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Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love and the Perfect Meal
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Food & Cookbooks (2014)In this touching and informative memoir about foraging for food in New York City, Ava Chin finds sustenance—and so much more.
Urban foraging is the new frontier of foraging for foods, and it's all about eating better, healthier, and more sustainably, no matter where you live. Time named foraging the "latest obsession of haute cuisine," but the quest to connect with food and nature is timeless and universal.
Ava Chin, aka the Urban Forager, is an experienced master of the quest. Raised in Queens, New York, by a single mother and loving grandparents, Chin takes off on an emotional journey to make sense of her family ties and romantic failures when her beloved grandmother suddenly falls ill. She retreats into the urban wilds, where parks and backyards provide not only rare and delicious edible plants, but a wellspring of wisdom.
As the seasons turn, Chin begins to view her life with new "foraging eyes"—experiencing the world as a place of plenty and variety, where every element, from flora to fauna to fungi, is interconnected and interdependent. Her experiences in nature put her on a path to self-discovery, leading to reconciliation with her family and finding true love.
Divided into chapters devoted to a variety of edible/medicinal plants, with recipes and culinary information, Eating Wildly will stir your emotions and enliven your taste buds.
Urban foraging is the new frontier of foraging for foods, and it's all about eating better, healthier, and more sustainably, no matter where you live. Time named foraging the "latest obsession of haute cuisine," but the quest to connect with food and nature is timeless and universal.
Ava Chin, aka the Urban Forager, is an experienced master of the quest. Raised in Queens, New York, by a single mother and loving grandparents, Chin takes off on an emotional journey to make sense of her family ties and romantic failures when her beloved grandmother suddenly falls ill. She retreats into the urban wilds, where parks and backyards provide not only rare and delicious edible plants, but a wellspring of wisdom.
As the seasons turn, Chin begins to view her life with new "foraging eyes"—experiencing the world as a place of plenty and variety, where every element, from flora to fauna to fungi, is interconnected and interdependent. Her experiences in nature put her on a path to self-discovery, leading to reconciliation with her family and finding true love.
Divided into chapters devoted to a variety of edible/medicinal plants, with recipes and culinary information, Eating Wildly will stir your emotions and enliven your taste buds.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 13, 2014
28 people are currently reading
2813 people want to read
About the author
Ava Chin
3 books110 followersAva Chin is the author of the forthcoming MOTT STREET (Penguin Press, April 2023). Her food memoir, "Eating Wildly," was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award 2014 (Food) and named to Library Journal's Best Books of 2014 list (Memoir). The editor of "Split," she's written for the NY Times (as the Urban Forager), the LA Times Magazine, the Village Voice, and SPIN. Before earning an MA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, and a PhD from the University of Southern California, she was a downtown slam poet who contributed to the alternative rock band Soul Coughing's album El Oso. A professor of creative nonfiction and journalism at the City University of New York, Ava lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.
You can purchase books here: https://www.amazon.com/Ava-Chin/e/B00...
You can purchase books here: https://www.amazon.com/Ava-Chin/e/B00...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
July 17, 2014
This lovely memoir brings together two things that might at first seem to belong in different books: urban foraging / gourmet cooking, and memories of a childhood broken home. Ava Chin grew up in Queens with a single mother and learned to eat from her Chinese grandparents, both of whom she loses over the course of the book. A writing professor opined that Chin’s father leaving when she was a child was the central wound of her life, and it certainly is what drove her to become a writer – she is now a professor of creative nonfiction and journalism at City University, and also writes a New York Times column.
The other strand of the book, however, is wild food, a new hobby Chin shared with a temporary love interest and has continued to develop – in Brooklyn and beyond. She arranges her memoir by season and includes recipes in each chapter, highlighting what ingredients are ready at the time: field garlic, wood sorrel, oyster mushrooms, mulberries, and so on. Cooking was a link to her Chinese heritage but also a way of putting her new foraging skills to use in everyday life. She would go on to take first place at Brooklyn’s Good Food Fest.
Compared to a lot of foodie lit, this memoir is surprisingly thoughtful – Chin even weaves in a meditation theme, lamenting the ‘monkey mind’ that so often keeps us from focusing attention on the task at hand. As an amateur forager myself, I was bound to find this interesting, but I was consistently impressed by how successfully the author ties in other disparate subjects. I hope Chin will write another ‘memoir with recipes’; hers stands apart from the crowd.
