Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt To Plate (The Wild Food Adventure Series, Book 1)

Beneficial foraging books The opening paragraphs are designed to assist others avoid some of the pit falls I made in purchasing wild food literature. You can skip this and go directly to the individual book reviews if you choose. Please note that this review is of multiple wild food books. I prefer authors that work with the plants they are writing about, and don't just repeat things they read from another book (yes some wild food authors actually do that). I also prefer books with good descriptions, lots of photos of each plant to make identification easier, and to cover the plant from identification to the plate. That's my bias, here is my review. I'm just a guy who likes to forage and enjoys the learning and nutritional aspect of wild foods. My main purpose for writing this review of multiple wild food books on one review is to assist others coming to wild foods for the first time (like I was three years ago), and to hopefully help them avoid some of the easily avoided pit falls I made in the literature I chose. At first I wanted books with the most plants in it for my money. It made sense to me at the time but ended up being a grave mistake. Books that devote one picture and a brief explanation to a plethera of plants helped me identify some plants in one stage of growth, but did next to nothing that would have allowed me to use them as food. Example, most books will show you one picture of the adult plant. Many times that's not when you want to harvest it. No one would eat a bannana that was over ripe and pure black and call banana's in general inedible due to that experience. Yet many who have sampled a dandelion have done exactly that. As I've learned from John Kallas, one has to have the right part of the plant (this includes proper identification of the plant), the plant has to be at the right stage of growth, and it has to be prepared properly. If you can't do those three things you shouldn't be sticking the plant in your mouth. Now on to the individual books. Wild Edible Plants By John Kallas: 6 stars because it deserves more than 5 Instead of having hundreds of plants with one picture and one paragraph of information Kallas gives you less plants in far more detail and unmatched photography. If I could give this book to everyone in the United States I would as it is the best book I have found on the market. His descriptions of the plants are spot on and easy to read, his multiple full color pictures of each plant covered are the best I've seen in wild food literature, and he covers each plant from seedling to the dinner plate in stunning detail. If I could only own one book on wild edible foods this would be the one. No book can give you everything you need as a forager. That being said John does a superb job of plant selection in that most people in north america will be able to find all these plants within a mile of their home. For a guy taking care of two children under 3 years of age this book allowed me to forage while staying close to home. Consider this a must own. John also runs wild food adventures in Portland Oregon which offers wild food instruction in that area. Nature's Garden By Samuel Thayer: 5.2 stars the second must own, and it too deserves more than 5 stars. If I could only own two wild food books this would be the second one on my shelf next to John Kallas book. The section on Oaks and acorns are worth the price of the book by it self let alone the numerous other plants in it. Mr. Thayer uses color photographs at various stages of growth just like Kallas does. After you own Kallas book you will be hooked and Nature's Garden is the next logical progression in your journey. Other reviewers have covered Sam's brilliant rebutal to Jon Krakauer's propagandist poison plant fable of how Chris McCandless died. Chris died of starvation not a poisonous plant. Sam actually has this section of the book posted on his website for viewing (go to foragersharvest dot com), and is worth reading even if you don't buy the book. I really benefited from Sam's sections on the different wild lettuces, elderberries, thistles, and many others. On top of that Sam has the most engaging writing style of all the wild food authors I've encountered. Not only are his pictures only second to those of Kallas, his descriptions are spot on, and reading his books are like reading one of your favorite novels. Foragers Harvest By Samuel Thayer 5 stars I prefer Thayer's Nature's Garden over this book for my area. That being said I can't really say anything bad about this book. Good descriptions, excellent pictures at various stages of growth, good selection of plants, and done with accuracy. This book was to my knowledge the first of it's kind back when it was released back in the mid 2000's. To my knowledge it was the best book on the market then, and has only been surpassed by his follow up book Nature's Garden and Kallas Wild Edible Plants. Being the first book in this motif it (unjustly I might add) received numerous attacks by a few disgruntled souls on amazons book review section. One must remember Thayer was revolutionary in this field when he released this book, and people had a hard time adjusting. As my friend Stephen T. McCarthy once posted, "All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. Well anyone who has used Sams books should understand the advantage of covering less plants in more detail than covering many plants with little to no detail like the over-hyped gimmick books that litter the wild food market do. I few things I really liked about this book include (but are not limited to): descriptions and photographs on cat tail, wapato, service berry, stinging and wood nettle. The canning section is solid for the beginning forager like I am. This in my opinion still fits the must own catagory. Euell Gibbons, Stalking the Wild Asparagus 4.5 stars Line drawings that are OK. Descriptions of the plants are excellent. Recipes are added by the author, plus his enthusiasm and good nature jump out at you through the page. I mostly use this book in conjunction with other books, and I never use it for it's photographs or line drawings. Not that their bad. Just not enough for a total novice in my opinion. Now his descriptions are excellent and should not be ignored. Nancy J. Turner, "Food Plants Of Coastal First Peoples" and "Food Plants of Interior First Peoples" I'll give it 5 stars for ethnobotany and 4 stars as a foraging book. If you live in the pacific northwest these books are MUST HAVES. A thorough grouping of the plants used by native americans for food in the pacific northwest. Why I only give it 4 stars is that it is essentially put in a field guide format which is very limiting when trying to use a plant for food. Plus while Turner is the queen of plants and uses in the pacific northwest, you'll only get a tenth of what she knows on any given plant. Kallas and Thayer go into much more detail, have numerous pictures, and lead their readers toward success. With Turner you'll get one good picture in one stage of growth. Through experience I've found that just isn't good enough. She does have more plants in her books than Kallas and Thayer but when you cover them in less detail that is to be expected. To be fair to Nancy I don't get the impression that these were designed specifically for foragers. All this being said I own them and wouldn't give them back if you paid me double what I paid for them. Linda Runyan, The Essential Wild Food Survival Guide 3.8 stars, a good book. Well first I do have some issues with this book: I'm not fond of the line drawings or black and white photos, she does edibility tests on wild foods and discovered many of them that way (which I'm not a fan of), and some of her descriptions are lacking in my opinion. All that being said she cans her wild foods, dries them for winter use, and lives off of wild edibles all year long successfully. She shares a lot of this knowledge with the reader in this book, and being a nurse myself I'm also able to relate to her thinking in a lot of ways. Plus her stories of using cat tail fluff as stuffing for a couch only to find out that it was infested with insect eggs was hilarious. She tells you all the mistakes she made so you don't have to repeat them. She will tell you to use two other good field guides along with hers. I would plan on not using hers at all for the pictures. I have issues with her lack of oversight on the pictures. I'm sure some will disagree but when Linda tells you in her video (by the same name) that her chickweed picture isn't very good it does bring to mind credibility questions. Edible Wild Plants a North American Field Guide, by Elias and Dykemann. 3.5 stars At one point in my very early stages I thought this book was the bomb. However, I would identify a plant, find it at times accidentally for the most part, and go "now what?" And that is the weakness of the field guide format in wild food literature (Thayer and Kallas do so much more for you). This book is almost the opposite of Linda Runyans in some ways. She doesn't give you good pictures but gives you some good details on what to do with the plant after you find it. This book gives you some good pitures, a brief description, and then says "your on your own kid." In Samuel Thayers "Foragers Harvest" he gives great descriptions between wood nettle and stinging nettle (both are edible when properly prepared). Thayer also happened to point out that this book actually has a picture of wood nettle and call it stinging nettle. I checked up on this, and lo and behold he was right. They have two pictures and one is wood nettle and one is stinging nettle. They are both listed as stinging nettle in the book. This tells me that the authors might not know all the plants as well as they should. Don't get me wrong I still like the book. But it does prove that wild food authors don't always use or know the plants their writing about. Honorable mention goes to "Abundantly Wild" By Teresa Marrone. It is a wild food cook book. The pictures in the book are not great (though oddly beat many of the photos in supposed field guides) but I have read a few of the recipes and they look promising. I'll write a review about a year from now once I've put the book to the test. Until then I'll let you read the reviews on this book and make up your own mind.

