The forager chef's book of flora Recipes and techniques for edible plants from garden, field, and forest

With widespread monoculture and a binary division of plants into either useful or weeds, the selection of vegetables most Americans regularly eat is artificially limited. Chef and foraging enthusiast Bergo argues that we need only open our minds to other possibilities and a whole world of new (but actually old) options will become available. Four categories form the organization here: verdant, abundant, aromatic, and nourishing. Each contains general information about preparation methods, along with recipes for specific dishes and photo examples of commonly used plants in that category. Common and scientific names are provided for each plant mentioned, and readers are encouraged to use what they learn about cooking wild plants to expand their options when preparing more commonly used vegetables. Gardeners may find new uses for plants often reserved solely for pollinators (milkweed, sunflower heads) or relegated to the compost heap (lamb's quarters, dame's rocket). Bergo stresses that this book is a culinary one and that for safety it should be supplemented with others by experts in the fields of foraging and plant identification.

Bringing a nose-to-tail sensibility to the world of plants, chef Bergo shares his root-to-flower expertise in his excellent debut. Here, beets are served with their stems and leaves, unopened sunflowers are treated like artichokes, and nothing is wasted in a whole broccoli frittata. Even milkweed gives its all, and is steamed, dried, and fried. Bergo starts off with tips for harvesting and cooking greens, along with recipes including a wild greens saag, a gazpacho vuido, and sochan with beans and hominy, a Cherokee dish featuring the "most abundant, delicious, leafy green that no one is talking about." Next, he delves into vegetables and a brief lesson on botany when choosing soup ingredients ("here's the basic idea: carrots, celery, and onion are three different plants"), then serves up a colorful menu of sides such as braised red cabbage with dark fruit, apples, and dill. Aromatics are given their due, with ideas for wild herbs, flowers, and conifers, while the last section, entitled "Nourishing," turns the very concept on its head by working nuts, grains, and rice into desserts, such as hickory nut pudding. Advocating that plants are edible in their entirety is one thing, but this delivers the delectable means to prove it. (June)