I've already mentioned the excellent nutritional value of wild edible plants; usually they are a lot more nutrient dense than cultivated plant foods, in some cases even a hundred times more! Not only is their vitamin and mineral content higher, they also contain some important phytochemicals that have been bred out in most of our food. These phytochemicals are important antioxidants, antimicrobials and boost our immunity.
Here are some vitamin-content examples:
But apart from that, there's another factor that makes them so interesting to add to your diet: you'll get more variation. Usually Western people eat high amounts of a few species (corn, wheat, soy, sugarbeets, to name a few). I may be more interesting to eat small amounts of a wide variety of species. How many different species of plant foods have you eaten today? 5? 25? 50?
Variation not only offers nutritional profits, it'll also add more flavors to your meals. Nowadays, a lot of our food is sweet tasting, but our taste buds are made for a so much wider range of flavors, and wild edibles cover all of these, from the bitter dandelion root to the sweet himalayan balsam flower.
Usually you forage right before you eat, so wild edibles are as fresh as possible. We all know fresh is best, don't we? Well, bear in mind that a lot of the store-bought fruits and vegetables are cultivated in a way that they look fresh for a longer period of time, during transport and while they're in the store, waiting to be bought. They may even be chemically treated or genetically modified for this purpose. Nutrition is no longer a priority for these crops, as the average consumer rather judges them by their looks. Wild superfoods have all their power on the inside. They may wilt quickly or not be beauty contest candidates, but their freshness and nutritional value rocks!
Wild edible plants are foods that are real. You prepare them at home, with love, or graze as you go, but either way: they're not the processed foods of which we all know they are better to avoid (For those who've done a bit of research, you'll know there are countless theories about what we should or shouldn't eat - but the one thing all of these theories have in common is that they tell us to stay away from processed foods).
And there's another detail: wild edible plants are picked outdoors. Which means your exposure to sunlight (think vitamine D) and fresh air expands. If I get to choose between a crowded supermarket with artificial lights and airconditioning/heating or a walk amongst trees and bushes and fresh greens, with birds singing in the background, that's never a hard choice to make.
Here are some vitamin-content examples:
- spinach (a cultivated crop) contains 1800 UI of provitamin A per 100 g
- violets (a wild edible plant) contains 20 000 UI of provitamin A per 100
- oranges (cultivated fruits) contain 50 to 72 mg of vitamin C per 100 g
- rosehips (wild edible fruits) contain 2700 mg of vitamin C per 100 g
But apart from that, there's another factor that makes them so interesting to add to your diet: you'll get more variation. Usually Western people eat high amounts of a few species (corn, wheat, soy, sugarbeets, to name a few). I may be more interesting to eat small amounts of a wide variety of species. How many different species of plant foods have you eaten today? 5? 25? 50?
Variation not only offers nutritional profits, it'll also add more flavors to your meals. Nowadays, a lot of our food is sweet tasting, but our taste buds are made for a so much wider range of flavors, and wild edibles cover all of these, from the bitter dandelion root to the sweet himalayan balsam flower.
Usually you forage right before you eat, so wild edibles are as fresh as possible. We all know fresh is best, don't we? Well, bear in mind that a lot of the store-bought fruits and vegetables are cultivated in a way that they look fresh for a longer period of time, during transport and while they're in the store, waiting to be bought. They may even be chemically treated or genetically modified for this purpose. Nutrition is no longer a priority for these crops, as the average consumer rather judges them by their looks. Wild superfoods have all their power on the inside. They may wilt quickly or not be beauty contest candidates, but their freshness and nutritional value rocks!
Wild edible plants are foods that are real. You prepare them at home, with love, or graze as you go, but either way: they're not the processed foods of which we all know they are better to avoid (For those who've done a bit of research, you'll know there are countless theories about what we should or shouldn't eat - but the one thing all of these theories have in common is that they tell us to stay away from processed foods).
And there's another detail: wild edible plants are picked outdoors. Which means your exposure to sunlight (think vitamine D) and fresh air expands. If I get to choose between a crowded supermarket with artificial lights and airconditioning/heating or a walk amongst trees and bushes and fresh greens, with birds singing in the background, that's never a hard choice to make.
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