This is the book (series) that I was unknowingly searching for when I started reading about wild edibles a few weeks ago! I don't have much negative to say, so I'll summarize what I like first: * It goes beyond the typical half-page summary in a pleasing, not-overly-informative way. That is, the discussions are written at a detail level that is lacking in many other books, but it is also not overwhelming for a newcomer. * You get several color photos of different stages for each plant, as opposed to a single (sometimes distant, dark, or black and white) image or drawing found in a number of references. Some plants further include foliage variations, which is often neglected elsewhere for space. * Each plant is accompanied by a small coverage map of USA and Canada. For this volume, most are available essentially nationwide, but I like this approach better than the more-common text designations in many other references. The coverage maps here are still useful when estimating how far north the plants are available. * The poisonous look-alikes for the mentioned plants seem clear enough, for the most part, that I feel confident of avoiding the bad ones if I am prudent. * The author clearly addresses harvesting--what parts and when is the best time to harvest the more challenging edible candidates or parts. This is important for someone just starting out, so that they don't get discouraged or have a bad or unsavory experience. * The paper is durable, so the book should stand up well to regular use. A couple points on what is said and not said that appealed to me: * He doesn't "sugar coat" the bitterness of some plants. In fact, the chapters are organized into categories of "palletability" (I made that word up) or general flavor. I found Dr. Kallas's approach refreshing and realistic. * He doesn't overstate the medicinal properties of the plants, preferring to remain within his own area of expertise. I suspect that our modern society does discount some valid medicinal properties of plants in botanical folklore, but I prefer a text like this one that doesn't hype untested medical benefits. * He similarly doesn't overstate the nutrition benefits for the plants, regularly stating what is unknown on certain varieties. On the slightly negative side: * I was a little disappointed that it only had 15 plants (with a few edible look-alikes mentioned), but that is a necessary side-effect of the dense information packed into this book, so I'm not really complaining. * I tended to skip over some of the nutrition information since I plan on eating a diverse selection anyhow, but should I need the information, it is nice to know that it is there. * I'm not much on recipes. There are several in the book, but definitely not so many that I found them getting in the way of the main content: identifying wild edibles. For those that are looking for books covering wild edibles from a survival perspective, this one is a great reference for a static collection; but as someone else said, it seems a little heavy to carry in a bag, particularly considering the lower number of edibles mentioned. This is unfortunate, since the detail level is excellent for a real survival situation, I think, at least if you want something beyond a quick reference guide. Basically, it would be difficult to use it as a stand-alone resource given the low number of wild edible plants currently discussed. One "extra" that I would like to see in another volume or an updated volume 1 is a visual, quick-access index that summarizes the most important pictures and plant properties. It is bit of a hassle to flip back through the main pages to get a quick refresher-glance at a plant's appearance. In short, this book is a excellent resource that I have used to start my wild edibles reference collection. I am definitely interested in the remaining volumes in the series; I just wish that I had discovered it after several volumes were already written!

