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Meet the ‘weed eaters’: Urban foragers on a mission to diversify your diet
Hawaii News Now ^ | Jim Mendoza

Posted on 09/24/2022 5:21:00 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Instead of bok choy, one woman opts for a weedy plant called amaranth. In fact, she has an entire list of edible weeds.

Gaye Chan is into what’s known as urban foraging. The University of Hawaii at Manoa professor picks plants we see as unsightly weeds and adds them to her daily diet.

“I started doing research on it and realized the things I had been yanking out for years, cursing them, are actually edible and delicious,” she said.

Instead of bok choy, Chan opts for the weedy plant called amaranth. In fact, she has an entire list of edible weeds that anyone can find for free and consume.

“They are already there likely in your yard, some of them, at least,” she said.

Chan and fellow UH professor Bundit Kanisthakhon are with a group called Eating in Public that teaches people how to choose wild plants and how to cook with them.

Kanisthakhon gets surprised reactions at his cooking demonstrations.

“They say, ‘We didn’t know that it can be eaten.’ That’s something that we can try to educate them more and more by tasting it,” he said.

Weed eating comes with a warning.

Chan said you have to know which plants are safe to eat. She urges people to forage only in areas free of weed and pest poisons, to thoroughly rinse what they gather, and to take only what they need.

“It’s really about looking at resources more holistically and responsibly,” she said.

Eating in Public believes some wild plants have an added bonus.

“A lot of these plants also have tremendous medicinal value, something that I’m just starting to do research on,” Chan said.

“I think it’s good for the system. At least it has a lot of fiber,” Kanisthakhon said.

You can’t beat the convenience.

“When we need some vegetables for dinner, I don’t have to go to the store. I just go outside and cut down some weeds and we’re all set.” Chan said.

To find out more about the dos and don’ts of weed eating, go to the Eating in Public website.


TOPICS: Food; Local News; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: amaranth; foraging; hawaii; vegetarian; weeds
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To: nickcarraway

Is Biden Admin pushing people to eat insects and garden weeds? Any nutrition in a garden weed?


41 posted on 09/24/2022 7:34:43 PM PDT by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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To: nickcarraway

“In fact, she has an entire list of edible weeds.”

if kudzu is on her list, she’ll never go hungry ...


42 posted on 09/24/2022 7:46:57 PM PDT by catnipman (In a post-covid world, ALL "science" is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
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To: nickcarraway

More like the “weed smokers.”


43 posted on 09/24/2022 8:32:33 PM PDT by july4thfreedomfoundation (Disband and Defund the putrid FBI. America does not need an out of control Gestapo)
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To: nickcarraway

I don’t know about going around looking for it but amaranth is good, the wild and the planted.

There are some really pretty ones, Love-Lies-Bleeding, the summer poinsettias are real pretty and the taller giant burgundy.

They sell amaranth flour at the grocery.

Heck, even pokeweed is good.


44 posted on 09/24/2022 9:02:01 PM PDT by Irenic
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To: Nifster

Kudzu tastes about like cornstarch, and is a popular thickener in asian dishes.


45 posted on 09/24/2022 11:22:36 PM PDT by Bethaneidh
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To: Bethaneidh

Silly me, leaves are also used. As they say, be sure it hasn’t been sprayed. Maybe grow some in a pot. https://www.ajc.com/blog/atlanta-restaurants/curious-about-cooking-with-kudzu-try-these-recipes/b3EQUiFcZ1c4uCwXHDdXQO/


46 posted on 09/24/2022 11:29:36 PM PDT by Bethaneidh
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To: HartleyMBaldwin; dfwgator
“Ever eat a pine tree?”

Skip to 4:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ylG5o3AWc

Regards,

47 posted on 09/25/2022 12:51:40 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Nifster

I’ve prepared kudzu. It’s more fibrous than spinach and needs to be deveined and steamed, but it’s nutritious.


48 posted on 09/25/2022 2:39:27 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Cool!


49 posted on 09/25/2022 2:40:21 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: Tax-chick

Not going to verify


50 posted on 09/25/2022 4:54:11 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Bethaneidh

What Asian dishes?


51 posted on 09/25/2022 4:54:53 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Bethaneidh

Have never seen it listed as an ingredient in any of the ones I’ve cooked


52 posted on 09/25/2022 4:55:43 AM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Nifster

Anything that could use a thickened sauce. But serve it at home, as the root powder de-thickens, in my experience, with too much vibration as in what would occur in a car ride.


53 posted on 09/28/2022 12:53:16 PM PDT by Bethaneidh
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To: nickcarraway
“They are already there likely in your yard, some of them, at least,”

Hopefully fertilizer or week killers haven't been applied already

54 posted on 09/28/2022 12:57:14 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: Bethaneidh

I have often wondered, if kudzu is a “noxious” weed in the South, why don’t some Southerners dig it out, do some simple root refining process, and compete with Japanese sources to bring the price down? Or is the root only a superfood to those who live on rice?


55 posted on 09/28/2022 1:02:52 PM PDT by Bethaneidh
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To: Nifster

Think health nut sources, not necessarily asian.


56 posted on 10/01/2022 1:19:06 PM PDT by Bethaneidh
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