Ellen Zachos's "How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying" is an essential guide for beginners venturing into the world of foraging, providing a comprehensive yet accessible roadmap to safely identify and utilize edible wild plants. From dandelions to wild garlic, each of the 40 featured plants is meticulously detailed, with helpful tips on proper harvesting, processing, and cooking.

I also appreciate the thoughtful organization of the book, which categorizes plants based on their habitat and includes handy checklists for easy reference. Additionally, the chapter on preserving wild foods opens up a world of culinary possibilities, inspiring readers to get creative with their foraged treasures. This book will appeal to nature enthusiasts, daring amateur chefs, and survivor/prepper types alike.

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been really into foraging as a concept, so I'm always on the hunt for good foraging guides. This one is pretty solid. Plenty of photos and clear identifying information as well as the expected zones and seasons. A great one for your "off the grid" shelf.

I must admit that I hate the title of this book, as it perpetuates the stereotype that foraging is dangerous and that there are a lot of poisonous wild foods you might end up accidentally eating. There are probably more poisonous plants in your own garden than what you'll encounter in the wild, but okay. That said, Zachos is an experienced forager and one of my favorite go-to authors when I have a question about a new-to-me plant I'm foraging. This is a great book and one I may get for my own library.

An amazing book on foraging! Great for beginners, too! There's a lot of insights and nuanced tips that you could only get from a "seasoned" forager. If you are worried about mistaking plants for poisonous ones, this guide mostly covers ones that don't have poisonous look alikes. For the few within that do, they are easily distinguishable and the author, Ellen Zachos, has included many photos to help with identification of both. They help you learn when to harvest, how to harvest, the best way to eat them, how to prepare them, and how to preserve them. This is a "one stop shop" if you will for the wild foods found within this book. The plants are also found all over the US so that's a plus! Happy foraging to us all!

Thank you to Netgalley and Storey Publishing for the eARC!

A great introduction to foraging! The author doesn't assume any prior knowledge, but also never talks down to the reader. I found it very interesting and helpful .

"How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying" by Ellen Zachos is a great guide for beginning foragers to edible wild plants. Zachos uses her broad knowledge to provide a succinct and accessible handbook for nature lovers worldwide. The book well-describes and photographs 40 common and tasty wild plants for easy identification.

Zachos's guide emphasises safety, providing valuable insights regarding possible lookalikes and correct harvesting, processing, and cooking. Foods like black walnuts, juniper berries, elderflowers, and fiddlehead ferns are among the handpicked collection. Each plant's profile is educational and useful, helping readers distinguish edible from dangerous plants.

Her excellent advise gives readers confidence on their wild food experiences due to the author's enthusiasm for foraging. The inclusion of simple preparation and consumption guidelines makes the identification-to-enjoyment process smooth.

Ellen Zachos has created a global beginner's guide to edible plants, encouraging readers to explore the rich tapestry with joy and safety. "How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying" empowers readers to explore nature's gastronomic potential.

Great pictures, very clear instructions and appropriate focus on safety! Super interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book is beautiful with so many pretty pictures and plenty of additional full-color pictures to make identification of the named plants easy. There is a clear discussion of the identifying characteristics of each plant and how to distinguish it from similar plants or "lookalikes." This makes it so easy to identify what you need. I highly recommend this book.

How to Forage for wild foods is really well thought out and put together. I really enjoyed reading it and I learned a great deal. I recommend reading it fir anyone interested in foraging for wild edibles.

I grew up foraging with my grandmother and am working to expand my knowledge. This book isSo informational and useful, can definitley see myself getting a physical copy. ANd I have so many new things to try!

Well illustrated guide to a wide variety of foods that can safely be foraged. I appreciate the layout very much - divided into chapters by what type of habitat the plants grow in, listing ways the plant can be consumed, listing key identifying features (complete with many pictures), and when applicable dangerous lookalikes.
This would be a very useful guide for a beginner to have on hand when foraging.

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

I've always been interested in foraging (usually I stick with the easy stuff in my area like muscadines and blackberries), so this book really grabbed my attention.

Easy to read, great photos, and the author speaks simply without talking down to the reader.

Definitely a book I'll be adding to my collection.

How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying is a beginner-friendly, accessible, and well written guide to foraging food items from the wild for consumption written and curated by Ellen Zachos. Released 10th Oct 2023 by Hachette on their Storey imprint, it's 250 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

This book has an interesting format in that it presupposes zero previous knowledge on the reader's part, and also divides the plant entries by areas in which they're commonly found. The chapters are thematic: introductory basic info, plants which grow everywhere, green plants in sunny disturbed soil, sun loving trees & shrubs, dappled edges & shady plants, and wet areas. There is also a good chapter with techniques and advice for preserving and using the harvests.

The book uses simple, accessible language as well as lots (and lots!) of clear photos to aid in identification. The author expends considerable effort covering sustainability (don't ever overforage), safety & ID, and responsible use of shrinking communal resources. The book has a North American focus, but many (most) of the plants have a much wider range, so the book will be useful to readers from outside North America.

