Sunset Park offers free food for the picking

I have always loved and been interested in new and different kinds of food, but I knew nothing about the food growing, untended and largely unnoticed, all around us. I have memories of my grandfather digging up dandelions for the frying pan when I was a kid. But other than that, I got the same education in wild foods that many kids get from a culture that has grown distant from and fearful of the natural world: “Don’t touch those berries! They’re poisonous!”

I think my re-education began when my partner and I had young children. We were suddenly not as mobile and I started paying more attention to what was close at hand. Our daily routine took us through Sunset Park. One afternoon in the park, while our toddler was busy dropping sticks into the storm drain, I watched another park-goer picking what turned out to be hawthorn berries from a small tree. I asked her what she does with them. Our language barrier meant I could only understand that she cooks them, but a seed had been planted.

Aside from the adventure of seeking out tastes and textures that I can only access by going outside to pluck them with my own hands, the act of searching out food and bringing it home to share gives me an unanticipated feeling of satisfaction. Maybe it feels good to stir this neglected instinct that such a short time ago would have been central to our human existence.

There are exotic flavors to be found right here in Sunset Park. Hawthorn berries make a tart jelly or sauce with benefits for the heart; aronia berries can be blended with some water and apple juice to make a refreshing, antioxidant-packed juice; peppergrass out-spices arugula in a salad; eastern redbud flowers have a delicate, cucumber-like freshness right off the branch.

There is also something gratifying about becoming familiar with the impossibly intricate details of the plants themselves. A unique silkiness in the texture of one leaf; a dry, papery stiffness in another. The orange fuzz that grows underneath a black cherry’s leaves, along the midrib. Or when you peer under an acorn’s cap, at its top, to study its craftsmanship.

Sharing these experiences with my kids has been the biggest reward. I was particularly delighted when, after working together to shell a small pile of acorns and gathering all the wriggling acorn weevils into a cup, my kids raced to consume their salted, buttered, and fried bodies.

Another crowning moment came on a sticky, seventy-eight degree fall day. Our five year old got a fresh mosquito bite that blossomed into a lump of angry, red flesh. He complained and raked at his skin for a bit until, Eureka! I remembered that crushed or chewed-up plantain leaves, ubiquitous in the disturbed soils of urban environments, are known to relieve the symptoms of a bug bite. It worked! My son forgot all about his bug bite.

But foraging has not been all romance and glamour. Gathering berries for thirty minutes is easy—washing (one study suggests a fifteen minute soak in baking soda and water removes pollutants best), removing stems and leaves, and putting in the labor to transform these items into food is where the project easily stalls. There is also the sad reality of widespread heavy metals and toxins in our city’s soils. There is voluminous research discussing the degree to which specific plants absorb (or do not absorb) these toxins into their tissues and fruits. There is also free soil testing available on Governor’s Island during much of the growing season through the Urban Soils Institute. I would add that the soil I have had tested has not reached the heights of toxicity that one might expect from reading newspaper articles on the subject.

Despite the labor and the need for independent research to make safe choices, there are a lot of reasons to learn about the plants around us. But the thing that keeps me coming back to learn more is that it feels good to work with our environment in this way, and to share the experience.