Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's guide to urban foraging. As this recipe site has grown it has become necessary to split out and make more readily accessible various sub-sections of the site. This page links to all the recipes that urban foraged edible foods as a basis or an ingredient. This, in the main covers land plants, though there are sections for mushrooms/fungi as well.

All plants we eat were wild at some point, it's just that through selection and breeding they've been adapted by humans to be less bitter, less toxic, be bigger or have larger fruit or tubers or grains. So we have the foresight of our ancestors to thank for everything we eat. However, we tend to farm and eat only a very narrow range of plants. Some of these have wild relatives, parts of which are edible, but there are hundreds of plants that simply were not improved by humans... but they are still edible in their wild state. Of course, if you are selecting a wild plant to consume then you must be absolutely certain that you have recognised the plant correctly. Do not rely on a single source of information to recognise the plant and always take a good field guide with you. If you are not certain of your identification then do not pick the plant. Also always get the landowner's permission to pick any plants unless they are on public ground. Collect responsibly, do not take everything and leave the majority of the plants behind to grow and flower. Do not uproot plants unless they are classed as weeds and are in need of clearing.

For the most part, the wild foods presented here are British natives, though there are a number of garden escapees listed as well as some foreign imported plants where they are planted in gardens. Enjoy...

Urban Wild Foods

Some wild foods like shaggy ink caps I've only sourced from urban environments, often near the margins of housing and playing or sports field.

Other plants are only really found in urban environments, like lavender, Mahonia, figs, Magnolia flowers and Stags Horn Sumac are other eibles that you can only really find in urban environments.

I've been foraging for too many years to count now. I started out as a child in the wilds of north Wales, doing what many people would count as 'proper' foraging. I've moved through towns, villages and cities subsequently and I've never stopped foraging. It was all a continuum to me and counted as foraging.

This struck me when I was having a chat in the local pub just late summer last year. I was talking about foraging and one of the people I was with said that was just a country thing... you couldn't forage in built up areas. So, I bet them a pint that we could go on a 20 minute walk right now, from the pub and back to the pub and I could show them a load of things you could forage to eat.

So, we finished our beers and started on a walk. Just across the pub was a small green area near where the local bust stopped. This just happened to contain curly dock, dandelion (flowers and leaves), daisies, common sow thistle and a big clump of black mustard.

A couple of metres from there was a big bank of English laurel with the fruit ripe, black and edible. The next batch of trees were yew, with the fruit ripe for eating. I did scare my companions by nibbling on a handful of the fruit!

We walked by the river and on a patch of embankment I pointed out nettles, milk thistle and Good King Henry as well as coltsfoot. All good wild edibles, but nothing really urban yet.

So, a left turn and we're into more the built-up area. So we passed a lilac, still in flower, a fig tree with the leaves hanging over the wall. A few metres on and there's a small park bordered by whitethorn, hazel, beech and sycamore; each with edible leaves or fruit in the right season.

Turning left from there and nestled between the corner shop and a pizza place was a large stand of Mahonia in full flower. From there, on the short walk to a planted seating area were garden hedges with bay trees, planters with pansies and a solitary magnolia tree. In the planters of the seating area was lavender and heather. In the spring there would be tulips and primroses. Of course there were roses with their hips just starting to ripen... including my favourite, the rugose rose.

So we turned to head back, this time going along the high street. Mostly brick and stone walls, so not a great environment for foraging you might think. But still I was able to point out pennywort, dandelion, red valerian, oak and bittercress with redcurrant, blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes overhanging from gardens. And everywhere there were brambles.

A quick left turn and we were back in the pub... with several pints to my favour.

It was after this that I decided to write a page specifically about urban foraging; because anyone can be a forager. And you can find many really interesting things as an urban forager. For example, there's a small allotment very near my GP surgery where a white grape grows in abundance and you can get fresh grape leaves overhanging the fence.

There are some forage-able foods that are almost entirely urban, the staghorn sumac plant being a good example; Mahonia/Oregon Grape is another.

Note that foraging for your own personal consumption is legal in the UK, but with some important caveats – you need to know that the species you are picking is common and not endangered in any way, and you need to know what kind of land ownership is going on. (Have a read of Fez’s piece on Foraging and the Law for more detail, including the differences in Scotland compared to England and Wales ). Most land is privately owned, so the laws of trespass apply and you shouldn’t really be on there without the landowners permission, or unless its designated Right to Roam as in Scotland. However, even in heavily privatised and built up areas, not everywhere is completely off limits – basically if on a public footpath or other right of way, you are OK to be there and to forage responsibly. Look up on Ordnance Survey maps to see where public rights of way go – you can also borrow the physical maps from your local library.

It’s obviously trespassing if you go into somebody’s garden, but if a plant is dangling over the fence or wall into the street or other Public Right of Way, then it’s OK to pick only the bits on the public side. This does mean that fruit like apples, cherries and pears may well be available to you.

Contaminated ground is also a concern for some post-industrial sites, though it depends a lot on what kind of industry it was, how well the land has been cleaned up afterwards, and what species you would be interested in foraging. Heavy metals in the soil can be taken up by some species but not others, for instance Amethyst Deceivers are known to accumulate arsenic. There's a disused tin plating works down the lane from me and I avoid foraging in that area (but it's a good excuse to learn about local history).

Even if you're in the most built-up areas of a town or city with pavement and hard landscaping you will still see plants like hairy bitter cress, herb Robert, sow thistle and dandelion. Broad-leaved plantain and other plants the can handle trampling (pineapple weed and chamomile for example) will also be fairly common.

In regions of short grass by the side of roads along with public parks and sports fields you will find Clover (white and red), Daisy, Dandelion, Pineapple weed, Yarrow, Broadleaved Plantain and Ribwort plantains as well as grassland fungi like Giant puffballs, Horse Mushrooms or Field mushrooms.

Regions of longer grass, particularly verges heading out of town may well contain Hogweed, Yarrow, Ribwort plantain, Chamomile and lilac. Invasive three-cornered leeks may also be present.

The edges of parks and gardens may well contain species such as Ornamental Cherry, Magnolia, Stags Horn Sumac, Rowan, Apple, Hawthorn, Sea Buckthorn, Black Elder, Whitebeam and Mahonia. In terms of edible flowers, pansies (and wild violas), tulips and fuchsias are always good. Honey fungus is notorious for attacking ornamental fruit trees and the owner may well favour you with a few handfuls for pointing the issue out. I've also found parks to be good for flowering fruit trees like ornamental apples (many avoid these as the fruit are often small; but they're often quite palatable). You will also get a range of cherry trees including bird cherries and ornamental cherries (though many of these won't fruit their petals are still edible). Dog roses and rugosa roses are also common in parks, particularly around verges.

Hedges and boundaries are always great as here you will find Hawthorn, Blackthorn href="./wild-food-entry.php?term=Wild%20Plum">Damson, Oak, Ash and Elder. Around waterways Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed may well be common. Don't forget waste ground as colonising species like Nettles, Brambles, Rosebay Willowherb and Wild Raspberry can easily colonise large patches. Areas near railways, particularly where there used to be signal houses are always good to find wild (or wilded) raspberries.

Edible Wild Foods

Below is a table listing and giving links to all the urban wild foods listed on this site:

Common Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva)	Oregon Grape (Mahonia spp)	Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)	Wild Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)
Linden (Tilia x europaea)	Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa)	Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa)