Euell Gibbons: 3 Books:
Stalking the Wild Asparagus. 1962, 303 pages, Amazon has 11 sample pages.
Stalking the Healthful Herbs. 1966, 301 pages, Amazon has 9 sample pages.
Stalking the Blue-eyed Scallop. 1964, 164 pages, seashore creatures, 18 sample pages.

Gibbons books are an important component of any great wild food library. In some ways Gibbons books have been usurped by the first three books in our "All-in-One" category. But in other ways and in some areas Gibbons research, experimentation, and play will always be worth reading. He reports knowledge based on experience. When I can't find information elsewhere, I check to see what Gibbons did. The ingenuity of his 'vegetarian mayapple chiffon pie incorporating whipped mallow will amaze and inspire you. While I often recommend his books to anyone interested in wild foods, keep in mind that, except for the Scallop book, these are not field guides. His first two books have an occasional good line drawing, but you must 'know' the plant before the rich detail that he gives will do you any good.
Euell's books are written in an informal folksy style that is endearing. Gibbons work has been so valuable over the years that he has become one of the most plagiarized wild food authors. Read Gibbons then read other authors. You will see his experiences and recipes repeated over and over again in subsequent books, often without giving him credit. His books inspire your interest in wild foods and help you to figure out what to do once you get a wild food into your kitchen. About half the content of his books cover plants exclusive to the Eastern half of North America, the other half (or closely related plants) grow across most of North America.
Stalking the Wild Asparagus and Stalking the Healthful Herbs are similar in the way they cover plants. Edibility is the predominant topic for both books, with mild medicinal uses covered secondarily. When discussing 'healthful herbs' his focus is not on treating major diseases, but reporting on his research and experimentation into gentle home remedy aspects of the plants he covers. Lots of teas and salves.
*Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop is different from the other two books because it focuses primarily on seashore animals of the eastern seaboard. Gibbons covers crabs, clams, mussels, sea urchins, seaweeds and a few seashore land-based edibles in a wonderful kind of detail. As in his other books, he reports knowledge based on experience. Gibbons does this like an effortless walk through life, journalling his interesting story filled with research and discovery. There are a fair number of good line drawings that are useful in combination with other photograph-based guides. Scallop, like his other two books is written in an informal folksy style that is endearing.
The best uses of this book are to inspire your interest in wild foods, get you out into the coast, and to guide you once you get back to kitchen or campfire. Most of the focus is on eastern species, but quite a bit of it can apply to the west. All three of these books are recommended to add some depth to your wild food library! For more on Gibbons, read his biography at this site.

Wild Seasons - Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains
by Kay Young
There are books that cover the east, books that cover the west, and Young's book here which covers everything in between. The range of this book spans the area bordered by the Rocky Mountains in the west to the deciduous forests of the east, the Texas panhandle in the south to the north in Canada. The actual range of this book goes far beyond the Great Plains. 80% of the plants in this book are found in eastern North America, 25% are found to the west of the Rockies, and perhaps 15% are found in the dry Southwest.
This book could have just as appropriately been in our cookbook section due to its 250 good quality recipes. Kay covers 52 plants sharing many insights and experiences along the way. She is a botanist, naturalist, folklorist, and wild food educator. Each two to seven page chapter starts out with high quality line drawings by Mark Marcuson that clearly depict the spirit of the plant covered. These illustrations will help in identification, but should be supplemented by plant identification guides.
Following the illustrations Kay systematically provides a mildly technical description of the plant, its distribution (range), its habitat, edible parts, seasons to collect, cautions, additional information, and recipes. This 'additional information' is where this book shines. Kay shares real life experiences learning about, finding, gathering, and preparing the plants for use in her dishes. There is often really good detail here. Following that are one to seven recipes using that plant as an ingredient.
Like Bill Beatty's book (see cookbook section) Young's recipe titles are simple (non pretentious) and straight-forward like "Traditional Gooseberry Pie", "Creamed Lambsquarters with Mushrooms", "Cooked Wood Nettle Salad", and "Sandcherry Jam". Highly Recommended as part of your wild food library - Essential for anyone in the Great Plains areas of North America, and valuable just about anywhere else.
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The Neighborhood Forager - A Guide for the Wild Food Gourmet
by Robert Henderson
An important book for a wild food library. No matter where you are in North America, you could benefit from this book. I like Henderson's approach and perspective. He covers the kinds of wild and landscaped foods you can forage in the typical older neighborhood anywhere in North America. He includes major edible weeds as well as many native ornamentals that produce edible parts.
Why are these particular foods important? Because they are a walk away from your house. Because you can watch them develop throughout the seasons and get a feel for how nature is feeding you while you are learning and feeding from it. Not only that, your neighbors will love you for gathering the butternuts that would otherwise clog up their lawn mower! There are 20 good line drawings, 59 mostly very poor black and white photographs (quality suffers when, to keep printing costs down, you convert color photographs to black and white) supplemented by 23 high quality color photographs in the books center.