Read-alikes:
• Edible by Daniella Martin
• Keeping the Bees by Laurence Packer
• Delancey by Molly Wizenberg
The other strand of the book, however, is wild food, a new hobby Chin shared with a temporary love interest and has continued to develop – in Brooklyn and beyond. She arranges her memoir by season and includes recipes in each chapter, highlighting what ingredients are ready at the time: field garlic, wood sorrel, oyster mushrooms, mulberries, and so on. Cooking was a link to her Chinese heritage but also a way of putting her new foraging skills to use in everyday life. She would go on to take first place at Brooklyn’s Good Food Fest.
Compared to a lot of foodie lit, this memoir is surprisingly thoughtful – Chin even weaves in a meditation theme, lamenting the ‘monkey mind’ that so often keeps us from focusing attention on the task at hand. As an amateur forager myself, I was bound to find this interesting, but I was consistently impressed by how successfully the author ties in other disparate subjects. I hope Chin will write another ‘memoir with recipes’; hers stands apart from the crowd.
Read-alikes:
• Edible by Daniella Martin
• Keeping the Bees by Laurence Packer
• Delancey by Molly Wizenberg
June 28, 2015
**I received this book in a giveaway through Goodreads.**
I loved this memoir. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life in that it gave me so much fabulous information about living off the land and eating locally, but Ava Chin's "story" is her own, and the common theme is merely food. I love that she shares so much of herself and discovers along the way what has made her find such joy in foraging. She seamlessly weaves her foodie knowledge in with stories of both her present life and of her past.
I consider myself a bit of a foodie and grow a large garden and seek out natural, organic, grass-fed, heirloom, and local foods as much as possible. Foraging outside of my own yard (I have a walnut tree and some fruit trees as well as the garden) is something I've never really attempted. Reading Chin's book makes me want to try it this year. Not just for the financial reasons, but for the thrill of the hunt as she so effectively describes. Right after finishing the book I was headed to the store and had to buy some mushrooms after all the delicious talk about them. I also have plans to make her hummus recipe soon.
The copy I received was labeled as "Advance Uncorrected Proof", and I must say I found the book to be delightfully free of errors. Too many books (especially free kindle downloads) seem to have skipped the proofreading and editing steps these days so this was nice.
I will definitely recommend this book to others and plan to share my copy with anyone in my book club who might enjoy reading it.
I loved this memoir. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life in that it gave me so much fabulous information about living off the land and eating locally, but Ava Chin's "story" is her own, and the common theme is merely food. I love that she shares so much of herself and discovers along the way what has made her find such joy in foraging. She seamlessly weaves her foodie knowledge in with stories of both her present life and of her past.
I consider myself a bit of a foodie and grow a large garden and seek out natural, organic, grass-fed, heirloom, and local foods as much as possible. Foraging outside of my own yard (I have a walnut tree and some fruit trees as well as the garden) is something I've never really attempted. Reading Chin's book makes me want to try it this year. Not just for the financial reasons, but for the thrill of the hunt as she so effectively describes. Right after finishing the book I was headed to the store and had to buy some mushrooms after all the delicious talk about them. I also have plans to make her hummus recipe soon.
The copy I received was labeled as "Advance Uncorrected Proof", and I must say I found the book to be delightfully free of errors. Too many books (especially free kindle downloads) seem to have skipped the proofreading and editing steps these days so this was nice.
I will definitely recommend this book to others and plan to share my copy with anyone in my book club who might enjoy reading it.
November 30, 2013
I loved this memoir, I thought it was going to be a book on and wholly food and nature type movement, but it turned out to be so much more. Her relationship with her grandparents reminded me so much of mine, spending weekends together, learning so much and receiving from them so much love and acceptance that it could only be considered priceless.
Loved learning about all the different things that can be found in urban areas that we call weeds, berries that grow wildly, mushrooms and so much more that people have used as medicine in the past. Her heritage with her grandparents, her grandfather in particular, who was the cook in their family is the first to entice her taste buds and give her a life long love of food.
