JOY OF FORAGING

Foraging has had a resurgence in recent years, with people venturing out into their local green spaces and backyards to find edible plants. Diego Bonetto is sharing his knowledge of foraging with his new book, Eat Weeds. Covering the forest, seaside, riverbanks, city streets and backyards, Eat Weeds “shows you how to engage with wild food sources, transforming your neighbourhood into an edible adventure”, with advice on identifying plants, food and medicinal uses and personal recipes. Here, Bonetto shares his tips for eating dandelion: “You can eat the whole plant: flowers, leaves, stem and root. Dandelion can be rather bitter – particularly the older plant – so it is advisable to eat it in conjunction with other less intensely flavoured greens. I eat the leaves raw or cooked. Dandelion root can be cooked like parsnip in soups, baked like a potato, or slowly roasted and then ground for a healthy, coffee-like drink. The flowers can be eaten fresh, cooked in fritters and frittatas, or fermented into a wine.”

Eat Weeds (Thames & Hudson Australia), $55.