Foraging in Central Park

So what? Are you going to eat out of garbage cans? must be a joke that forager Wildman Steve Brill hears all the time because it was a joke more than one of my friends made when I told them about my foraging tour of Central Park.

Every two weeks, all summer long, Steve Brill leads tours of Central Park looking for food and encouraging folks to dig it up, pull it out and eat it. On our tour, we identified over 15 plants we could eat and a few poisonous we’re never put to our lips.

While the group was larger than I thought it would be, and the interaction much less, it did get me into parts of the park I’d never been: Belvedere Castle (wisteria for ice cream) and the Ramble (sassafras for tea).

It’s not something I’d recommend to first time visitors to New York, but for folks who are familiar with the city, it’s certainly an interesting and educational twist. This week we’re staying in suite hotel so I was able to clean some Kentucky Coffee Tree pods (poison until cooked!) and just need to get brave enough to roast them for three hours in the oven. I’m also going to brew Vic some tea the next evening we’re in early.

Looking for Food in Central Park