Loved reading about this whole wild food movement, foraging in Central Park and other nature preserves for little tidbits in which to build or add t a meal. Contests, groups a whole movement trying to get back to nature in whatever little way they can.
Now I can;t see myself foraging for food, frankly I don;t know what I am doing, much rooms are all the same to me, I would just end up poisoning myself and my family, but I love that people are doing this. It may be something I take up in the future, with some training if the opportunity presents itself. Extremely interesting and well written.
ARC from publisher.
Loved learning about all the different things that can be found in urban areas that we call weeds, berries that grow wildly, mushrooms and so much more that people have used as medicine in the past. Her heritage with her grandparents, her grandfather in particular, who was the cook in their family is the first to entice her taste buds and give her a life long love of food.
Loved reading about this whole wild food movement, foraging in Central Park and other nature preserves for little tidbits in which to build or add t a meal. Contests, groups a whole movement trying to get back to nature in whatever little way they can.
Now I can;t see myself foraging for food, frankly I don;t know what I am doing, much rooms are all the same to me, I would just end up poisoning myself and my family, but I love that people are doing this. It may be something I take up in the future, with some training if the opportunity presents itself. Extremely interesting and well written.
ARC from publisher.
June 15, 2014
I was hesitant to start this book because I was afraid it would be one of those gimmicky, life experiment things where the author decides to do something different or wacky for a while and then write about it. Luckily, it's not like that at all. Instead, Eating Wildly is a quiet and rather sweet memoir about forgiveness and letting go of the past while foraging for wild edibles such as mushrooms, herbs and berries.
I could really relate to the way foraging helped Ava Chin make peace with the difficult aspects of her life (absentee father, beloved grandmother's death, romantic breakups)because I feel the same way when I go birding. Something about being outside, completely focused on your environment, can be quite healing. I hope this book inspires more people to be interested in the natural world, and would recommend it to armchair as well as active naturalists. (A good companion book would be Crow Planet Lyanda Lynn Haupt.)
I would not recommend it to someone wanting a practical guide or introduction to foraging, because it's really more of a memoir. That aside, my only reservation about this book is that the author completely glosses over how invasive and problematic some of these wild plants, such as garlic mustard and Japanese knotweed, are in the wild. Perhaps in urban parks, such as where she lives, it is not so much of an issue. But in the woodlands of Illinois, for example, garlic mustard is a terrible pest, crowding out native wildflowers and plant foods for birds and insects. So if you want to forage for garlic mustard, I know where you can get TONS of it, and no one will try to stop you--just please don't bring any back!
***I won a free copy of this book as a First Reads giveaway. My opinion, as always, is entirely my own.***
I could really relate to the way foraging helped Ava Chin make peace with the difficult aspects of her life (absentee father, beloved grandmother's death, romantic breakups)because I feel the same way when I go birding. Something about being outside, completely focused on your environment, can be quite healing. I hope this book inspires more people to be interested in the natural world, and would recommend it to armchair as well as active naturalists. (A good companion book would be Crow Planet Lyanda Lynn Haupt.)
I would not recommend it to someone wanting a practical guide or introduction to foraging, because it's really more of a memoir. That aside, my only reservation about this book is that the author completely glosses over how invasive and problematic some of these wild plants, such as garlic mustard and Japanese knotweed, are in the wild. Perhaps in urban parks, such as where she lives, it is not so much of an issue. But in the woodlands of Illinois, for example, garlic mustard is a terrible pest, crowding out native wildflowers and plant foods for birds and insects. So if you want to forage for garlic mustard, I know where you can get TONS of it, and no one will try to stop you--just please don't bring any back!
***I won a free copy of this book as a First Reads giveaway. My opinion, as always, is entirely my own.***
February 14, 2014
Ava Chin’s memoir has forever altered my relationship with nature; as a city girl I finally grasp the concept of finding oneself in the woods. The author forages through her past much in the same way she hunts for mushrooms, tenderly, with an almost worshipful respect for the delicate process of unearthing one’s true self; the hidden treasure lying buried under the debris of everyday existence. She confronts the pain of her own past with language made stunningly brave in its simplicity and directness. I was left feeling awed by her courageous honesty and thrilled by her story of self-made redemption. It was not long after that I found myself on my first solitary hike – and hardly a coincidence when I recognized wood-ear then, even in the dead of winter. Ava has inspired me to look deeper than the surface, both internally and externally, and I have a feeling she will convert many an urban dweller to the joys of “Eating Wildly.”
