EXILE Infoshop » Wild & Free Food Ottawa

Wild & Free Food Ottawa

This month we received a new zine called Wild and Free Food in Toronto.  It was graciously donated by the author known as “the nature girl” by her old school mates and to the rest of us folk as Leda the wild food forager.  Based on years of experimentation and research on her own accord she has been spreading her knowledge of edible wild plants throughout the DIY community.   Although Leda has a wealth of knowledge on the topic she does have a disclaimer.  She admits to being self-taught without any formal education so with that in mind do your own research and be cautious when foraging.  In the back of her zine she lists some great reference books to help you on your way to eating local and sustainable without spending a dime.  Leda also takes the time to tell us about some of the million and one uses of some of the most common plants found in your own backyard or parking lot dirt patch.  Some such plants were introduced to the continent through colonial expansion and remained here as invasive as their imperial masters.  Some of these “weeds” are edible so we can help control their invasive nature through feeding our hungry bellies.

Although our bellies were full from snacking while on shift at Exile, Leda invited us out for a tour of our own community but with fresh eyes.   I brought my camera along even though the  weather today was touch and go.  I still managed to take some good shots of our bountiful edible flora.  While we toured Centretown I noticed her snacking most of the way on the varieties of edible wild plants that we identified.  She noted which ones to avoid and how to identify plants using all your senses, not just your eyes.  For those of you who saw the movie, “Into the Wild”, or read the book, you should know better than to trust your eyes alone.  Developing a taste for wild food is also key to enjoying the freedom of wild food foraging.  Leda gave us some tips and tricks on how to integrate wild food into your palette, since most often people have a hard time adjusting to the bitterness and digestive properties of certain plants.  I look forward to her wild food recipe book which is still in the works.  In the mean time, I’m going to try my hand at wild food foraging.  I think I will take the long way home this afternoon, I might enjoy a little snack.

There will be some photos of the tour for your enjoyment to come in the next couple of hours.

Disclaimer: Please don’t try to forage based on these photos alone, as there are some plants that look almost identical to the edible ones but are highly toxic.

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