Reply To: Foraging 14: Light Harvesting

[Astrid Korporaal]

I eat about 300 grams of fruits and vegetables each day, more if you also count grains and protein, since I’m vegetarian. It would be quite hard to forage substitutes for this in the city I think, though it might be possible in the summer, for a day, like some others have said, since it seems like a lot of ‘weeds’ can be used for salads, and you would have berries and nuts. It would be a lot of work gathering, especially if you didn’t want to take too much from one place. I’m reading a book at the moment, ‘Trees of Power’ by Akiva Silver, which argues that it would be better for the planet if we gathered our food from trees rather than crops, because we wouldn’t have to disturb the soil and would release less co2. It makes me wonder what it would be like if we had more food trees in cities, so people could gather food – that would definitely encourage me to feel better about foraging more often. There is also a great documentary by Agnes Varda, ‘The Gleaners and I’ about disappearing rights to gather leftover crops from fields, and people who survive off food ‘waste’ they gather in cities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn8nHJTb_LY