July 26, 2016
Ava Chin was one of my sister’s best friends in junior high, so it was really exciting to get hold of her memoir. For the past few years, she’s been writing a column called “The Urban Forager” at The New York Times, so at least half of this book is about finding and cooking the plants that grow wildly in New York City’s parks, recipes included. It made me curious as to what’s growing here in my own backyard in Rockland, but I can’t see myself joining Ava and her friends on any foraging treks.
The better half of the book, at least for me, was the personal stuff: Ava’s family and love life. Foraging has become a trend amongst New York foodies and hipsters, but Ava was raised with it. Her grandfather, born in China, worked in many restaurants here in America, and both he and Ava’s grandmother knew which wild plants were edible and what to do with them. As a Chinese American, Ava really was in the perfect position to bridge the two foraging cultures.
But the foraging for food is really a metaphor for love. Her relationship with her grandparents was the most loving and nurturing of her childhood; her mother was single, busy, and bitter at having been abandoned in pregnancy by Ava’s father. So in many ways, this book is a tribute to Ava’s grandmother, “awesome to the end.” It’s also the story of navigating the New York singles scene. Boy, am I glad I was spared!
Even if I didn’t know Ava, I would still enjoy her book. The story of her grandmother’s death was raw but gripping, and the story of her encounter with feral bees was fascinating! But the thing is, I do know Ava, and that makes the book even more amazing. I remember when she was thirteen, talking about her dream of becoming a writer. I had the same dream, but I wouldn’t dare admit it in public. Now she’s a writing professor who’s published her second book while I’m still dreaming about becoming a writer.
I also remember a time before Ava and my sister were close. Ava’s grandfather worked at a local restaurant called the Lotus Inn. My father often took us there. (Jews and treif Chinese food. Oy vey!) My sister and I loved it for its interesting décor. It had a big waterfall fountain/wishing well in the foyer, blowfish around many of the lights, and best of all, some of the tables were surrounded by straw huts like something out of Gilligan’s Island. The hostess, a beautiful Chinese woman whom we considered really glamorous, stood in the biggest hut of all with the cash register and after-dinner mints. One evening, my father had taken my sister, our then-best friend, her mother, and me out to dinner at the restaurant. While we were sitting at the table, Ava was standing with the hostess in her hut, which seemed like a position of great privilege to me, though for all I know, she might have been embarrassed about it in front of her schoolmates. Our friend’s mother said, “You could learn so much from that girl’s experiences!” And of course, it was true. We just ate in restaurants; we had no idea what went on behind the scenes. Well, now, with this book, we finally can learn from Ava’s life experiences! And in all this time, perhaps not that much has changed. I buy my food at the supermarket while Ava is still closer to the source.
The better half of the book, at least for me, was the personal stuff: Ava’s family and love life. Foraging has become a trend amongst New York foodies and hipsters, but Ava was raised with it. Her grandfather, born in China, worked in many restaurants here in America, and both he and Ava’s grandmother knew which wild plants were edible and what to do with them. As a Chinese American, Ava really was in the perfect position to bridge the two foraging cultures.
But the foraging for food is really a metaphor for love. Her relationship with her grandparents was the most loving and nurturing of her childhood; her mother was single, busy, and bitter at having been abandoned in pregnancy by Ava’s father. So in many ways, this book is a tribute to Ava’s grandmother, “awesome to the end.” It’s also the story of navigating the New York singles scene. Boy, am I glad I was spared!
Even if I didn’t know Ava, I would still enjoy her book. The story of her grandmother’s death was raw but gripping, and the story of her encounter with feral bees was fascinating! But the thing is, I do know Ava, and that makes the book even more amazing. I remember when she was thirteen, talking about her dream of becoming a writer. I had the same dream, but I wouldn’t dare admit it in public. Now she’s a writing professor who’s published her second book while I’m still dreaming about becoming a writer.
