The Artisinal Weed?

Welcome to Eat This Weed! This blog is an independent project for my Weeds in The Urban Landscape class, taught by Bay Area weed expert, Richard Orlando, at Merritt College in Oakland. But this blog is much more than a class assignment, however. It is a result of my feverish interest in weeds, stemming from the titilating course. I now have a passion not only for building a positive reputation for commonly despised plants, but an incessant curiosity about--and desire to--make local edible weeds taste delicious.

As interest in urban farming and local foraging spreads like....Oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda Buttercup), Bay Area city folks are indubitably becoming more connected to their foodsheds. My attempt here is to push edible weeds into a category of desirable, forageable edible plants. Notice how I say "attempt"; I have to admit, besides a little Stellaria media (Chickweed) now and again, I am a Bay Area weed eating novice. So, it is possible that the weeds turn out to be pretty gross, no matter how they are prepared. However, I am an optimist. And for plants that are often highly nutritious, ubiquitous, and unwanted by others, I am pretty determined to find a way to make them delectable!

Ultimately, this blog aims to be ripe with weed identification, history, nutrition and photos of the process. But I suppose more than anything else this blog is less technical and more about me trekking around the cityscape, harvesting plants that everyone overlooks, and trying to cook them into something tasty. Finally, I will be testing the prepared weed dishes on my friends, so the taste reviews will not simply represent my own subjectivity. Come join me on a Bay Area weed eating adventure! Hopefully I won't be spitting them out all over my kitchen.