I Love this beautiful, detailed book, 'Wild Edible Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt to Plate', by John Kallas, on wild edible greens and their less palatable or harmful look alikes. It is a great beginner's book, along with Samuel Thayer's 'Nature's Garden' and 'Forager's Harvest', but suitable for experienced foragers, too. Other reviewers felt more plants should have been covered, or these books should have been more lightweight, for backpacks, but if one thinks about it, we Begin to learn about most things a bit at a time, in a kind of sequence. Alongside great photographs, these books emphasize method, essential to in depth learning. The authors give their anecdotal backgrounds and credentials. I find it entertainingly insightful, beneficial to credibility. These books provide a lot of information about fewer plants than most field guides, but it's absorbable information which can be expanded with experience, yet returned to time and again. As with typing and other skills, accuracy is more important in the beginning. Speed or numbers develop later. Personally, I'd take these with me initially, to focus on the plants they cover, learn all I can about them, and as I grow comfortable in my learning, seek more plants offered by other references, over time. Learn and apply the content of these three, peruse and acquire other quality field guides, and enjoy the 'fruit' of your efforts. Another concern (and all concerns have value) expressed by readers has been region limitation. Truly to not sound flip, and all the wisest hikers/campers aren't going to read one book, or take a week's course, and expect to go out in the woods (or desert), to live happily ever after, but remember, these wild plants are mostly 'weeds'. That means they adapt and routinely cross those boundaries we conveniently set, for ourselves - perhaps not as abundantly as we expect, when we expect, but few regions we're likely to visit, won't support at least Some of these delicious, nutritious foods...must haves for me.

This book is really dumbed down, almost excessively so. As Mr. Kallas likes to remind us so prominently on the front cover, and any place therein that refers to his name (including his amazon signature), he has a PhD. And while I have every respect for intellectuals, I feel like Mr. Kallas grossly underestimates the intelligence of his readers. He writes this book as though he were speaking to grade school children. He'll state something that seems rather obvious, but then repeat it several times with several different phrasings until your eyes roll back into your skull and you want to nod off. He also insists on explaining, in detail, very simple botanical terms. His section on overwintering (page 50) went into great detail to explain exactly what "winter" was. (Edit:) Mr. Kallas commented that I can't simply guess what his audience is, and he's right. He does this for a living and I'm writing this review from a cubicle. What I can say is that when he states that this book is for novices he means novices to just about everything. He writes this book for someone who's a novice to the environment in general, to basic biology, and to some extent common sense. I suppose this thoroughness is commendable since a child born in the city, having only seen a forest on television, could pick up this book and find a wild plant to eat. Unfortunately for someone who doesn't need a 2 page dissertation on why plant shoots are more tender than established growth, it was a bit tedious. If you're such a person then this guide is a boring, hard to read (yet still educational) book that you have to force yourself to finish. I read Samuel Thayer's 'Foragers Harvest' and 'Natures Garden' before reading this book, so I suppose I came into this a bit spoiled from Mr. Thayer's excellent writing style. If you're thinking of buying this book I would highly recommend buying both of Mr. Thayer's books first and getting this one afterwards. I gave this book a rather bad review but you'll notice I still rated it 4 stars. It hits on all the points that are important. It's covers each plant identification thoroughly with descriptions and copious pictures, it understands and breaches the knowledge gap novices have (where to look, how to gather, how to prepare, etc), and it takes steps to explain how foraging can realistically fit into a modern lifestyle. This book is serviceable in every way. With this book you'll learn enough to start foraging...assuming you still want to.

