John Kallas - Edible wild plants: wild foods from dirt to plate

Edible Wild Plants

Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate

John Kallas, Ph.D.

Edible Wild Plants

Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2010 John Kallas, Ph.D.

Photographs 2010 John Kallas, unless otherwise noted

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

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ISBN: 978-1-4236-1659-7

There are many people who have inspired and supported me over the years, and that support came in spite of the fact that I was pursuing a nonconventional field and career that few beyond myself took seriously. Dr. John Beaman, the former curator at the Michigan State University Herbarium, was a role model and enabler who gave a young upstart the resources, space, respect, and personal attention to seriously study the world of edible plants.

Drs. Louis Twardzik and Louis Moncrief, the former Chairs of the Department of Park and Recreation Resources at Michigan State, both helped me on my path. It was Dr. Twardzik who encouraged me as young graduate student and provided me with the opportunity to teach wild foods at Michigan Statethe start of my professional career. It was Dr Moncriefs challenge for me to do something to genuinely advance the field of wild foods that led me to go on for an advanced degree in nutrition.

Dr. Kathryn Kolasa opened my eyes to the importance of cultural foodways and how much peoples behaviors related to food can tell us about food, humans, and human ingenuity. It was Dr. Jenny Bonds unconditional support that helped me complete my doctoral program with style.

Access to land is an important factor in research and teaching about wild foods. I want to thank the grounds crew at Michigan State University, specifically the Beal Botanical Garden, for the unlimited access the staff has given me over the years; my longtime friends Shari and Daniel Raider, for the continuing access to their wonderful Sauvie Island Organics Farm; the Portland Parks Department and the folks at Portland Metro, for helping me actualize our shared mission of educating the public about the regions amazing natural resources, particularly Jim Sjulin, for opening the door for me years ago; Leonard and Therese Tardif, whose swamp is one of my favorite teaching and research areas; my longtime friends Kevin and Deb Howard, whose land in the foothills of Mount Adams is generously offered each year; and all those countless others who have been so kind to offer their land all over North America to a fellow just trying to learn, teach, and make a difference.

I want to thank Dawn Lesley-Carper, who purchased the first copy of this book several years before it was written in a sweet gesture of support. And my brother Dean, who has always been there if and when I needed him.

For thirteen years, Dana Coffee has generously granted me use of the photograph of me holding the wild salad. That relatively candid photograph captured me doing what I love to doteach. It has served me well over the years and has become my company logo. Thanks, Dana, for being that great photographer.

My approach to the field of wild foods requires that I be a generalist. I observationally study plants in the field; read the botanical, historical, anthropological, nutrition, and food composition literature; interview practitioners; conduct processing and cooking experiments; and teach my findings to the general public. And while I can call upon my skills as a scientist when appropriate, my chosen role is now more of an investigative reporter for the general public. Other than when I have specific questions I am trying to answer, I do not have the time to steep myself in a more global understanding of nutrition researchwhich is vast and complex, filled with its own controversies. So I turned to my longtime friends and nutrition professionals Ginny Messina and Dr. Mark Messina, who gave me valuable input on the nutrition chapter. This book is better because of their comments and suggestions.

And finally, I want to thank those who have provided me with places to live and work at prices I could afford. Longtime friends Kaj Gyr and Scott Bandoroff and, most recently, Donna Violette have been instrumental in making it possible for me to have this career and to write this book. Without their support, I would not be where I am today. Thank you all.

I spent my youth in a quiet suburban midwestern neighborhood. Fascinated with nature, I spent much of this time in nearby woods, riverbanks, and old farm fields. Like many children, I was fascinated with outdoor skills, often building shelters, making bows and arrows from sticks and string, rubbing sticks together to make fire, eating wild berries, and stalking squirrels, rabbits, and frogs. I dreamt of living in the wilderness by using these survival skills.

By the early 1970s, my interests began to focus more specifically on wild foods. Initially, through the study of Bradford Angiers book How to Stay Alive in the Woods (1956), and shortly thereafter by Allan Halls The Wild Food Trailguide (1973), and by Euell Gibbons Stalking the Wild Asparagus (1962), I seriously began studying and gathering edible wild plants.

While pursuing a science curriculum at Michigan State University, I organized a six-month vagabonding trip for myself through Europe. I planned to supplement my diet with wild foods, hoping to save some money during my travels. In preparation, I took college courses in wilderness survival, nutrition, and edible wild plants.

I spent my time in the European countryside, traveling on old back roads and through small villages where tourists did not travel. In the mid 1970s, these areas were less affected by modern American culture then they are today. People were still practicing traditional foodways. In the process of traveling, I met locals who invited me for dinner or to stay with them a few days. I routinely asked the food preparers if they knew of and used any wild foods. They almost always did and gladly showed me what they knew. After studying in this way for months, I was getting all of my vegetables from wild plants. Upon returning to the States and with encouragement from administrators and professors, I began teaching senior-level classes in edible wild plants at Michigan State University. That continued from 1978 to 1985.

While teaching and working on my masters and doctorate degrees, I studied botany under Dr. John Beaman, curator of the MSU herbarium. I also took conventional botany and taxonomy courses. Over the years, many wild food research expeditions were conducted, including ones to Washington, D.C., North Carolina, West Virginia, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, California, British Columbia, and Alberta. My PhD in nutrition is helping me achieve my long-term goal of advancing the field of wild foods. My formal academic training has helped me learn about nutrients, human physiology and biochemistry, cultural foodways, anthropology, food preparation, and nutritional toxicology.