Nature offers delicious wild foods. Laurence Pringle, 1978

{HISTORY}

In the 1970s, if you sat down to lunch with Laurence Pringle you'd feast on salad dressed with wild mint, lemonade made with sumac, beef rolled in plantain leaves, and chiffon pie made with a graham cracker crust and wild strawberries. That is a diet of choice for the forager intent on creating interesting meals from plants and fruits that grow wild in the landscape year-round.

Could you consider it free food? Certainly. That menu above is a gift from Mother Nature herself  - containing ingredients that are often underutilized in western culture due to inexperience in identifying wild plants. But in 1978, Laurence was on a mission to change all that. His book Wild Foods, features over 60 recipes containing native plant ingredients commonly found throughout the U.S. 

Complete with a brief history of each plant, finding aids, and detailed descriptions of leaves, flowers, stalks and stems all with illustrations to match, each recipe offers a unique glimpse into the gastronomic possibilities of wild, natural foods.

A nature guide book and a cookbook all in one, Laurence takes first-time foragers through the steps of healthy plant gathering in fields, streams, forests and sometimes even backyard landscapes. Not every plant is edible, not every stream is free of bacteria nor every field free of pesticides, so Laurence also educates readers on what not to eat, how to disinfect wild food, and how to accurately identify edible vs inedible species for complete health and safety. 

A "best-of" year round harvesting chart breaks down, season by season, the most ideal  time for collecting specific parts of each plant. along with detailing specific everyday equipment that helps foragers get started quickly and efficiently. 

On the cooking end, most of the recipes featured here utilize basic kitchen staples (milk, flour, butter eggs, etc) and all recipes include whole ingredients (ie no prepackaged or convenience foods). Interesting recipes include Poke Casserole, Wild Strawberry Tea, Stir-fried Watercress, Milkweed-Seed-Pod Soup, Daylily Fritters, Lamb's Quarters Cheese Snacks, Mulled Sumac, Stuffed Wild-Grape Leaves, Blueberry Crisp Pudding, and Purslane Quiche. 

Please note: Although this is a natural cookbook, it is not a vegan cookbook as both dairy and meat products are used throughout.  

The author of over 100 science and nature books written mostly for children, Laurence Pringle is an award-winning writer, editor and teacher. Read more about his vast library of published books on his website here. 

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• 1978 edition by Four Winds Press
• 182 pages
• Features 19 wild plants and over 60 recipes
• Illustrated throughout by Paul Breeden, a nationally recognized and very prolific American nature and wildlife illustrator
• Includes original dust jacket

{CONDITION}

In lovely vintage condition, this book is very clean and bright throughout. There are no cooking spots, stains or notations. The dust jacket contains some scuffing along the spine and top edge. The spine is tight and all pages are intact. Please see photos.

{SIZE}

Measures 9.25" inches (length) x 7.75" inches (width) x 1.75" inches (depth) and weighs 1.8 lbs