Five stars. This would be a good choice for public or school library use, gifting, home use, for community/allotment gardens, activity groups and smallholders/self-sufficiency folks.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book is super awesome. As a person who forages myself, I have enjoyed reading Zachos's HOW TO FORAGE FOR WILD FOODS WITHOUT DYING. The color photos are helpful, as are Zachos' descriptions for identification. On top of that, I really loved that Zachos included mentions of things like ethical foraging practices.

I believe foraging is a skill that should be taught in schools...but it sadly isn't. This is a great tool to use as a learning resource for the entire family. It'll be buying this to keep with our prepping materials as well.

Loved the title, and the author did follow through by saying if you are unsure don't eat it. Good pictures, and very concerned with safety and sustainability. Highly recommend this book.

How to Forage for Wild Food Without Dying is an interesting book. It has plants of all kinds that you might find in the wild, or grow in your garden, that are good to eat, and even tells which ones are tasty. It takes you through a meadow, into the woods for regular plants but also for shrubs and trees, many of which can be eaten. There’s also a section on plants that grow in water, such as cranberries or cat’s tails.

There are pictures of all the different plants featured, but for many, there’s also a small bit about look-alikes that may not be safe. This is a very important part of the book as far as I’m concerned. Safety is of the utmost importance. It’s even in the title.

I believe that what we put in our bodies affects everything about us. Most especially our health. I don’t always eat the best, but I know if I did, I’d feel a lot better. Books like this make it so that I’d be more likely to find more foods that my body could digest easily. Because of this, I recommend that anyone that wants to improve their health naturally, start with this book and the food you can find in the world around you!!

This book has really clear information and good pictures to help to distinguish between plants. Well organised and easy to use.

How to Forage for Wild Foods without Dying by Ellen Zachos is truly a wondrous book for all foraging skill levels, though aimed at the beginner. The author highlights 40 common wild foods and is written in a simple and smart layout. The accompanying photographs make identification easy, often including lookalikes and characteristics to seek. Though I am a master gardener and expert forager, there are common wild foods such as lamb's quarters, milkweed and dock which I take for granted and sadly overlook. This incredible book taught me not only to pay more attention to these plants but also to enjoy them more frequently. I live in two very different climates (zones 2a and 8b) on two different continents and some of these plants are remarkably readily available even where winters are severe.

Amongst the numerous topics are safety, seasonality, sustainability, mindful foraging, plants parts, foraging tools and preserving along with a few recipes. The forty plants include specific information such as where to find them, identification tips, which parts are edible, where they grow, harvesting, poisonous lookalikes and so on. I look forward to trying black locust syrup, feasting on acorns and enjoying magnolia blossoms. Useful charts such as differentiating between black raspberries, raspberries, blackberries and wineberries are displayed.

Let this beautiful book inspire and excite you. I love how the author takes the guesswork out of the equation in her clear and straightforward style and look forward to seeing plants with new eyes! This is a practical book designed for readers to happily actually refer to and use over and over.

My sincere thank you to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this phenomenal book.

There are a lot of foraging books on the market, so what makes this one stand out? One of the biggest distinctions is that it focuses on forty plants that are good for food. Not medicinal plants (although some of these might be both) but FOOD plants. When your goal is to find things to eat, it's helpful not having to weed through dozens of plants that are safe to consume and medicinal but not particularly great for food. Not only are these forty plants TECHNICALLY edible; the author has emphasized plants (and part of those plants) that are actually desirable for eating. She's honest about it when certain plant parts are rather gross even if they're technically consumable.

The book is also a beautiful one, with many full-page photographs and plenty of additional full-color photographs to make identification of the named plants easy. (You might be surprised by how many foraging books have lousy pictures.) There's clear, conversational discussion of the identifying characteristics of each plant and how to distinguish it from similar plants or "lookalikes."

The author has not shied away from wild edibles that have toxic -- in some cases HIGHLY toxic -- "lookalikes." That will be a plus for some people and a minus for others. If you're not comfortable foraging for foods that look similar to toxic plants, it's easy enough to pass over those; the text has made it clear when this is an issue and when it's not.

It's also helpful that the book is divided by environment. Sections include "Wild Edibles that Grow Just About Everywhere," "Green Weeds of Sunny, Disturbed Soil," "Sun-Loving Trees & Shrubs," "Edibles from Dappled Edges & Shady Places," and "Plants that Like Wet Feet," so you can quickly and easily identify WHICH plants to be looking for in the particular area you find yourself in. A final section discusses "preserving the harvest," and addresses options such as drying, freezing, and canning, since most of us don't want to have to consume the entire season's worth of a given plant within a single week's span.

Overall, I found this to be a very PRACTICAL book, as if a knowledgeable friend were helping me do the actual work of foraging, preparing, and/or preserving the harvest, not merely a reference book that gives me head knowledge I still lack the practical information to use.