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According to Mr. Brill, a leading foraging expert, foraging is about "finding and then savoring the many delicious, healthful and organic foods to be found all around us." The spring and summer months are prime hunting seasons for wild delights, according to Mr. Brill, who enjoys bringing the experience of the great outdoors to the table.
Mr. Brill will bring his expertise to the region May 31 when he presents a wild food and ecology tour of White Memorial Conservation Center (WMCC) in Litchfield. It will begin with a talk at 1 p.m., during which time Mr. Brill will bring some of the wild delectable delights from his home refrigerator, followed by a walk on the grounds at White Memorial.
"This sprawling estate is loaded with varied habitats, chock full of wild plants, a great place for mid-spring foraging," he said in the event release. "... We'll dig up some tremendous burdock roots growing near the museum. These nutritious roots [are] a staple in East Asian cuisine [and] taste like a combination of potatoes and artichokes. We should also find burdock flower stalks at the peak of their short season. Peeled and parboiled, they taste like artichoke hearts. Close by we'll find large stands of lamb's-quarters, a tasty, highly nutritious relative of spinach and beets. Strip off the leaves and use them like spinach. Alongside a dirt road, we'll find edibles that thrive in partially shaded habits, including greenbriar, wood sorrel, garlic mustard, field garlic, bayberry bushes, sassafras and black birch.
"The woodland trails could hide spring mushrooms, such as morels, dryad's saddle and chicken mushrooms. And we may also find ramps in the woods. These broad-leaved herbs are the best-tasting members of the onion family."
It will be a delicious afternoon for foragers of all ages, Mr. Brill said. With him will be his wife and their 4-year-old daughter, Violet, "who is the first to try anything I make," Mr. Brill said with a smile. "She's now recognizing and naming plants, and now that's she 4, she's really getting into it."
Educating children about the environment and about foraging is important to Mr. Brill. "Children also laugh at my jokes," he said with a chuckle.
Mr. Brill has become an authority on edible and medicinal wild plants, as well as a foraging, wild food and ecology tour leader. As an educator, he has been leading foraging tours in parks and nature centers throughout the greater New York area for more than 25 years. His books include "Shoots and Greens of Early Spring," "Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not-So-Wild) Places" and "The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook." He also released a video series called "Foraging With the 'Wildman,'" showing people how responsible foraging is practiced. But Mr. Brill is perhaps best known as the man arrested by undercover park rangers for eating a dandelion in Central Park in 1986. Mr. Brill remembers the incident well, and with his infectious sense of humor.
For years he conducted foraging tours in New York City's famous park, often harassed by its rangers. Nevertheless, he continued to educate the public about wild edible plants, until one spring day in 1986, when his tour group was infiltrated by two undercover park rangers.
"They acted quite strangely," Mr. Brill recalled. "I conducted my usual tour, would hold up a plant, and they kept taking pictures. After I picked and ate a dandelion, they called for backup."
Mr. Brill was handcuffed and searched, but was saved from more serious charges because he had eaten the evidence. Enough evidence was supplied by the pictures the park rangers had taken, however, and Mr. Brill was charged with criminal mischief for removing vegetation. The charges were eventually dropped because of the publicity surrounding the case and, perhaps, by a special salad Mr. Brill served on the courthouse steps-a "Wildman Five Burrows Salad."
"The press ate it up," Mr. Brill said.
"The New York City Parks Department ... understood I knew what I was doing, but if they let me forage, they would have to let everyone forage. There was also the concern of someone accidentally poisoning themselves and filing a lawsuit," Mr. Brill explained of the circumstances surrounding his 1986 arrest. "... There was also the concern there wouldn't be any vegetation left, but I've been collecting the same things at the same places for 20 years. This is an educational tool I'm providing the public, knowledge that is beneficial. But some places just don't like outsiders coming in. When I started out [leading foraging tours], there was a lot of resistance."
Mr. Brill was later hired to conduct the very same tours he had been arrested for at Central Park, and he has taken his wild ways beyond the borders of New York to parks, nature centers and schools throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. On Mother's Day, he conducted a tour of Central Park with 50 participants.
"Connecticut is one of the best places to forage," Mr. Brill said, noting that he was just at the Kent Memorial Library in April. He has tours coming up at Topstone Park in Redding and Tarrywile Park in Danbury in June, at the New Milford Public Library in July and at Squantz Pond State Park in New Fairfield in August. He also takes his knowledge to the classroom, when given the opportunity.
"Educating children is very important," Mr. Brill said. "Kids learn much more quickly than adults, and if they are inspired and passionate about something, they will want to learn more."
In some respects, that is how Mr. Brill found his way to foraging. His academic background is in psychology, but his interest in cooking blossomed further into cooking with wild and organic food more than 20 years ago. Those sprouts of knowledge inspired Mr. Brill to learn more about foraging.
"It started out as cooking to feed myself, but I got more and more interested in cooking with natural foods," he said, noting that he is a vegan. "I was experimenting with foods more as I became more interested in cooking ... and that's when I discovered wild foods.
"I remember riding my bike one day [in a park in Queens] when I saw Greek women picking leaves, and I asked what they were doing. I couldn't understand them-it was all Greek to me-so I came home and experimented," he added. "I read everything I could about edible wild plants, medicinal plants and their benefits."
He began reading books written by botanists, and that's when everything changed.
"I looked through lots of identification books, and started with that. But [the books] weren't always accurate. I began finding mistakes, and they didn't tell you how to use [plants] in the kitchen. These books were written by botanists who wouldn't know what a kitchen was if it hit them in the head."
That was when Mr. Brill gathered the information he had gleaned from his own work and wrote his first book, "Shoots and Greens of Early Spring," followed by "Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not-So-Wild) Places," and "The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook: A Guide to Preparing Wild (and Not-So-Wild) Foods." He has also released a video series called "Foraging With the 'Wildman.'" He has been on television sharing his foraging knowledge on everything from "The Late Show with David Letterman," to "The Today Show"; from CNN and The National Geographic Channel, to Comedy Central. His program May 31 at White Memorial, he said, will be a continuation of educating the public.
"On the walks, people learn the basics and walk away with an understanding," he said, noting he gives recipe tips as well. "They learn the most common berries, mushrooms and greens that are safe [to eat and with which to cook].
"I want to show people how best to use wild and medicinal herbs and plants, where to find them and how they are beneficial as a healthy alternative," Mr. Brill concluded. "Science keeps discovering the nutrients, antioxidants and benefits plants possess when grown in more natural ways. You can make things [with wild plants] without all of the extra sugar and fat and without all of those chemicals. Foraged food is way tastier than a lot of the produce at the grocery store. Even better, you don't have to tend a garden, and it's free."
"Wildman" Steve Brill's wild food and ecology tour will be held May 31 at 1 p.m. at White Memorial Conservation Center, located at 80 Whitehall Road in Litchfield. The fee for non-members is $15; WMCC members are $10; children under 12 are $5. Pre-registration is required by calling the center at 860-567-0857, or visit www.whitememorialcc.org. For more information about Mr. Brill, visit www.wildmanstevebrill.com.
