit: Dallas Lillich)

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There are lots of edible plants that we consider weeds, All parts of the dandelion are edible, Coltsfoot(or commonly called "elephant ears" in some places)are like spinach, Cattails have at least one part edible at all times of the year. That being said I would not eat anything near an active roadway, there just too many weird chemicals from cars and pavement seeping into the ground.
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I have Wildman's foraging book and now his new iPhone App and I love them! It's amazing how much is edible that we all think are just weeds. I really highly recommend both of them. He is extremely knowledgeable and provides plenty of identifying info and pictures or his own drawings. I've always been interested in what you can eat in the wild by foraging and now I can easily say "oh that this or that."

Recently I made some really great elderflower syrup and have some elderflower schnapps stewing. All from a tree that grows right across the alley from my house! Everyone else just pulls weeds or trims then back I usually eat them!
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