
Wanting the Unwanted: Why Eat Weeds - juanplusjuan
http://www.rootedfood.com/musings/2015/4/1/a-foraged-affair
======
ChuckMcM
I believe the premise to be false, while it is true that you can eat many
different "weeds" I cannot find any methodology or theory where that doing so
increases the efficiency of land use. There are some key things like nutrients
in == nutrients out and digestibility in humans which is not a given.

That said, there were some interesting recipes for what are nominally weeds in
the Foxfire[1], and Euell Gibbons books[2] which were certainly edible
although nothing I've tried really struck me as exceptional. As Boy Scouts we
got a merit badge for creating a meal out of locally harvested plants, that
was fun.

[1]
[http://www.foxfire.org/thefoxfirebooks.aspx](http://www.foxfire.org/thefoxfirebooks.aspx)

[2] [http://www.amazon.com/Euell-Gibbons-Handbook-Edible-
Plants/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Euell-Gibbons-Handbook-Edible-
Plants/dp/0915442787)

~~~
sliverstorm
What "weeds" does do for you is increase the amount of useful land. Many of
our favorite crops require very preferential choice in land.

~~~
gus_massa
I'm not sure that it makes economical sense once you subtract the labor cost
to plant and harvest them (or plant, harvest, classify, clean, transport and
sell them).

My family is form Jujuy (in the north of Argentina) and we went many times to
visit the Quebrada de Humahuaca (
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebrada_de_Humahuaca](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebrada_de_Humahuaca)
) that is a nice but not very fertile place. In every site that you have a
little of horizontal land and some water there is a small farm, and you see
there potatoes and maize.

~~~
rootedfood
While you don't have to plant them (because they're weeds and volunteer), you
do have to harvest and it is a challenge that we're working on. Economic
sustainability/feasibility is extremely important.

------
gggggggg
Something to keep in mind here is that once a viable market is found then the
product will be fully commercialised and mass-produced. No longer will poor
conditions be good enough when compared to the yield you get from ideal
conditions.

Then we will start fertilising them, then tweaking the seeds etc etc etc. And
before long it will be just like anything else grown on the land.

------
danhodgins
Right place, right time, right plant. Don't eat weeds from places where they
may have been sprayed by pesticides or pets. I put dandelion (literally "teeth
of the lion" or dans de lion in french) in my smoothies weekly. It's pretty
bitter and tastes of the earth, so if you make a smoothie use copious amounts
of lemon juice and/or orange juice to make it taste a little bit better. There
are all sorts of little-known health benefits to dandelion. They are PACKED
with all sorts of nutrients. People even grow them deliberately in gardens in
Europe. Some people also make dandelion wine and dandelion coffee. Google this
stuff - you might be surprised. In an abstract sense weeds are a bit like
startups because they take unwanted resources (heat, light, soil, space) and
'add value' through unique processes e.g. photosynthesis to turn them into
something else. In a strange way I find weeds inspiring.

~~~
jp555
Packed with _micronutrients_. There is almost no macronutrient in dandelion,
as besides water it's almost entirely indigestible cellulose fibre. But that
fibre is actually the most beneficial aspect by far. By "packed" we mean a few
micrograms of calcium, asorbic acid, & other micros dandelion offers, which is
completely drowned out by the micros found in the other food one eats. Unless
you're eating kilograms of it every week? Not that the reason you're eating it
matters, the fibre is good for you no matter what you believe.

~~~
shin_lao
Sorry to correct you, but Dandelion was used as medicine for centuries and is
packed with vitamins (A especially) and B1, B2, C and E as well as a lot of
minerals. OP was correct.

I would however advise against eating too much of it because of its notorious
laxative effect. :-)

~~~
jp555
Packed? A lot? In 100g of dandelion, how much vitamins & minerals do you think
there are? I'd be surprised if it was more than 1 gram in total. It's more
likely a lot less than 1%.

The fibre is the most beneficial component by mass by a huge margin.

~~~
swsieber
I don't think mass is the right way to measure things. I think the correct way
to measure things would be by % of daily target. What if you only need 1/100
by mass of some other nutrient vs fiber?

~~~
jp555
Recommend daily amount is tricky because it may not reflect our most current
understanding, but it is a good starting point. For example the RDA of vitamin
D is 600IU/day, but there has been evidence that up to 10x this dose continues
to provide benefit. While once you have your RDA of other vitamins, any more
will just be flushed out of you so it's irrelevant.

------
radicalbyte
One of my favorites is rucola/arugula - it's a weed but it's really quite nice
in a salad. Very strong nutty flavor.

You can buy a cultivated version in in supermarkets here (NL) but it's nowhere
near as strong.

