Next time you pass a weed field, take a closer look—your next meal could be hiding there. TikTok forager, farmer, and educator Amelia (@theoriginalmealchan) of Black Sun Farm posted a video of her cooking a particularly thorny weed for dinner.
scoop
“There's so much greenbriar growing here,” she says at the beginning of the video, showing off the waxy green leaves.[They have] Those dreaded thorns that everyone hates. They're like barbed wire but you can eat the tips. They taste like kidney beans so I'm going to fill a little bag with them and have them for dinner tonight!”
She demonstrates a simple yet delicious method of preparing it in a skillet by sautéing ground beef, purple yam, onion, garlic salt, and foraged dandelion and red clover.
“I ate a lot of these today!” she wrote in the caption, “and when I told a stranger passing by what they were, he started rummaging through them!”
structure
Choosing to eat weeds instead of throwing them away may seem unconventional, but weed foraging is becoming more and more popular as people learn about its many benefits.
First, food foraging is incredibly low-cost compared to grocery shopping — in fact, it's often free — especially since much of the food that's foraged is something people wouldn't grow (like this thorny weed).
Sign up for our newsletter and get the best news, eco-friendly hacks, and the latest in cool clean tech delivered straight to your inbox every week.
Nature is also great for our physical and mental health. The simple act of spending time in nature, particularly gardening and foraging, has been shown to reduce stress and improve mental health. And foraged foods are generally more nutritious than grocery products, which tend to lose a surprising percentage of their nutrients, vitamins, and minerals during transport.
For these reasons, food foraging and home gardening have expanded in the US and Europe, and in the UK, more than 33% of adults grow at least some percentage of their own food, according to Cladco Decking. Civil Eats also reported that traffic to food foraging blogs and influencer websites has increased by 500% during the pandemic, and it expects this trend to continue.
Plant collecting is also surprisingly easy: anywhere plants can be found, from yards to public land, community garden plots, and even urban strips. (If you've ever seen a dandelion, it might be in a tasty salad.)
What people are saying
Commenters were impressed and excited about the recipe, which uses healthy ingredients.
“That's amazing!” one person enthused. “I've always wanted to try this since I was growing them.”
“Thank you for sharing your knowledge!” another person chimed in.
If you want more tips to get started growing your own food, check out TCD's step-by-step guide.
Sign up for our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less and help yourself while helping the planet.
