We are passionate about wild foods and eager to share the joy of discovery with you. Our environment is rich with natural nourishment just waiting to be appreciated.

Identifying and collecting wild foods is second nature for some and daunting for others. The wild brings images of tranquility, mystery, connectedness and danger. Foraging for wild foods is a multifaceted activity that brings you in touch with everything from biology to ecology, linguistics, history, storytelling, and so much more. If you can tell the difference between a head of lettuce and spinach, you are ready to start identifying plants and mushrooms. 

Here are some resources that can help get you started:

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Where to Start

For a budding wildcrafter eager to learn the first step, please read this blog post:

• A Beginner's Guide to Foraging by Dyson Forbes

Happy harvesting!

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Books for Cooking

Books by First Nations and non-First Nations authors that focus on traditional and modern First Nations cooking:

• Indian Recipes by Bernard Assiniwi (Copp Clark)
• American Indian Cooking by Carolyn Niethammer (University of Nebraska Press)
• Body, Mind and Spirit: Native Cooking of the Americas by Beverly Cox (Native Peoples)
• Feast! Canadian Native Cuisine For All Seasons by Andrew George Jr. & Robert Gairns (Doubleday)
• Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes & Traditions by Fernando & Marlene Divina (Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian) ("This book will inspire many cooks")
• Tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane Chartrand, with Jennifer Cockrall-King
• The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman, Beth Dooley

Cookbooks dedicated exclusively to wild foods:

• The Wild Food Gourmet by Anne Gardon (Firefly Books)
• Reap without Sowing by Erika E. Gaertner (GSPH)
• The Wild Gourmet by Babette Brackett & Maryann Lash (Godine)
• Wild Plums in Brandy by Sylvia Boorman (McGraw-Hill Ryerson)
• A Taste of the Wild by Blanche Pownall Garrett
• Wild Foods Cookbook & Field Guide by Billy Joe Tatum (Workman)
• Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers by Roger Phillips (Little, Brown)
• Wild in the Kitchen: Recipes for Wild Fruits, Weeds, and Seeds by Ronna Mogelon (M. Evans)
• The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir by Pascal Baudar (Chelsea Green)
• Wildcrafted Fermentation: Exploring, Transforming, and Preserving the Wild Flavors of Your Local Terroir by Pascal Baudar (Chelsea Green)
• Foraging and Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook by Dina Falconi (Botanical Arts Press)
• Forage, Harvest, Feast: 40 Plants, 500 Recipes, a Wild-Inspired Cuisine by Marie Viljoen
• The Forager's Feast: How to Identify, Gather, and Prepare Wild Edibles by Leda Meredith
• The Deerholme Mushroom Book: From Foraging to Feasting by Bill Jones
• The Deerholme Foraging Book: Wild Foods and Recipes from the Pacific Northwest By Bill Jones

Books on brewing with wild foods:

• The Wildcrafting Brewer by Pascal Baudar (Chelsea Green)
• The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart

 
Books with the most amazing mushroom recipes (and photos):

• The Ultimate Mushroom Book by Peter Jordan & Steven Wheeler (Acropolis Books) ("You cannot look at this book without becoming hungry")
• The Mushroom Lover’s Mushroom Cookbook and Primer by Amy Farges (Workman)

 
Books on wild fish and game: 

• Wild Game Cuisine by George Politis (Firefly Books)
• The Wild Menu by Christopher Ray (Willow Creek Press)
• The Wild Fish and Game Cookbook by John Manikowski (Artisan Press)

Some of them have recipes that include wild fruits, vegetables, grains, and root crops.

 
Books that will tell you the various uses of wild plants: 

• Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons 
• The Wild Food Trail Guide by Alan Hall
• The Edible Wild by Berndt Berglund & Clare E. Bolsby
• The Foxfire series (published by Anchor books in the early 1970s)
• Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants by Stephen Facciola

 
Contemporary books with lovely recipes from highly inventive chefs:

• Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by René Redzepi
• The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir by Pascal Baudar
• The Boreal Gourmet: Adventures in Northern Cooking by Michele Genest 

 
Other wild recipe resources: 

• The Ontario Harvest Cookbook by Julia Aitken & Anita Stewart (Macmillan)
• A Taste of Quebec by Julian Armstrong (Macmillan)
• Northern Bounty: A Celebration of Canadian Cuisine (Random House)

A book with literally hundreds of wild food recipes:

• Northern Cookbook by Eleanor A. Ellis (Hurtig) *out-of-print
  
  

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Books for Identification

Highly recommended identification books and field guides:

• A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern & Central North America by Roger Tory Peterson & Lee Allen Peterson (any of the Petersons guides are worth picking up)
• Mushrooms of Ontario and Eastern Canada by George Barron (any of the Lone Pine guides are worth picking up)
• Field Guide to Medicinal Wild Plants by Bradford Angier
• Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora
• Mushrooms: A comprehensive guide to mushroom identification by Roger Phillips
• Le grande livre des champignons by Raymond McNeil (a must have, even if you don't speak french)
• North American Boletes; a Color Guide to the Fleshy Pored Mushrooms by Alan E. Bessette, William C. Roody, & Arleen R. Bessette 
• Boletes of Eastern North America and Milk Mushrooms of North America: A Field Identification Guide to the Genus Lactarius by Alan E. Bessette, William C. Roody, & Arleen R. Bessette
• North American Boletes by Alan E. Bessette

Please note that many mushroom and plant ID books may have different latin names than you will find online. Mushrooms such as Pheasant backs have been changed from Polyporus Squamosus to Cerioporus squamosus and Boletus hortonii has changed to Hemileccinum hortonii. These name changes happen as a result of better more accurate classifications and further research. Books are an excellent resource however posting photos for ID online, in Facebook groups and other ID communities means you can ask follow up questions such as "how does Suillus Luteus differ from Suillus Grevillei?" 

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Online Resources

Here are a few of the best websites and Facebook groups dedicated to wild foods, and the harvesting of local plants and mushrooms:

• ONTARIO MUSHROOM HUNTERS AND FORAGERS
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wild.Foods/
• Wild Plant & Mushroom Identification & Discussion
• Mushroom Identification Page
• The Mushroom Identification Group
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/ediblewildplants/
• https://notfarfromthetree.org/
• https://onforestfoods.net/
• https://www.ontarionature.org/
• https://www.mushroomexpert.com
• The Bolete Filter

These Ontario specific guides are a wealth of free information:

• Ontario Nature Northern Forest Foraging Guide
• Ontario Nature Harvesting and Processing Edible Wild Plants Guide
  
• Ontario Nature Edible Wild Plants
• Public Health Ontario Foraged Mushroom Consumption in Ontario

To learn more about growing and cooking mushrooms, the following groups are particularly helpful: 

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/mycocuisine
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/MushroomGrowing

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Foraged Forays

• Fervent Finds
• OMHAF - Ontario Mushroom Hunters And Foragers
• https://www.myctor.org/
• Wild Foragers Society