I also remember a time before Ava and my sister were close. Ava’s grandfather worked at a local restaurant called the Lotus Inn. My father often took us there. (Jews and treif Chinese food. Oy vey!) My sister and I loved it for its interesting décor. It had a big waterfall fountain/wishing well in the foyer, blowfish around many of the lights, and best of all, some of the tables were surrounded by straw huts like something out of Gilligan’s Island. The hostess, a beautiful Chinese woman whom we considered really glamorous, stood in the biggest hut of all with the cash register and after-dinner mints. One evening, my father had taken my sister, our then-best friend, her mother, and me out to dinner at the restaurant. While we were sitting at the table, Ava was standing with the hostess in her hut, which seemed like a position of great privilege to me, though for all I know, she might have been embarrassed about it in front of her schoolmates. Our friend’s mother said, “You could learn so much from that girl’s experiences!” And of course, it was true. We just ate in restaurants; we had no idea what went on behind the scenes. Well, now, with this book, we finally can learn from Ava’s life experiences! And in all this time, perhaps not that much has changed. I buy my food at the supermarket while Ava is still closer to the source.
June 29, 2014
I mistakenly thought this book was a how-to on foraging and was a bit disappointed when I realized it was a memoir. However, I found the author engaging and wanted to keep reading not only to find out what she discovered in the urban wilderness but also what became of the her and the people in her life. This slim book is quite inspirational and optimistic. Here is a sample of the author's philosophy:
"I was talking on the phone to a producer for public radio several days before I was going to appear on a segment to discuss wild food. I was standing in my bedroom, watching the squirrels scrambling along the tree branches outside my window. The producer had just asked me why I started foraging.
I hesitated for a moment. Unlike many of the other foraging experts I knew, I realized that I had entirely personal reasons for doing it.
'Forgaging reminds me that the world is a generous place,' I said. 'Even when things are topsy-turvy, I know that the plants will always sprout in the spring, become lush in the summer, and then grow dormant in the winter. And the following year, it'll happen all over again.'"
The author's story and a recent mushroom foray emphasized to me how much is going on in nature right in front of me that I never notice, because I am not really looking. She calls it having "forager's eyes." If I can slow down and really look, notice how things change everyday, and appreciate all nature around me, it can change my life. Suddenly, I do not feel isolated. Instead, there is a sense of belonging to the universe, an almost mystical moment, and I am one with the world and full of wonder.
So I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about exploring nature outside your window and developing that sense of wonder.
"I was talking on the phone to a producer for public radio several days before I was going to appear on a segment to discuss wild food. I was standing in my bedroom, watching the squirrels scrambling along the tree branches outside my window. The producer had just asked me why I started foraging.
I hesitated for a moment. Unlike many of the other foraging experts I knew, I realized that I had entirely personal reasons for doing it.
'Forgaging reminds me that the world is a generous place,' I said. 'Even when things are topsy-turvy, I know that the plants will always sprout in the spring, become lush in the summer, and then grow dormant in the winter. And the following year, it'll happen all over again.'"
The author's story and a recent mushroom foray emphasized to me how much is going on in nature right in front of me that I never notice, because I am not really looking. She calls it having "forager's eyes." If I can slow down and really look, notice how things change everyday, and appreciate all nature around me, it can change my life. Suddenly, I do not feel isolated. Instead, there is a sense of belonging to the universe, an almost mystical moment, and I am one with the world and full of wonder.
So I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about exploring nature outside your window and developing that sense of wonder.
May 7, 2014
This sensitive and thoughtfully wrought memoir had this city girl eager to tramp through nature, in search of the treasures that might be lying in plain sight.
June 23, 2014
I started reading Eating Wildly on the train and was so engrossed I switched onto the wrong subway which meant I had more time to read. Ava’s story of finding nourishment in the unlikeliest of places by foraging for edible weeds in the city and even in the winter, is entwined with a deep longing for love and connection that made my heart ache. I finished the book the same evening, and saw the world with different eyes the next day. How often I’ve taken for granted the things that are always there! How could we appreciate more deeply what we already have? And where could we see potential, in ourselves and others to shine? The next time I saw dandelion greens in the market I bought them and cooked them for my kids, with a lot of love in my heart. More at my blog in "Dandelions for Dinner" http://pattychanganker.com/dandelions...
