Hunting and gathering is in our DNA. Very few of us in America subsist on doing either one these days. Major disruptions raise the profile of both activities. COVID 19 has not only reduced income for tens of millions of Americans it has also led to shortages of staple foods. An increase in the number headlines and of books published on growing your own food and foraging suggests that some of us want to take food self-reliance to the individual level.
I explored the idea of growing of your own food last year in a dedicated Talk to Me About Food episode. In that story I looked at examples of a food forest, or forest garden, where humans plan out, plant and harvest from perennial food sources like fruits, nuts, edible greens, and mushrooms.
I was also intrigued by the idea of foraging in the wild; of harvesting what life produces on its own and leaves us for the taking, season after season, year after year.
I recently reached out to two expert foragers who forage very different ecosystems. Twila Cassadore lives in Arizona. Sam Thayer is in Wisconsin. They share with me how they got into foraging, what they get out of it – which goes beyond better taste, higher nutritive density, and cost -- and how many of us can also benefit from harvesting what nature sows.