Wild + Whole

I don’t fluster very easily—it takes a lot to make me mad. But when I learned that the word “acorn” was removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, I was beside myself. I read further and salted the wound by learning that most of the words removed were rooted in ecology, and most of the new words...

When I was a kid, any time my sisters and I came down with a stomach bug, my mother ran to the store for a bottle of ginger ale. Though it looked like any other soft drink in a green plastic container, we were taking part in a tradition of plant medicine that dates back over 5,000 years. Gingerols...

I believe every meal has a story to tell if you’re willing to look for it. I’ve spent the past decade of my life trying to eat consciously, and I love exploring the qualities that make wild ingredients so profoundly unique. It’s not always easy, but it’s pushed me to search in places I’d never...

In episode 1 of Sourced, I travel to Connecticut to meet with the one and only Brad Leone of the hit show, "It’s Alive." We catch blue crabs at night and dig for clams during the day. To celebrate a great day on the water, I created this seasonal steamed clam recipe, complete with smoky garlic...

There may not be another food that's been more valuable to humans throughout history than nuts. They’re uniquely nutritious with a trifecta of starch, oil, and protein that offers humans and wildlife a well-balanced fuel. They’re travel-friendly and can store for years in the shell. They can be...

Most people associate winter squash recipes with ingredients like butter, rosemary, and sage, but this monotonous utilization really downplays the vegetable's versatility. These squashes should be enjoyed throughout the fall and winter, not just filled with brown sugar and cream for holidays...

As the name implies, brussels sprouts were first cultivated in what is now Brussels, Belgium, around the beginning of the 16th century. The fact that individual sprouts resemble tiny cabbages is no coincidence; they were originally bred from the exact same species as cabbage (Brassica oleracea). The...

As simple as fried rice sounds, there are a lot of tips, tricks, and rules (some more useful than others) to making it. Fried rice was a childhood favorite of mine, as well as a college and post-college staple. It’s a great way to use up leftover rice and whatever else you have in your fridge. But...

Every year around September, a local grocer gets a large shipment of Hatch chiles in and sets up a roasting cage in front of the store, fire roasting fresh preppers to order. Needless to say, I always buy a bunch. The smell of flame-charred peppers is one of the most intoxicating food aromas. As...

Every summer, droves of travelers descend upon Maine in search of a taste of its official state fruit, the wild blueberry. Cultivated blueberries of all varieties are native to North America and, depending on what part of the country you come from, may take the form of either “low-bush” or “high...

It’s everybody’s favorite starchy staple crop. It can be found anywhere from a salad in a Syrian village to fast-food French fries in an American city, but this plant comes from humble beginnings as a slightly toxic wild mountain tuber. Potatoes were first transformed into their edible and delicious...