July 31, 2014
This is a beautifully written memoir that weaves together the practice of foraging with memory, the search for love, and the complexities of an ever evolving life. While many of the other reviews focus on foraging --I think they often neglect the important role that family and culture play in this book. This novel highlights the struggles that 2nd generation immigrants face as they negotiate cultural mores and a lifestyle often deemed 'American' Chin does an amazing job drawing the reader into her life and allowing us a glimpse at a rich set of people that we can relate to.
I am not a New Yorker --but had just returned from a NY trip when I read this. The writing provides you with such a visceral depiction of the different streets, parks, and backyards she visited. I felt as if I could walk through these parks myself. This is an excellent summer read that I highly recommend.
I am not a New Yorker --but had just returned from a NY trip when I read this. The writing provides you with such a visceral depiction of the different streets, parks, and backyards she visited. I felt as if I could walk through these parks myself. This is an excellent summer read that I highly recommend.
May 5, 2015
At turns humorous and touching, this memoir is about much more than discovering edible plants in the unlikeliest of places. Ms. Chin takes readers on a journey through major events in her life, as she navigates personal and family relationships in her quest for love and meaning in an urban environment. Beyond recipes and valuable information about local flora and fauna, it is a refreshingly candid, honest, and poignant account of an independent woman's path to self-discovery.
I highly recommend this delightful book to individuals and book clubs alike.
I highly recommend this delightful book to individuals and book clubs alike.
June 24, 2014
Ava's story of finding love and mushrooms is an inspirational and moving account of two things we all understand: the need for love and for nature. She ties these two essential longings together beautifully, and tells a compelling story of hope and growth. As a Native NY-er who has always craved green, Eating Wildly spoke to me directly. I loved it, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever had a windowbox, or wanted one.
June 30, 2014
We read this book for my Food Writing Book Group at WORD bookstore, and it was an excellent choice. I thoroughly enjoyed this love and food story. The elements of growing up in an Asian family really rang true for me, and the foraging elements really sparked my interest (to the point where I went foraging twice after reading it, once hosted by the author!). Acutely emotional. Definitely interesting and unique as a story. Well worth a read.
November 4, 2013
A beautiful memoir .A a opens by telling us about her love for foraging for wild plants in pars backyards,wherever she spies something green pocking out of the ground.This is also a love song to her Chinese grandparents who really raised her.Her grandpa's Sunday feast gave her her love for food.she also discusses her search for love from her dad & from men.This is a truly wonderful story read it.
August 23, 2017
I loved this book! I thought it was going to be more of a history of foraging...but was SO excited to find that the author told her story, as well as her story of discovering the wonderful world of yummy plants. After finishing this book in just a few hours, I felt like I came home to a kindred spirit and shared a cup of tea together over stories of childhood.
LOVE this book.
LOVE this book.
July 8, 2014
Beautiful, honest memoir. I felt at peace reading it. As someone who never thought about foraging previously, I now walk around asking myself if that "weed" could be edible ; ). Most of all, the ending made me smile, which is 5 stars in my book!
May 28, 2015
Thank you Ava for making me a part of this book. It is wonderfully written, you inspire me so much my friend. I bought a copy for my mother too. Let's go out soon and make a tincture of Ghost plants (Indian Pipe)They make a lovely, mild sedative.
January 13, 2015
I love this book! Smart, earthy, quirky. Very real. This heartwarming journey triggered a lot of emotion. I really enjoyed the marriage of life, love, and nature, with a dash of spiritual seasoning.
August 31, 2016
Such a twee title! What a marvelous reminder that the earth breathes beneath our feet and provides for us and nurtures us... also, open call for foraging buddies located in Brooklyn..
July 6, 2015
This is more a memoir about life than about food, but it is engrossing and sincere. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My biggest complaint: TOO MANY MUSHROOMS.
July 9, 2022
Our narrator is a Chinese-American, outcast and lonely, troubled by her family history. Her father left her mother before she was born, and as a result, Ava spent a lot of time with her grandparents, learning how to eat. As an adult, she spends her spare time urban foraging and dating, though she can't ever seem to find a suitable partner.
This book (a memoir, not a field guide, as I originally expected when I picked it up) wasn't bad, it was just boring. I stopped reading a little over a third of the way in because I kept feeling the urge to put it down, and life is too short for books that don't hook you.
