hi--

im going to be living in a small coastal village in Ireland for the summer and I am wondering if anyone knows anything about foraging there; ie what sort of plants/wild edibles might be available and especially seaweed too (maybe funky rob knows?). We had a large garden last summer but i suspect noones touched it much this year and it will be probably 6 weeks after i get there before theres much available besides parsley, lettuce, and leaf-beet, so i was hoping that i could supplement with wild edibles. im also thinking of planting some wheatgrass outside to juice. im trying to save on grocery bills and anyway the variety and availability of fresh produce in the shops there is horrible (especially organic). any advice for wild edibles and/or advice for a guidebook for wild greens and seaweeds in that part of the world?

thanks much

kaybee

I'll check with a friend in Ireland to see if he knows any local resources for you

[rawfoodtrip.blogspot.com]
[jugglingforjoy.com]

Hi Kaybee

Well, I've heard that all seaweed is edible, but I've not reserached that to see if it is true or not. The main thing with seaweed is that when you buy seaweed it will usually have been harvested from deeper sea where it is cleaner, but you will be able to tell if the waters around where you are are clean or not.

The classic guide for wild foods is "Food for Free" by Richard Mabey, which also includes some seaweeds. It's not ideal, sometimes it is hard to identify stuff from the photos given and a lot of space is taken up in the book with recipes for cooking the wild plants! (It's still a very useful book though.)

If you have internet access where you will be, a better way would maybe to try and find a field guide to the local plants (or wildflowers) and then you can use [www.pfaf.org] to find out which ones are edible.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]