Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 2260 Location: Portugal
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 05 9:02 pm Post subject: Food for Free
Never having really foraged for anything but the most obvious of fruits, I'm most proud of myself for identifying comfrey & fat hen today.
I've got an older edition of Richard Mabey's Food for Free but I find it well nigh impossible to recognise anything from the illustrations! Can anyone suggest a similar guide which is more user friendly?
Cabs articles are fabulous, but not terribly portable!
sean Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 42219 Location: North Devon
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 05 9:04 pm Post subject:
Collins publish a whole series of pocket guides, which are pretty well illustrated in my opinion. They quite often seem to turn up in cheap book places too.
Roger Phillips' Wild Food has some decentish pics but it's more a guide to usage than identifying, in my opinion, and not very portable. Lovely to have though.
The various Collins things like Sean says are nice, clear, portable, and affordable (you shouldnt' have to pay more than 3-4 pounds).
When I say decentish, I mean, all the pics are gorgeous, but a lot are of the dish made with the food, and a sample of the food by it. Less like his Wild Flowers and Fungi books. They're lovely pics, but not necessarily tops for identification. "IMHO" as they say.
The kind of field guide that's ideal for doing ID's isn't necessarily the best one for wild food. I use Roger Phillips books on wild flowers, mushrooms and trees to complement his and other wild food books.
Mabeys book is a classic, but what it isn't is a book about identification.
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