This book (a memoir, not a field guide, as I originally expected when I picked it up) wasn't bad, it was just boring. I stopped reading a little over a third of the way in because I kept feeling the urge to put it down, and life is too short for books that don't hook you.
March 18, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. I love her thoughts on the cyclical way of nature and life. It made me think of my own foraging experiences. Chokecherries in South Dakota. Nibbled dandelion leaves from the front yard. Honey comb from a friends house. Thimble berries in Glacier NP.
The thought is not fully formed yet, but these memories of my small foraging adventures hold a lot of weight in forming my personality. I felt like this was reflected the same for her as well.
The thought is not fully formed yet, but these memories of my small foraging adventures hold a lot of weight in forming my personality. I felt like this was reflected the same for her as well.
December 1, 2017
Neither a foraging guide, nor a cookbook, but a surprisingly personal book. It even made me cry once (*spoiler alert*: hospitals and death). A quick and easy read. The book inspired me to buy a mushroom guidebook, and sign up for a foraging tour in fall. :)
April 25, 2021
It took me long to finish this book, but that's only because I really love it. I didn't want it to end. I enjoyed the author's personal stories, and her journey as a forager in a developed country.
September 12, 2019
Great story. Really well balanced. Very Informative. Some pictures would have been nice.
January 21, 2014
"Forager. Noun. One who loves the land so much that she literally eats from it."
I received this book through the First Reads program. Eating Wildly is a tale separated by seasons, spanning a period of years past and present. Each chapter title includes a common and scientific name beneath it, indicating the foraging focus in the following pages amongst Chin's vivid memories. She describes food the way one might detail clothing or a particularly stunning landscape--each description filled with rich adjectives. From the first pages, the reader is immersed in the story. You can almost taste the dishes, revel in the joy of discovering a stubbornly camouflaged mushroom, and feel the heartbreak.
Eating Wildly is a memoir of Chin's life and experiences, threaded through with relationships (both family & otherwise) and foraging adventures. As I read the book and became accustomed to Chin's writing style, I started to appreciate her phrasing gems and the dialogue interspersed with forager talk. Recipes for the foraged foods began to populate the ends of chapters. In the spirit of the Urban Forager, I fully hope to put those recipes to use someday.
Chin's grandparents' house features heavily in the beginning portion of the book. Their house is her safe haven and the birthplace of her food love, a welcome respite from her mother's series of romantic entanglements. Her grandmother reminds me of my own: of failing health in her last years of life, blind in one eye, always questioning about my love life and if I've had enough to eat. Chin's grandmother, on the other hand, had more than oatmeal cream pies and butter-soaked grilled cheese in her kitchen.
The scene in the hospital where Chin recalls her grandmother trying to detach herself from the machines keeping her alive--so she can go on her own terms--is poignant and beautiful. It also serves to highlight the mulberry tree discovery, channeling a moment of mourning into something uplifting. I felt my heart twinging in sympathy. Mulberries, man.
All in all, Eating Wildly is a solid read. Whether you're searching for an imperfect love story filled with its fair share of bumps, a winding path among New York foraging grounds, or an excellent blend of the two, this is the book.
I received this book through the First Reads program. Eating Wildly is a tale separated by seasons, spanning a period of years past and present. Each chapter title includes a common and scientific name beneath it, indicating the foraging focus in the following pages amongst Chin's vivid memories. She describes food the way one might detail clothing or a particularly stunning landscape--each description filled with rich adjectives. From the first pages, the reader is immersed in the story. You can almost taste the dishes, revel in the joy of discovering a stubbornly camouflaged mushroom, and feel the heartbreak.
Eating Wildly is a memoir of Chin's life and experiences, threaded through with relationships (both family & otherwise) and foraging adventures. As I read the book and became accustomed to Chin's writing style, I started to appreciate her phrasing gems and the dialogue interspersed with forager talk. Recipes for the foraged foods began to populate the ends of chapters. In the spirit of the Urban Forager, I fully hope to put those recipes to use someday.
Chin's grandparents' house features heavily in the beginning portion of the book. Their house is her safe haven and the birthplace of her food love, a welcome respite from her mother's series of romantic entanglements. Her grandmother reminds me of my own: of failing health in her last years of life, blind in one eye, always questioning about my love life and if I've had enough to eat. Chin's grandmother, on the other hand, had more than oatmeal cream pies and butter-soaked grilled cheese in her kitchen.
