Discover The Food Beneath Your Feet!

  And join our MEETUP for tours & Plant-of-the-Week!


Once you learn about wild plants and their many uses... you'll never be the same
It is the ultimate empowerment. Our fundamental well-being as a society depends on knowing and respecting our wild world and its uses. And this website is dedicated to spreading that knowledge. In addition, The Wild Foodies is a 6,600+ Meetup in the Philly-Southeast PA / NJ region, who since 2010 have conducted hundreds of educational tours (free & fee-based) of wild plants for food, fiber, medicine, & more. So, welcome to our website and enjoy our wild and wonderful world! 

  • PUBLIC TOURS: JOIN OUR MEETUP For Tours, Events, & Plant-of-the-Week!
  • PRIVATE 'GROUP' TOURS, SPEAKERS, & CONSULTATIONS: LIST

  GET AN APP & USE PFAF to IDENTIFY PLANTS & THEIR USES!
  USE OUR MASTER LIST of 240+ Regional Wild Plant Profiles!
CHECK OUT "WILD FOODIES 101" PDF / PP for photos of plant families!
  • TAKE "20 STEPS" > TO LEARN 240+ PLANTS broken down into 20 groups for easier learning.
  • PDF > WILD CUISINE
  • WATCH > Our ZOOM meetups for 2021:  FEB / MAR / APR / MAYJUNSEP / OCT
  • ASK The Philadelphia SchoolBoard@philasd.org & your local school to teach "Wild Plants And Their Uses"
  • START a Wild Foodies meetup in your town or neighborhood.  It's a great way to meet really nice people!
  • HELP spread the word with "free images" for bumper stickers, totebags, ads, etc
  • TO DONATE to our mission...

OUR MISSION is to educate the public about wild edible plants and their many other uses. If you would like to financially support our mission, as most of our tours are free, please make your check out to Lynn Landes LLC (address below) or via PayPal at LynnLandesLLC@gmail.com. The Wild Foodies is not a non-profit, so there is no tax deduction. Your donation will go towards our costs and advertising to spread the word about our Wild & Wonderful World! 

Forage on, with care!

Lynn Landes, Founder
Wild Foodies of Philly
217 S. Jessup Street
Philadelphia, PA
19107
7
14-204-2690

www.WildFoodies.org
www.LynnLandes.com 
LynnLandes@gmail.com


Lynn Landes, founder of local foraging and educational group The Wild Foodies of Philly, stands with a Burdock plant, freshly pulled from the ground at Awbury Arboretum. (Grace Dickinson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)

Philadelphia Inquirer article also published in DetroitNews.com/story/life/food/2019/05/30/5-edible-plants-you-can-forage-your-backyard/1270017001/


An Open Letter to Everyone! 

 

by Lynn Landes

 

Wild Food deserves a place of honor at our kitchen table, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, restaurants, and schools.  Why?  Because “wild food” is nature's food and completely sustainable. Unlike cultivated crops, wild food does not require human intervention for its survival.  Homeowners can produce a great deal of their own "wild" food and medicine in their own yards, while public parks can let the public pick their produce.  Wild food is a hot commodity gaining fast in popularity!

 

“Re-Wilding” is a growing movement around the world.  The re-wilding movement recognizes the importance of growing wild foods in a natural setting and including them in our meals.  Consuming wild foods also adds diversity and nutrition to our diet.  Many plants that we call “weeds” are a vital source of food, fiber, and medicine.  And more importantly, wild foods can make the difference between life or death in times of natural or man-made disasters. 

 

Wild food constitutes an important second or co-harvest for farmers, which adds to their efficiency, productivity, and income.  For many farmers, the number one “weed”, is Amaranth (a.k.a., pigweed).  Yet, Amaranth is also a “superfood” consumed by millions around the world as a tasty leafy vegetable and a seed grain. Purslane, Patience Dock, and Lamb’s Quarters also top the list of wild food for foragers to gather.  We want to encourage farmers to take advantage of this bumper crop of delicious delectables and pricey produce.

 

At the Rittenhouse Square Farmers’ Market in Philadelphia, renowned forager David Siller and his staff sell wild edibles like hotcakes, including Stinging Nettle, Fiddleheads, Garlic Mustard, and Ramps.  And the public is showing phenomenal support. 

 

The same could be said for The Wild Foodies of Philadelphia, a Meetup group that I founded in 2010.  Today we have over 6,600 members.  The Wild Foodies is a very enthusiastic group who come from all points on the political spectrum to learn more about the food right under our feet.  They value what nature can provide and are somewhat distrustful of government and the marketplace.  And they have a point. 

 

To ignore wild food is to turn our backs on Mother Nature and common sense.  Traditional agriculture, with its monoculture and rows of crops, invites disease and pests and is not sustainable.  Whereas, your typical empty lot on any city is chock full of wild foods growing with wild abandon.  That-right-there should tell us something. 

 

We need wild plants to be recognized and honored for the priceless gift they are to humanity.  "Wild plants and their uses" should be taught in our schools, sold in stores, served in restaurants, and celebrated for their nutrition and resilience.  To that end, The Wild Foodies of Philly hosts a website packed full of resource information, free field guides, and sage advice.  We invite the public to visit our website and join our meetup group.  Forage on!  With care!

 

Lynn Landes, Founder
www.WildFoodies.org
https://www.meetup.com/Wild-Foodies-of-Philly

 


Wild Foodies tours are "educational only" - no foraging, no tasting. If we invite someone to taste a plant and they have a bad reaction, that could be a painful experience for them, as well as disrupt the entire tour. Plus, many parks don't allow foraging of any kind, anyway. Tour guides have various levels of knowledge and are not certified. It is up to everyone to do their own "due diligence" before eating any plant.

Disclaimer:  The information provided in using this web site is only intended to be a general summary of information to the public. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information on this Web site. However, I make no warranties, expressed or implied, regarding errors or omissions and assume no legal liability or responsibility for any injuries resulting from the use of information contained within.

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Wild-flowers_Kamen.jpg/800px-Wild-flowers_Kamen.jpg?20200307182716