Eating Wild Japan
A delicious collection of essays, recipes, and practical plant information exploring Japan's thriving culture of foraged foods.
From bracken to butterbur to "princess" bamboo, some of Japan's most iconic foods are foraged, not grown, in its forests, fields, and coastal waters—yet most Westerners have never heard of them.
In this book, journalist Winifred Bird eats her way from one end of the country to the other in search of the hidden stories of Japan's wild foods, the people who pick them, and the places whose histories they've shaped.
Winifred Bird is a writer, translator, lifelong cook, and lover of plants both wild and domesticated. For almost a decade she lived in rural Japan, where she worked as an environmental journalist, grew organic rice and vegetables, and ate as many foraged foods as possible. She lives with her family on an island in Lake Michigan, where she is a contributor to the local newspaper.
Paul Poynter (illustrations) is an artist, tree climber, and woodsman living in Matsumoto, Japan.