Urban Foraging: Find, Gather, and Cook 50 Wild Plants Hardcover – October 11, 2022

Just what I wanted.

I liked the pictures to identify the plants, the use descriptions, and the recipes.

As someone with only basic plant knowledge, this book was a fun introduction to plants in my urban environment that can be foraged or used. If anything, the book helped expand my understanding of my environment - how many complex species of plant can survive even in a tough environment like cities. But, I wouldn't use this book on its own to harvest those plants for consumption.What I liked - the presentation. The book is hardback with no cover, and has a lovely patterned first page. Everything is clearly laid out and identified, and the author makes sure to have a short and sweet intro to foraging and its risks right in the beginning. Even though I have limited knowledge of foraging, even I know how careful you have to be because it can be so easy to mistake a poisonous plant for a safe one. The descriptions of the different plants and their uses are listed, as well as a special section on individual considerations for each plant, and even some recipes to try. Overall, wonderful!Where this book falls short, in my opinion, is the pictures and descriptions. While the descriptions are detailed the pictures are basic and are of the removed plant from its environment. I think it would have been helpful to have more detailed diagrams or descriptions. Some of the advice is also a bit intimidating - such as seeking out a landowner to ask if they had treated their yard with herbicides because you want to know if it is safe to pick plants off their property. This might be OK if you have a good relationship with your neighbors, but otherwise I would be careful!Overall, though, I did like the book and I think it was a decent introduction to foraging. Even if you do not forage much based upon this book, it will at least expand your understanding of the environment around you - perhaps on your next walk you will be looking more closely at plants your encounter and considering them more.

Urban Foraging is a "field guide" to harvesting edible plants in cities. I was excited to get this book, and my wife is really happy with it. This is because this book does not simply describe edible plants you might find in urban areas, the author offers recipes to help you start using these plants. You might be surprised at some of the plants discussed. For example, catnip. I know my cats are crazy for it, but I really had never thought of using it as an herb for teas, baking, or in cocktails. Or pine in butter, I'd not thought of that. Rose opens her book with a useful overview of foraging in urban areas with essential information about what you need and being careful in harvesting. Pay attention to where you harvest, some areas may have residual toxins. She then discusses about 50 plants you can find in urban areas, including a color photo (much more useful than a line drawing), suggested culinary uses, and things to consider. Next comes a recipe using the plant. This is a general guide, so some plants may not be in your area. I live in a major city in the southwest, and prickly pear cactus are plentiful--but that is not likely true for, say, Maine. To help with regional differences, the author includes a bibliography that offers books on various regions of the USA. The book is well illustrated with color photographs, a conversion chart, and an index. The book has a beautiful embossed cover in hardback. That makes the book slightly heavy if you are packing it with you during foraging, so hopefully a paperback will be out soon to lighten the load. Though I don't think this was designed as such, but there is usually blank space at the beginning and end of each entry. This could be used to record where you harvest the selected plant and to make other notes. A great introduction to urban harvesting for those who want to take that up. But it is also great for recipes about which you might never have thought.

An enjoyable, quick to read, introduction to foraging. I learned there are many common plants around me that are edible, and in the near future, I may test this out. For one, I never knew acorns were edible for humans, and my backyard is currently filled with them. There are lots of pictures, but I wish there were more pictures with full views of the plant. The pictures of the plants would often only show one part of it, which is not very helpful for identification purposes, especially if you are new. I definitely wouldn't recommend going straight to foraging after reading this without bringing another book, an app, or your search engine of choice for identification help. One thing I didn't expect were all the recipes. Probably sixty percent of the plants in this book are accompanied by a recipe that uses them. At least half of those recipes were for things I am not interested in, like tea and cocktail bitters/flavoring, but there were some I'd like to try. These recipes are suited for the adventurous chef, as one might expect from the premise -- adventuring in to the urban wild to gather food. There is definitely some "woo" in here, like claims that a plant will help depression. I can maybe believe an herbal tea will help relieve some cold symptoms, but no way will it replace an antidepressant or modern medicine. Light on the information, this is more of a primer for someone beginning to get interested in foraging.

There are many books on foraging but not many with actual recipes. This one is advertised as having recipes but doesn’t have as many as I expected. I think this book might be good for beginning foragers but I was disappointed with it.