The scene in the hospital where Chin recalls her grandmother trying to detach herself from the machines keeping her alive--so she can go on her own terms--is poignant and beautiful. It also serves to highlight the mulberry tree discovery, channeling a moment of mourning into something uplifting. I felt my heart twinging in sympathy. Mulberries, man.
All in all, Eating Wildly is a solid read. Whether you're searching for an imperfect love story filled with its fair share of bumps, a winding path among New York foraging grounds, or an excellent blend of the two, this is the book.
June 1, 2014
This book was bought by my mother at Ava's reading. It's quite humorous, and made my mouth water--a lot. I loved how avidly Ava described her dishes, from the succulent "Lobster Cantonese with fresh scallions covered in lacy egg whites and ground pork" to "Velvety corn soup with thin-sliced pork and minced onions." Ava really knew how to portray food to an extent where it felt like the food was in your mouth. Currently, I am craving Chinese from writing this review. What I also liked was how with each chapter came not only a dish, but a story to accompany it. I liked reading about Ava's grandfather and his culinary expertise. He seemed like someone I would like to know, from how he was manly enough to cook, and how involved he was with his granddaughter, or Ava's life. At some points, I became a little restless when I read descriptions of Ava foraging, because I wanted to get back to her personal life, and not just plants in New York City. Even though I say this, it was interesting to learn how many edible plants surround us, and we just don't know it. We can think of so many plants as just weeds, but they can be used in our cooking, whether sauteed or braised. To add on to Ava's culinary experiences, we also get a look into her romantic life, and sometimes feel pity, and root on Ava in finding the right suitor. Ava's foraging can be looked at as an escape from family troubles, and any stress--because nature can help us forget the future and past, and let us live in the moment. Nature brings us food, something vital, something delicious, and something that can be agreed upon by everyone. In this book, Ava Chin whisks us away into a life balanced by food, happiness, and sadness, and it is something quite great. Read this book for a salivating experience.
February 17, 2014
I received this book from a First Reads giveaway on Goodreads.
This was a fun memoir about Ava Chin and her life as an urban forager. It's full of lessons in life, food, learning, relationships, connecting with the planet you live amongst, and more. This book is very inspiring in the way of making you want to go out and learn how to forage for the food around you; to learn all the plants and their benefits; to explore the life of mushrooms and do spore prints. It makes you want to embrace the natural world with brand new eyes. I also appreciated the nice handful of delicious-sounding recipes (that I hope to start trying soon) and the references at the end of the book. I truly enjoyed reading this.
This was a fun memoir about Ava Chin and her life as an urban forager. It's full of lessons in life, food, learning, relationships, connecting with the planet you live amongst, and more. This book is very inspiring in the way of making you want to go out and learn how to forage for the food around you; to learn all the plants and their benefits; to explore the life of mushrooms and do spore prints. It makes you want to embrace the natural world with brand new eyes. I also appreciated the nice handful of delicious-sounding recipes (that I hope to start trying soon) and the references at the end of the book. I truly enjoyed reading this.
July 11, 2014
I loved this book. I state that up front so if you feel differently you're aware of my bias. Ava Chinn took a subject that i had very little interest in (the whole foraging thing) and used it as a framework for a story about herself and her family that I found fascinating. Her connections between searching for naturally growing foods and herbs and the search for family history and truth was skillfully rendered. An byproduct of her tasting explorations was that I became more conscious about the quality of the food I consume even though my foraging is limited to the inside of my local supermarket. I only wish there had been photographs or drawing of the plants she referred to often and the people who were important to her.
December 18, 2014
Reading this book was an adventure! This book helped me explore eating nutritious plants that normally would not be categorized as food, all the while seeing the parallels in plant growth and Ava Chin's growth as an individual. Eating Wildly also encouraged me to see parallels in my growth, development, and belief system. I must say this book has inspired me to start exploring my natural environment more, and exploring my academic knowledge of wild plants. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who likes self education, healthy nutrition, and exploring the differences in human nature with regards to cultures, belief systems, and personalities.
I definitely have to say this is one of my top #10 books of all time.
I definitely have to say this is one of my top #10 books of all time.
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