I was very excited about the idea of eating wild plants. I was not however excited about the idea of reading about them. I expected to only have an encyclopedia type of book. After all....how interesting could reading about edible plants be? First, I will say I am a complete novice. This is my first book on the subject, and I appreciate that my approach to wild edibles was redirected a bit. My approach is more realistic and respectful of this new food--my caution (which is very warranted) is not a casual fleeting thought. I actually do want to sit down and get to know the plants--I am looking forward to learning the recognizing not just the stages of growth, but the rate of growth. When the plants are best to eat, what parts are tastiest. I was also happy to see that one of the first plants covered was in my yard! This is not the book of a million plants, this is a book about teaching you how to approach wild edibles that are easily recognizable. Not the obscure stuff. This book hands down has the most popular edibles--most of the highlighted wild foods are found all over the US, and they are the types of "weeds" that you are likely pulling up from between your backyard pavers right now. I don't have to go to some local pond or arboretum. There are several different types in my back yard, and probably more once I start examining my "weeds" more closely. .For example, I've been pulling up chickweed forever--and at one point had considered leaving it as a ground cover, then pulled it up....and now its back except this time, it has a different face and purpose to me. I am now excited to have it. This book is awesome--I read the preface, intro and I am currently spending time in the chapters. It is not the sort of book that is meant to be read through and shelved, but to be used as a casual reference. The pages seem to have a coating on them that makes them a little tougher. The plants are shown in detail with many pictures of the same plant in different growth stages and even different growing conditions. Also, poisonous look a likes are identified as well. I will spend some time in this book, and I believe the author has done something excellent. I am thankful that this is my first book....and I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to be introduced to the topic without hesitation. Even if I only get to "know" a few plants (meaning, I can identify them in my sleep at any stage, in any place) I will know those plants inside and out. (and yes...there are recipes for preparation even suggestions on tools to carry for gathering) You cant go wrong with this book. PS: And the description of the flavors (at least according to the one plant I tried thus far) SPOT ON! I am now a HUGE fan of chickweed! Best greens EVER! Cannot wait to introduce it to my children's sandwiches.

This is a great book with excellent photographs of plants, and humorous as well at times. John Kallas is very educated and knowledgeable about this subject, but writes simply enough so that all will understand. The book has great photographs in it, and one thing I really liked about this book, was it also gave recipes for using the plants that you pick. I would highly recommend this book. I actually bought several books by different authors, so I would have multiple sources to make sure that I was picking what I was hoping to pick as the appearance of plant often does change over time! If you were only going to buy one book, buy this one. But I have to say, that I have found having multiple books is a bonus for identifying and using plants for food, medicine, etc. You DO need to know what you are doing if you are gathering your own wild food. Not all plants are editable and some can even be dangerous if ingested. So buy this book and then continue to add to your library as you can afford it. For diversity and the ability to truly identify and use plants, I purchased Nature's Garden - "A guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer, The Forager's Harvest - A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting and Preparing Edible Wild Plants" also by Samuel Thayer, and Edible Wild Plants - Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate by John Kallas, PhD. If you can afford it, purchase all 3 of these books, as I have found that I USE all of them for various reasons - a better photo/recipe/information, etc. And if there is any doubt about a plant I have several resources to better help me identify the information that I need.

