The Encyclopedia of Edible Wild Plants of North America
by François Couplan
An important book for a wild food library. The encyclopedia is really a catalog of about 4,000 North American plants that, somewhere along the way, have been said to be edible by one or more of François' many references. Plants are organized by Phylum, Family, Genus, then Species. The catalog is enriched in a relatively few spots by the addition of François' personal experiences.
This is sort of the grand son, or really grand nephew, of the 1919 government document "Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants". The differences being that while Sturtevant covered the world, Couplan zeros in on North America - with a more up to date sensibility. The text averages two to three genera per page. The value of this book is in its breadth, not in its depth. Looking to see if an obscure plant has some edibility? Check Couplan's book. Want to find the Latin name of a plant and its relatives? Check Couplan's book.
Information for any particular plant ranges from a sentence to a couple of pages. There are no photographs. This is not a field guide for 'identifying' plants, it's more a reference for your home library. It does have a line drawing about every seven pages or so. It does cover many plants that are rarely found in other edibility guides. Recommended as a part of a wild food library!
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Native American Ethnobotany
by Daniel E. Moerman
What Moerman has done is organize a vast amount of information from 206 North American ethnobotanical reports into one 927 page volume. This is a 'big' hard cover book of original Native American ethnobotanical knowledge. It covers wild plants that Native Americans used for food, tools, fiber, dyes, medicines, and ceremonials.
Using original sources, Moerman gives summarized accounts of uses for 4,029 plants from 1,200 genera, used in 44,691 ways in 291 different Native American societies. Plants are listed by species in alphabetical order and then by Tribe. This book provides, what I consider to be essential baseline information from which to gain overall perspective, and a place to launch more serious studies of native cultures or plants.
Readers will gain a genuine appreciation of the most important plants used by traditional First Peoples in North America. For instance, there are several top 10 plant lists based on frequency of use by different societies. Because of Moerman's thoroughness, readers will learn uses for obscure plants, widely used plants, and everything in between. There are comprehensive indexes for plant usage, species names (including synonyms), and common names.
To get greater detail on traditional foodways, that is, how plants were gathered, processed, prepared, eaten, stored, and reconstituted, readers will have to go to the library and look up the original sources. Had Moerman included these original papers as bound reprints, instead of one hefty volume, he could have filled a whole set of bookshelves. There are no photographs or illustrations of plants or people.
Moerman's comparative overview of Native North American ethnobotany is the best that I have seen. I highly recommend this book as a reference text for serious researchers of Native North American wild foods, as a resource for the reference desks of libraries, and as a part of any Native American tribal library.
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Cornucopia II : A Source Book of Edible Plants
by Stephen Facciola
A potentially useful addition for a wild food library. This is a big book that is worth the $40 if you're a hard-core wild food researcher. Cornucopia II is an informational and resource catalog potentially covering any plant in the world that has edible parts, not just 'wild' edibles of North America. There is, however, plenty of information related to wild foods within all the other content. Wild foods that have been cultivated at one time or another (and there are many) are included. Here is an overview of what you will find and how it could be useful to you.
Cornucopia II was designed primarily as a reference book for gardeners, farmers, crop researchers, genetic preservationists, and food product developers. But the author also had cooks, natural food enthusiasts, nutritionists, and those in the gourmet food business in mind. The content here is strictly reference - it is not based on personal experience with the plants. This book is not specficially about wild edibles, it just has lots of information about them scattered here and there. It has no photographs or illustrations, and contains no recipes.
Cornucopia II is divided into four parts. In the first part, 'Botanical Listings', thousands of plants (3,000 species, 7,000 plants) are listed by common and Latin names. About a paragraph of information describes some history, edibility, and any other prominant information. The second part, 'Major Crop Plants', lists varieties of specific species that have been cultivated at one time or another. Some of the species covered include black walnut, amaranth, butternut, chicory, currents, hickory nuts, etc. The third part, 'Suppliers', lists contact information for thousands of sources of plants and seeds. And the forth part, 'Usage and Edible Parts', lists categories like beverages, fats, fruits, gums, pollens, etc. Under each category is a long list of plants that provide the usable part.
This is a serious book for the serious researcher. How best would one use it? As a stepping stone to more detailed information. Let's say that the common name for a mysterious food plant was mentioned (in a book, newspaper article, on TV, in a magazine) and you needed the plant's Latin name and some basic information to help you investigate it further. Cornucopia II can do this for many edible plants. Or say you just want to begin investigating chocolate subtitutes. This book can help you begin your investigation. Recommended for the 'hard core' wild food library. I'd also recommend it to food educators, library reference desks, and cooperative extension offices.
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