New Zealand bush provides an abundance of edible wild foods, if you know where to look. We are extremely fortunate that this beautiful country provides us with everything we need to thrive. While food is not high on the list of survival priorities, aside from survival there are many other reasons why you might want to be able to identify edible wild foods. If you want to be self-sufficient, you need to either grow or find it.
Our ancestors needed the ability to identify and prepare wild foods on a daily basis. Most of us are so out of touch with this skill that we would be hard pushed to identify even a few edible wild foods. At Waypost Survival we encourage a shift back to more basic and a simpler way of life. Shop bought food often has low nutritional value and this in addition to concerns about food safety and genetic modification makes the wonderful diversity of wild foods all the more appealing.
Following the seasons, eating food that grows naturally and locally surely has to be a superb way of reconnecting with our innate ability to know what is good for us. Many wild foods have enormous health benefits, high nutritional value and medicinal purposes. The flavours are often rich and intense, and while not all are scrumptious many are.
Identifying and preparing wild foods is a learning process. It takes time, dedication and interest to learn a wide variety of edible wild foods and the preparation of them. But when you start incorporating wild foods into your diet it will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship.
We would like to invite you to begin this incredible journey of wild foods. Come with us on a wild foods walk and begin to discover some of the amazing edibles growing right here in the Hawke’s Bay.