I bought this book twice over (one I gave away) and find it an enjoyable read as well as a useful foraging guide. As a good read, it is written in a style that keeps the reader interested. There are a lot of facts to learn about the different plants listed. I'm talking beyond the identification characteristics, such as what parts to harvest, when, and how to best use them for food. The photographs are excellent, allowing a good look at the plants, whereas some of the field guides with hundreds of plants do not always show them in the most recognizable of fashions (at least for me). This one has enough high quality pictures to increase my chances of truly identifying the plant. The descriptions further help to ID down to the species. As a scientist myself (qualitative sciences), I'm also personally fond of critical thinkers. The author, Dr. John Kallas, takes a look at myths and misconceptions around the edibility of plants. He does not simply list what he's heard, but he'll look into claims made by others and even reference who he has learned information from. He then dispels any myths when possible. Some field guides are written 3rd hand, but this one is written 1st hand when possible. This makes for a better book with more accurate information. I recommend purchasing this book for those seeking a more in-depth understanding of the plants within. Please consider buying it for others, too, as this can help to get others interested in safely enjoying new ultra-fresh foraged foods for their tables. Sam Schaperow, B.S., M.S.

I am an avid reader, so I'm used to being unwilling to put a book down; but it's never happened with an educational book before. This book took me away, the subject matter, the author's voice, and the level of detail he went into make this book worth every cent. The title is not as misleading as some seem to feel: From Dirt to Plate, he even includes suggestions on preparing and serving these foods, even some recipes. I am new to nearly everything he introduced in this book; but everything was laid out so simply, plainly, and explained so minutely, I am confident that this coming season will see me out in my yard gathering food and saving on the grocery bill. I tried researching edible plants online, and you CAN find the information; but this guide just blew everything I'd researched out of the water. It's not just a picture with arrows pointing at which parts to eat. He doesn't just TELL you! He TEACHES you in a way that is understandable and helps you make the connections between factors that affect the plant, its aspects, and your experiences. I inadvertently learned pointers for gardening in general by reading this book. For example, I'm thinking his "utility belt" will be awfully handy in a garden, not just on foraging trips. This book has changed the way I look at fresh produce. Domesticated produce is just produce that has been grown for generation upon generation, to the end that we are familiar with it. It fosters the mentality, "food comes from the grocery store." At some point, those fruits and vegetables had to come from the wild. They've been bred and changed, true, but they came from the same Earth that grows these wild edibles. Just because we typically get food from the store, doesn't mean that it is the ONLY edible food. John Kallas has shown me that food grows EVERYWHERE. I can say with 100% certainty that I will be purchasing his subsequent books, and will order from his site.

This book was recommended by a friend who has collected 'weeds' for years. It is very detailed and shows pictures of the plant named and then pictures of plants that look similar. My friend said to take identifying slowing by picking 2-3 plants to focus on at first. I found one plant was enough to start with as there was so much to learn about each one. There is nutrition info and recipes. This had been a very helpful book in a new pursuit.

Se trata de uno de los mejores libros que conozco para identificar plantas comestibles. Las fotos son muy buenas e incluye fotografías de las plantas en diferentes estadíos de desarrollo, cosa muy útil y que en otros libros no he visto. Incluye también recetas muy sencillas de elaborar con cada planta. Un libro indispensable para cualquier persona que le guste la recolección de plantas, la supervivencia, bushcraft, etc. Una pena que no esté traducido al castellano. Aún así en un libro de este tipo lo mas importante son las fotos y tampoco hace falta se un experto en inglés para entenderlo más o menos.

E' probabilmente il libro in cui le singole erbe commestibili sono descritte nel modo più approfondito ed appassionato: splendide le foto dei dettagli, utili al riconoscimento, anche se non è proprio una guida da campo, nonostante gli angoli arrotondati. Ovviamente il numero delle piante descritte è un pò limitato ed alcune si trovano solo nel Nord America, ma la descrizione è eccellente e completa. Mi auguro di veder uscire presto il seguito naturale nel secondo volume. La descrizione è chiara e comprensibile, nonostante l'inglese: imperdibile nella biblioteca degli appassionati dell'argomento.

Just amazing. Thank you for writing this book Mr Kallas ! Even though im in the UK, there are plenty of plants in here that are applicable. The depth he goes into in helping identify the plants is unrivaled in ANY book i have ever seem on the subject (and i have seen many). The parts used, time of year for harvest, look-alike dangers... Its simply ALL there !! Even the quality of the paper used ! If you dont get how i feel about this book by now, there is nothing more i can say. I own roughly 40 books on topics such as this (all published in the last 10 years) and none are allowed to sit on the same shelf as this one lol. If he wrote a book purely based on UK plants ?....OMG i feel faint

This is such a great book, the information is well researched and backed up with great visual material. A foragers dream guide to the most commonly available plants. I was really interested in the nutritional aspect of the plants. All the nutritional charts in the Kindle version are not complete, cut off at the side. If I had bought the paper version of the book I would have given it five stars for sure.