Peppermint + spearmint are also weeds which are commonly grown for use in
cooking or tea.

~~~
gus_massa
Since a few years, rucula is mainstream here in Argentina. Every time you go
to a restaurant most people order a rucula salad.

~~~
bmj
This has been my experience in the U.S. as well (at least where I am). It's a
very popular crop at the local farmers' markets because it is easier to grow.

My family really enjoys it. Dumping it on pizza is quite good, and you can
make a fine pesto from it (instead of basil).

------
muddyrivers
It is a very interesting topic beyond food.

When I first came to America, I was surprised and confused by the lack of
diversity on vegetables in grocery stores. Around the small Midwest town I
lived, there were many weeds that look edible. I had never heard any local
Americans eat them, though. I thought it was simply because there were a
surplus of food in America.

Many many years passed. In our backyard, there are many weeds that look
edible. I have tried only two, dandelion and a kind of fern. I hesitate on the
others, although some looks similar to what I had eaten before. I am concerned
they might cause health issues, from minor stomach discomfort to serious food
poisoning.

It is not like I had no experience in forage. I regularly foraged for weeds,
ferns, mushrooms when I was a child. I love them better than carrots,
celeries, cabbages, etc. They simply tasted better. But I hesitate at the
weeds and mushrooms in my backyard.

Whenever I see some new vegetables in the fantastic Berkeley Bowl, I will get
some, google recipes, and try them. Whenever I see these weeds in restaurant
menu, I will order to have a try. First, because I love trying new things.
Second, I believe it is sustainable, both from where I grow up and from my
education. But I still hesitate at the weeds and mushrooms in my backyard.

One can explain it from the point of view of evolution. Somehow, I feel it is
more than that.

~~~
sliverstorm
Avoiding wild mushrooms is generally a good plan without a lot of education
and training in mushroom ID.

Few weeds will kill you, but quite a large percentage of wild mushrooms are
harmful. The ones you find in the supermarket are the exception.

~~~
jonnathanson
Yup. It's generally a good idea to avoid any wild berries, nuts, seeds, or
mushrooms that you aren't 100% certain you recognize. If there's even a sliver
of uncertainty, it's not worth the risk.

------
vishaldpatel
Is there any good information about the nutritional content and popular weeds
and what they taste like?

~~~
rootedfood
There's some information about there about nutrition, but not much, which is
why we're working on it! Also working on the digital field guide, but for now
we have the printed guide with a $15 donation to Berkeley Open Source Food.

------
jawngee
Pretty interesting, but you do have to be careful with eating a number of
"weeds" that grow everywhere. A good friend of mine in high school ended up
strapped down to a gurney for a few days after overdosing on jimsonweed. He
was never quite right after that.

~~~
rootedfood
Yes, you definitely have to be extremely careful!

------
douche
I know a fair number of old-timers that still eat dandelion greens and
fiddleheads and pigweed. Fortunately, New England is a place with few very
poisonous things, although it is important to check that you are picking
fiddleheads and not wood ferns...

~~~
_delirium
Dandelion greens are a pretty normal "green" in Greece, used in salads roughly
the same way that the southern U.S. uses turnip greens or collard greens (i.e.
boiled, w/ lemon juice, oil, and/or vinegar). But picking them wild is a
different situation than buying them in a marketplace.

------
vinchuco
Here's a YouTube channel of a guy eating all sorts of foraged weeds and
plants.

[https://youtube.com/user/EatTheWeeds](https://youtube.com/user/EatTheWeeds)

------
cbd1984
The problem with eating weeds is that people spray them with toxins which
aren't meant for things humans are going to eat. Do they wash off? Who knows?
They haven't been evaluated for that use-case.

------
jMyles
A fun little video I made of a foraged brunch I attended last year:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpvKl11FABk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpvKl11FABk)

------
kilolima
"Open Source" Food is name only- they demand a $15 donation to see their field
guide. Until then, good luck not eating something toxic.

~~~
reitanqild
Nothing inherently wrong with charging money to supply you with open source
products.

The problem however is sustainability: once a customer gets the source they
can give it away/sell it etc.

~~~
sliverstorm
We are spoiled; "open source" has come to mean in many people's minds, "free
as in speech AND beer"

------
a8da6b0c91d
The premise that weeds are a suitable food for humans is wrong. Most of these
plants are loaded with toxins. You can't eat them in any quantity for calories
without getting poisoned.

Cows and goats and sheep can eat these things, though, because they have more
advanced digestive systems. The udder provides an added toxin filtration
system.

In theory you might be able to design an efficient system to detoxify wild
plants such as grass and weeds directly into a high quality human food. At
this moment cheese is already an incredibly effective way to use wild forage
to make human food.