At the end of each chapter, Henderson offers recipes, 37 in all, to help us enjoy our harvest. Foods from trees are covered to a degree that I haven't seen before. Great detail is given with an honest approach making this book valuable. What is lacking are photographs that would 'demonstrate' some of that detail for the novice forager. But this problem is endemic for virtually all wild food books. Recommended as a part of a wild food library!
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Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants
In Wild and Not So Wild Places
by Steve Brill
An important book for a wild food library. "Wildman" Steve Brill was made famous when he was arrested in Central Park for pulling weeds to teach people about edible wild plants. He eventually went on to be a Park Naturalist for a while and published this book on wild foods. Like others in this section, this book is good because Steve is knowledgeable, honest, and speaks from experience. He explains a lot about each plant, tells you what he used it for, and how he prepared it. He gives you valuable tips, tells you what worked for him and what did not.
This is not a field guide for 'identifying' the plants. The line drawings by illustrator Evelyn Dean show an interesting style, but are not my cup of tea. Illustration detail is more arty than helpful to a person who does not already know the plants. Steve's book is divided into "season" chapters which are further divided into plants found in different habitats. The Table of Contents is so vast as to be unhelpful - just go right to the index. The book ends with tips on how to work with wild foods in the kitchen and a whole chapter of intriguing recipes. Recommended as a part of a wild food library!
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Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains
by H.D. Harrington
An important book for any wild food library. Essential if you are from the Rocky Mountains. In fact, no matter where you are in North America, you could benefit from this book. About 1/3 of the plants are unique to the US Rocky Mountains, about 1/3 apply to anywhere west of the Rockies, and about 1/3 are found anywhere in North America. The reason this book is so good is that Harrington is knowledgeable and honest. He explains a lot about each plant, tells you what he used it for, and how he prepared it. He gives you valuable tips, tells you what worked for him and what did not.
This is not a field guide for 'identifying' the plants. The line drawings by illustrator Y. Matsumura are technically excellent, but like other books with line drawings, only help if they are supplemented by good photographs. This book has a significant chapter on poisonous plants, which are usually short shrifted by other books. Other chapters are titled "Potherbs", "Young Shoots", "Salads", "Roots and Underground Parts", "Fleshy Fruits", "Non-fleshy Fruits and Seeds", and "Miscellaneous - Beverages, Flavors, Smoking, Nibbles, Etc.". Recommended as a part of a wild food library!
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Edible and Useful Plants of California
by Charlotte Bringle Clarke
An important book for a wild food library. Essential if you are from the Southwestern United States. After Gibbons seminal works from 1962 - 1966 many people were inspired to learn and then write about wild foods. Of the many books coming out in the 70's, Clarke's stood out. Covering 200 plants, having 46 color photos, and many fairly accurate line drawings, the book tells us of Native American uses, and plant lore in a clear and concise way.
For most plants, she gives a recipe or two based on today's sensibilities, with titles you might see in a modern cookbook. For instance "One Crust Salal Pie", "Scalloped Squaw Cabbage", and "Creamed Plantain Soup". Plants are organized by habitat communities. So all desert plants will be together. Other groupings include wetland plants, Foothill and mountains, Urban and cultivated areas, and ornamentals. And while this organization is typical of field guides, this is not really a field guide for 'identifying' plants.
Readers from other parts of North America will benefit from the plants she covers in her urban and cultivated areas category. Fifty percent of her plants are found throughout the west. Recommended as a part of a wild food library!
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The Flavors of Home:
A Guide to Wild Edible Plants of the San Francisco Bay Area
by Margit Roos-Collins
An important book for any wild food library. Essential if you are from the western coast. In fact, no matter where you are in North America, you could benefit from this book. There is even a really good twenty-five page section on pacific coast sea vegetables. The reason this book is so good is that Margit is knowledgeable and honest. She explains a lot about each plant, tells you what she used it for, and how she prepared it. She gives you valuable tips, tells you what worked for her and what did not. She
Margit even has a section called "Greens I Have Given Up Trying to Like". And while everyone has their own taste sensibilities, it is refreshing to hear something real. This is not a field guide for 'identifying' the plants. The line drawings by illustrator Rose Craig are often quite good, but like other books with line drawings, only help if they are supplemented by good photographs. Other chapter titles include, "Poisonous Plants", "Edible Blossoms", "Berries", "Nuts", "Greens and Other Vegetables", "Mushrooms and Mushrooming", "Teas, Seasonings, and Medicinal Plants", and "Trail Nibbles". Recommended as a part of a wild food library!
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