Spring Break
Try eating the plants in your backyard for dinner
Sam Bohne/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: News
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But the knowledge of gathering these plants has been lost.
Faculty members met Thursday in the Rathskeller Loft of the 7th Street Underground to attend "Eating Wild," a Healthy Lifestyles program.
Biological sciences professor Nancy Coutant opened her presentation on edible wild plants with a warning.
"There are many toxic plants in this area," she said.
Coutant warns that inexperienced gatherers should not eat a plant unless they are positive of what it is.
She used an example from the film "Into the Wild" to show why a person needs to be careful when scavenging.
Coutant described how the main character of the film, Christopher McCandless, mistakes a poisonous plant for a wild potato and ends up dying in the end.
Faculty members, including French professor Kathryn Bulver, were able to touch, smell and taste some of the wild plants found in the Charleston area during the presentation.
"Some things I had in my yard that I could eat that I didn't know I could," Bulver said.
Bulver was not the only person who recognized the edible wild plants.
Georgia Ryan, the office manager for the nursing program, also recognized one of the plants from the presentation was growing in her yard.
Ryan has attended almost all of the Healthy Lifestyles programs this year.
"Its an extremely beneficial program," she said. "They discuss all aspects of the healthy lifestyle."
What Ryan found most interesting was learning how some of the edible plants were so high in vitamins and how other plants were good for diabetes.
Throughout the presentation, Coutant gave the history on common edible plants in the area.
Europeans brought several plants, such as dandelions and pokeweeds, to the United States for medicinal purposes, she said.
Another plant used for medical purposes was juniper berries to cure scurvy.
Among the edible plants, Coutant mentioned garlic mustard, which is an invasive plant that is known to crowd out many plants of this area.
"Eat a lot of garlic mustard, we want to get rid of it," Coutant said jokingly.
Participants of the presentation were able to sample a few of these plants including a persimon pudding that Coutant made.
Coutant gave her tip of how to eat any edible wild plant.
"Stir fry it in enough garlic and olive oil and you can eat anything," she said, receiving a chuckle from her audience.
Sandra Baumgartner, a staff member in the biological sciences department, attended her first Healthy Lifestyles program Thursday.
"I love plants," she said. "This was very informative."
Participants of Coutant's "Eat Wild" presentation were able to bring a choke of the Jerusalem artichoke home to plant in their yard.
Sam Bohne can be reached at 581-7492
or DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.
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