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Foragers rediscovering a passion for local food in Central Park

"We're hunting for wild food that's been used for a thousand years, that's been here, hidden and very delicious."

Steve Brill, food guide in New York's Central Park

"I prefer to eat local produce," explains the young man as he pulls up a handful of dandelions to take home for dinner. Just behind him, the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan cast their long shadows.

It's a Sunday afternoon and around 30 new recruits are peering at the ground and shaking trees under the watchful eye of Steve Brill, known as "the wildman," who has been exploring Central Park's flora for the past 20 years.

"We're hunting for wild food that's been used for a thousand years, that's been here, hidden and very delicious," says the bearded guide, sporting an explorer's hat on one of his regular guided tours.

The expedition has attracted a group of young friends, couples with babies, retirees in rambling gear, a woman in a leopard-print coat, all of them keen to learn what's edible in Central Park.

"I can't have a garden, but I have a huge park over here," says one of the group, Jonah Tully, 28, who works as an editor.

"Nobody ever taught me that food is something to enjoy. So many people my age have grown up eating Jell-O and McDonald's. There's so much crap in this country. Now there are a lot of us who want something more," he says.

Tully first tried fresh, unpasteurized milk when he was 23 and says the experience was something of a revelation.

"I had no idea how good it was. I like to eat well, food is about pleasure, and I want my food to be rich, and without pesticides, and local. I want to learn what's nearby and what is growing there. I don't want to order Chinese food every night," he says.

Just inside the park, barely beyond the shadow cast by the Dakota building where John Lennon lived, the group stops at a patch of sheep sorrel, a lemon-scented herb named for the shape of its leaves.

"How cute," enthuses one woman, while others have a taste.

"It's great in salads, or it's a wonderful ingredient in soups as well," Brill says.

Next on the tour are dandelions, followed by sassafras, whose roots can be made into an anti-oxidant-packed tea. Then Brill spots some field garlic.

"It has more nutrients than the commercial one," he explains, cautioning that gingko tree nuts, however, need to be cooked for at least 30 minutes to rid them of their toxins.

The group goes deeper, far from the park's horse-drawn carriages and joggers. Here they find persimmon trees and a wild crabapple bearing fruit but smaller than those found in the shops.

"Who would think of New York to forage?" wonders Sarah Lincoln-Harrison, who runs a food cooperative near Boston in her retirement.

"We all need to know what is available, and not to depend on agribusiness. We are not teaching our children what is the source of our food, it's disastrous," she says.

Brill is a foodie whose passion was kindled in the 1980s when he saw an elderly Greek woman collecting vine leaves in another New York park to make dolmades.

His own journey of discovery has not always been a smooth one. In 1986 he was arrested by two undercover park rangers who came along on his guided tour.

"I ate one dandelion leaf and then every park ranger in New York City came out of the bushes," he recalls. But today the rangers turn a blind eye and what started as a hobby for Brill has become a full-time project.

As well as conducting the tour, he has written books on wild plants.

As his tour comes to an end, the foragers proudly clutch their findings and carefully taken notes. Some, like sound engineer Matt Sutton, say they expect to use what they've learned in their own neighborhoods.

For Brill, who these days is working more and more in schools hoping to win over a new generation, next Sunday will mean inducting another group of gatherers.

"We have to spread the word about simple ways to be in harmony with our environment," he says. "People are slowly learning, it's a cultural change, it takes a long time."
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