Gather round: how modern urbanites can safely forage wild plants and reduce their food footprint

For most of human history, foraging was a core part of how we sustained ourselves. But it’s a skill that few modern urbanites (and even many sea- or tree-changers) have honed. Long accustomed to ready-harvested produce, we’ve lost touch with the knack of recognising food in the wild – even if that “wild” is just in our own back yard.

In recent decades, urban foraging has gained pace – and in Australia, interest in native ingredients is booming. From dandelions in our garden beds to purslane on the dunes or that mulberry tree in your local park, there is an abundance of produce ready for gentle harvesting by those with a keen eye and a bit of knowledge.

Why are we drawn to forage?

Diego Bonetto, an edible weed advocate who runs foraging tours around Sydney, says there’s many reasons people come to his workshops but an underlying theme seems to be a desire to ease environmental anxieties. “People are stressed about the state of the world,” he says, but learning to forage can quell some primal fears. “It’s very reassuring that even if the world collapses you can find something to eat.”

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How does it help?

Arabella Douglas, founder of Currie Country, an Indigenous organisation that offers advice on native ingredients and foraging, says switching out monocrop agricultural staples for wild harvested foods whenever possible offers a myriad of benefits. “Logistically it’s a saving, cost-wise it’s a saving, food security-wise it’s a saving,” she says. “And of course, native flora nurtures and regenerates the soil.”

Even having some native edibles potted in your yard or on your balcony can have a “marvellous impact” in urban areas, she says, as this supports native insect colonies.

Harvesting invasive imports like three-cornered garlic, for example, can relieve pressure on native ecologies. And even the simplest actions – like grabbing a lemon from a neighbour’s tree (with permission, of course), snatching a sprig of rosemary poking out from a fence line or getting your bay leaves from a council-planted specimen – will reduce the carbon footprint of getting food on to your plate.

Where to start

Bonetto says the best place to start is in your own back yard and the streets around your home. “When you plant any kind of garden at home you will soon notice spontaneous flora, and many of those are totally edible, people just don’t recognise them.”

It’s best to start with just a handful of species. “Choose things that are easy to recognise like dandelion, mallow and chickweed,” Bonetto suggests. Then learn how to prepare them to your taste.

Of course, in most cities there’s also an abundance of more familiar produce that you’ll notice hanging over fences, in community-managed garden strips and in public spaces. Just always be sure to use common sense and civic-mindedness before you help yourself.

Do your homework

There are hundreds of edible plant species growing wild across the country but both Bonetto and Douglas reckon that unless you’re prepared to develop a significant level of expertise it’s best to stick to the basics. They both caution strongly against foraging on roadsides, or anywhere you’re not sure what the vegetation has been exposed to.

Bonetto doesn’t recommend using apps, which he says can be misleading, but instead suggests attending a local workshop to get some hands-on experience activating all your senses as you learn to distinguish delicious weeds from their occasionally noxious cousins.

For Douglas, that homework begins with research into the flavour profiles of native edibles and learning which ones are suitable for your area. “All that kind of information is readily available with a quick Google search, or from great books like [Samantha Martin’s] Bush Tukka Guide and plenty of others.”

Then it can be as simple as a trip to Bunnings, which these days has a pretty solid collection of edible native seedlings on offer.

Foraging at home

While there’s a certain romance to wandering the streets or countryside in search of wild bites, cultivating a range of self-sustaining edibles at home that you can pick as you need is another way to do it. Douglas says this doesn’t just help local ecosystems, but it takes care of maintenance issues as well.

“Get rid of the lawn, have natives; work with the environment and let it feed you,” she says. Most native edibles are great self-sustainers and once planted will continue to self-seed, unlike a traditional veggie patch where it’s a matter of rotating crops.

She recommends any variety of saltbush. “They’re amazing, crazy growers and it’s hard to kill them.” Pigface, warrigal greens and lemon myrtle are some other no-brainers, while samphire, a native succulent, “can be great in stir-fries”.

Bonetto adds that if your gardening game doesn’t extend that far, simply allowing your garden to become a shambles of weeds you know well is a low-to-no-effort way to have free greens year round.

Foraging elsewhere

For those keen to take their foraging beyond their back yard, Bonetto suggests connecting with local bush regeneration or landcare groups. These groups, often connected with local councils, exist all over Australia with a mandate to protect native ecologies – and in the process they extract many edible weeds. With full insurance, a wealth of experience (and tea and biscuits, Bonetto adds), “they have full authority to pull out these weeds by the bagful, they know what they are doing and will be happy to teach you and share the bounty”.

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“It’s perfect” he says. “First of all you look after native ecologies, and secondly you fill up your fridge.”

Douglas says it’s important to reach out to traditional owner groups before foraging natives on any public land. This is an issue that’s not well understood, she says, “but if you forage the hell out of [our] lands and [we] have nothing to forage, that can put [us] in a position where we are unable to prove we are maintaining cultural connection and that can actually put our native title and human rights at risk”. Coastal environments can be at particular risk for this, but it includes any crown land, according to Douglas.

Both Bonetto and Douglas encourage anyone collecting wild food to always exercise restraint and respect. While for most hobbyists foraging bounties won’t replace the weekly grocery shop, Douglas hopes people will continue to explore the personal and environmental benefits of the practice.

“Light-foot living is the future,” she says. “Food security starts at home and it continues in your street and your neighbourhood.” Happy foraging.