Book review: Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants by Christopher Nyerges.
Published by Chicago Review Press (the same publisher as for Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry D. Olsen), first edition, 1999. ISBN 1-55652-344-0
238 pages, more than 100 photos and drawings, $14.95 tag.
Written by C. Nyerges the director of School of Self-Reliance ( http://www.self-reliance.net/ ) who has led wild-food outings and survival hikes for 25 years. He is the author of articles in the American Survival Guide, Mother Earth News and The Wild Foods Forum. His other books include Urban Wilderness, Enter the Forest, Wild Greens and Salads: A Cookbook, and Testing Your Outdoor Survival Skills.
The book is organized into a short pictorial key to leave shapes, fruits and seeds followed by the 2-5-page-long description and use of 70 common wild plants. It is finished with two appendices and a glossary. The appendix deals with the illustrated description of safe plant families (that one provides a more comprehensive knowledge of various plants and their identification). The other one discusses various reasons why to eat wild food making a thorough argument. The glossary lists the scientific and botanical terms in alphabetical order that are used in the book. Fortified by numerous illustrations. There is no index however (would be great help to find things later). The book ends with a bibliography list (big plus).
The main text detailing the 70 wild plants is well organized in alphabetical order according to the common names of the plants. The selection of the plants somewhat reflects the author's experience with Californian species. These minichapters are intermitted by few boxes containing useful and interesting additional information (soup from mud!!!, use of salt water for drinking, rock cooking, mosquito repellent plants, wood bread recipe!!!, insects as food). Also, there are few recipes given in the text (acorn bread, nettle soup, watercress soup) as well as few refreshing anecdotes (seaweed as the solution to overpopulation, medieval references to use of rose, Socrates death by poison hemlock etc.).
Typical arrangement of a minichapter:
Plant common, and Latin names, family name with one small blacknwhite photo.
Prominent characteristics to help identification (Overall Shape and Size, Stalks and Stems, Leaves, Flowers, Fruit, Roots)
Beneficial properties (Edible Properties, Medicinal Uses, Other Uses)
Detrimental properties
Where found
Growing cycle
Lore and signature
Plants included: agave, amaranth, black sage, burdock, California bay, California coffee berry, camphor tree, carob, castor bean, cattail, chia, chickweed, chicory, cleavers, currants and gooseberries, dandelion, dock,, elder, epazote, eucalyptus, fennel, glasswort, grass, jimsonweed, mallow, lambs quarter, milkweed, manzanita, miners lettuce, mustard, nettle, oak, passionflower, pinyon pine, plantain, poison hemlock, poison oak, prickly lettuce, prickly pear, purslane, rose, rosemary, seaweeds, shepherds purse, thistles, toothwort, tree tobacco, watercress, wild asparagus, wild onion, willow, wood sorrel, yarrow, yerba santa, yucca. Wow, that was long
I found the book entertaining to read and well organized with tremendous information. It is easy to skip less interesting sections due to its clear format. Contains valuable information on the non-culinary use of these plants but main focus is on edibility and medicinal use. Photos could be better and although identification key is logical and good a guidebook with more photos is a help. Nyergess hands-on experience makes this book an invaluable piece of my wilderness library.
Hope it will stir up some interest and help answering questions on edible plants that pop up regularly at our forum.
HM
[This message has been edited by HM (edited 01-14-2001).]
Published by Chicago Review Press (the same publisher as for Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry D. Olsen), first edition, 1999. ISBN 1-55652-344-0
238 pages, more than 100 photos and drawings, $14.95 tag.
Written by C. Nyerges the director of School of Self-Reliance ( http://www.self-reliance.net/ ) who has led wild-food outings and survival hikes for 25 years. He is the author of articles in the American Survival Guide, Mother Earth News and The Wild Foods Forum. His other books include Urban Wilderness, Enter the Forest, Wild Greens and Salads: A Cookbook, and Testing Your Outdoor Survival Skills.
The book is organized into a short pictorial key to leave shapes, fruits and seeds followed by the 2-5-page-long description and use of 70 common wild plants. It is finished with two appendices and a glossary. The appendix deals with the illustrated description of safe plant families (that one provides a more comprehensive knowledge of various plants and their identification). The other one discusses various reasons why to eat wild food making a thorough argument. The glossary lists the scientific and botanical terms in alphabetical order that are used in the book. Fortified by numerous illustrations. There is no index however (would be great help to find things later). The book ends with a bibliography list (big plus).
The main text detailing the 70 wild plants is well organized in alphabetical order according to the common names of the plants. The selection of the plants somewhat reflects the author's experience with Californian species. These minichapters are intermitted by few boxes containing useful and interesting additional information (soup from mud!!!, use of salt water for drinking, rock cooking, mosquito repellent plants, wood bread recipe!!!, insects as food). Also, there are few recipes given in the text (acorn bread, nettle soup, watercress soup) as well as few refreshing anecdotes (seaweed as the solution to overpopulation, medieval references to use of rose, Socrates death by poison hemlock etc.).
Typical arrangement of a minichapter:
Plant common, and Latin names, family name with one small blacknwhite photo.
Prominent characteristics to help identification (Overall Shape and Size, Stalks and Stems, Leaves, Flowers, Fruit, Roots)
Beneficial properties (Edible Properties, Medicinal Uses, Other Uses)
Detrimental properties
Where found
Growing cycle
Lore and signature
Plants included: agave, amaranth, black sage, burdock, California bay, California coffee berry, camphor tree, carob, castor bean, cattail, chia, chickweed, chicory, cleavers, currants and gooseberries, dandelion, dock,, elder, epazote, eucalyptus, fennel, glasswort, grass, jimsonweed, mallow, lambs quarter, milkweed, manzanita, miners lettuce, mustard, nettle, oak, passionflower, pinyon pine, plantain, poison hemlock, poison oak, prickly lettuce, prickly pear, purslane, rose, rosemary, seaweeds, shepherds purse, thistles, toothwort, tree tobacco, watercress, wild asparagus, wild onion, willow, wood sorrel, yarrow, yerba santa, yucca. Wow, that was long
I found the book entertaining to read and well organized with tremendous information. It is easy to skip less interesting sections due to its clear format. Contains valuable information on the non-culinary use of these plants but main focus is on edibility and medicinal use. Photos could be better and although identification key is logical and good a guidebook with more photos is a help. Nyergess hands-on experience makes this book an invaluable piece of my wilderness library.
Hope it will stir up some interest and help answering questions on edible plants that pop up regularly at our forum.
HM
[This message has been edited by HM (edited 01-14-2001).]