10 weeds you can eat!
Urban Edibles
http://www.urbanedibles.org (not working)
10 weeds you can eat! is a ¼-ish size black and white zine introduction to weeds you can eat.
10 weeds opens with an introduction to who Urban Edibles are and about the zine itself:
“Urban Edibles is a cooperative network of wild food foragers in Portland, Oregon. By creating awareness about what is available in our own neighborhoods, we hope to re-establish the connection between people, environment and food.”
There are so many things I really like about this: more time outdoors, getting more in touch with nature, finding more natural, abundant sources of food that are otherwise wasted – and plenty more. This zine is a guide in every sense of the word with each plant – ‘weed’ – given a page to itself that contains its common name, scientific name, a sketch, description, instructions for how to harvest it and its food uses.
If you want a guide to edible weeds, then this is a great place to start. Just when I was thinking this is a pretty comprehensive zine, I found that they’ve included a guide to leaf shapes and a page for notes as well. If you’d like further reading, they have a list of works referenced, too.
One thing I really appreciated – and always do when it comes to zines with food/health topics – is the note on the first page:
If in doubt, don’t!
I think notes like those remind people to think for themselves, double check, and make sure they are taking responsibility for their bodies and lives.
I was sad to see that the Urban Edibles site wasn’t working when I checked it. I’d love to see more zines like this – especially around the world so readers can get more local suggestions.