Food for Free

The definitive guide to collecting wild food. Wierdly, this book of "edible wild plants" opens with shellfish but it is both informative and engrossing. Read for reference or education, it is pleasing on every level. The recipes are integral to the text and not laid out in conventional cookery style but this a book about plants to eat rather than a kitchen handbook. To be fully effective, this wonderful volume should be used alongside a botanist's field guide and a chef's recipe book.

A very interesting book, including recipes and ideas for how to use natural ingredients gathered from woods, fields and seashore. I've tested out the nettle soup, and it was delicious!
However the sections on identifying plants are not very detailed, and the introduction recommends the use of a separate guide to identification. The book would also be improved by cross-referencing the list at the front, stating what foods are available in which month, with the entries on the relevant plants.

The first version of the book that started it all