Gary Lincoff (1942–2018)

I loved this guidebook! Fantastic information packed into every single space it had.

I’ve recently gotten into foraging after reading the amazing The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, but until now I’ve just been reading about plants I’ve actually seen and already identified in my area. The Joy of Foraging is the first book I’ve picked up, and I don’t think I could’ve found a better one.

It’s broad, but it also has specific sections: how to forage (and how to be ethical about show more it); finding edible wild plants in the kitchen, in the marketplace, and in the wild; the edible wild plants growing at your feet; wild plant identification (the biggest section); recipes.

What I loved most was the inclusion of which culture (if any) uses the plant the most and for what, special precautions when it comes to eating certain plants, and if you need to be careful eating too much of one plant or one part of a plant. I do also wish there were more pictures, but every space on the page was being used, so it’s hard to really fault it for that.

I’m definitely going to reference this book often. show less

This is a good introduction to mushroom hunting, identifying, eating, etc. It is nice because it takes an gourmand's approach, teaching and describing the most important edible varieties that are easier to identify, and leaving the more difficult ones to other books. I also like that it treats the psychedelic and psycho-therapeutic aspects of mushrooms just as rationally and with as much depth as mushrooms for eating.

It is not, however, a field guide. It would not be convenient to take into show more the field, and in some cases it is just more filled with pretty pictures than a practical guide. show less

It's always tricky relying on photos to identify mushrooms, but it's a good start to identify potentially harmful members of the various families. Always err on the side of caution! And, note the fact that this book is more useful for European fungi than for North American fungi. Yes, many mushrooms found in Europe will also be found in NA, but there are quite a few mushrooms in this book which are found only in Europe.

I find cross referencing this book with the Audubon book works well in instilling confidence when foraging. This book is a bit more conservative on what is deemed deadly than the Audubon book. It often lists mushrooms that are hallucinogenic as poison while the Audubon book describes them as hallucinogenic. It also lists mushrooms like the alcohol inky cap as poisonous (skull and cross bones) when it really isn't, but can have some adverse effects on people. The strength of this book really show more lies in the close up and frequent cross-section photos and its ease of use. show less