Recommended
Plants and Wild Food Books


Our favorite books on edible wild plants and wilderness food recipes

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Wild Food: A Unique Guide to Finding, Cooking & Eating Wild Plants

Wild Food: A Unique Guide to Finding, Cooking & Eating Wild Plants
Roger Phillips Superb photos, good wild food guide with simple recipes on the more appetizing plants
The Forager Handbook

The Forager Handbook
Miler Irvin The Forager Handbook is a milestone publication marking the way forward for the future of British food. Covers plant families & recipe suggestions.
Food From the wild

Food From the wild
Ian Burrows Good native European field guide to over 250 edible species. Not the best for identification though.
Wild Food

Wild Food
Ray Mears &
Gordon Hillman Excelent UK set wild food book slanted toward primitive food. Many great photos with botanical references.
How to Identify Edible Mushrooms

How to Identify
Edible Mushrooms
Tony Lyon, Patrick Harding,
Gill Tomblin Great book to use in the field identifying mushrooms. Shows edible fungi with close poisonous ones.
Mushrooms

Mushrooms
Roger Phillips Updated but smaller revision of his earlier masterpiece. With fantastic fungi photographs, the essential guide to collecting mushrooms
Mushrooms (Collins Gem)

Mushrooms (Collins Gem)
Patrick Harding and
Alan Outen This pocket guide is a quick way to identify mushrooms & toadstools when foraging for fungi! Each entry has a photo, says if edible & states any similar fungi.
Mushrooms:River Cottage Handbook No.1

Mushrooms:
River Cottage Handbook No.1
John Wright A very entertaining & well written guide to mushroom and toadstools. Both funny & informative with some useful cooking tips and recipes.
The Mushroom Feast

The Mushroom Feast A Celebration of All Edible Fungi Cultivated Wild & Dried
Jane Grigson Very well written with excellent recipes, an invaluble guide for anyone with a love for mushrooms. Great tips for selecting & preserving the best edible fungi.
Easy Edible Mushroom Guide

The Easy Edible Mushroom Guide
David Pegler A useful fungi identifiation guide with photos and drawings to assist. Covers both edible & poisonous mushrooms & how to cook.
Fungi(RSPB Pocket Nature)

Fungi
(RSPB Pocket Nature)
DK A pocket guide to 450 UK & N Europe varieties of fungi from Dorling Kindersley. Well laid out with some excellent illustrations & accompanying no nonsense notes
Guide to Wild Edible Plants

Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants
Tom Brown In this wide ranging and informative book, Tom Brown reveals fun and fascinating ways to utilize the uncommon benefits of many plants
Stalking the Wild Asparagus

Stalking the Wild Asparagus
Euell Gibbons Well written with a wealth of information
Food for Free

Food for Free
Richard Mabey A Great little pocket size book on identifying & use of wild plants, well illustrated too.
The Random House Book of Herbs

The Random House Book of Herbs
Roger Phillips & Nicky Foy A photographic guide to more than 400 herbal plants worldwide, traditionally grown for their healing and culinary properties.
The River Cottage Cookbook

The River Cottage Cookbook
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall An excellent natural food book with a good section on wild food
Edible Seashore

Edible Seashore:
River Cottage Handbook No.5
John Wright Both informative and very funny, great for identifying edible seashore foods (plants and molluscs) and how to cook them safely.
Hedgerow: River Cottage Handbook No.7

Hedgerow
(River Cottage Handbook)
John Wright Reveals the free pickings to be found in hedgerows, meadows & woods. Informative, engaging and witty, a good overview of foraging in Britain.
Edible Wild Plants & Herbs

Edible Wild Plants & Herbs. A Compendium of Recipes & Remedies
Pamela Michael Both a easy to follow cookbook and field guide to the use of foodstuffs from the wild
Foraging: Discover Free Wild Food

Foraging: Discover Free Food from Fields, Streets, Gardens and the Coast
Paul Chambers With a handy seasonal foraging planner, a useful guide for seasonal wild food including some special recipes.





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