Books on Foraging

From a thread on the NHF forum.

Title	Author	Type	Publisher	ISBN	Comment
Food for Free	Richard Mabey	Paperback: 192 pages	Collins (1 Oct 2001)	0002201593	Certainly the best known foraging book - but not the first ever to be published on the subject….
The Essential Nettle, Dandelion, Chickweed and Thistle Cookbook	Johnny Jumbalaya	Spiral-bound: 100 pages	Johnny Jumbalaya (Jun 2003)	0954415817	This, and the following 3 books all from the same author, are for fairly hard-core foraging fanatics, or anyone looking for 'interesting' culinary experiments.
The Essential Backpacker's Wild Food Cookbook	Johnny Jumbalaya	Paperback: 100 pages	Johnny Jumbalaya (Aug 2004)	0954415833
The Essential Hedgerow and Wayside Cookbook	Johnny Jumbalaya	Hardcover: 100 pages	Johnny Jumbalaya (Dec 2003)	0954415825
The Really Wild Food Guide: Or 350+ Ways to Wok the Wild	Johnny Jumbalaya	Paperback: 200 pages	Johnny Jumbalaya (Dec 2002)	0954415809
Wild Food (Natural History Photographic Guides)	Roger Phillips	Paperback: 160 pages	Pan (9 Sep 1983)	0330280694	Some consider these books by Roger Phillips to be the very best you can get of their kind. They're certainly very good, but unfortunately not pocket sized!
Mushrooms	Roger Phillips	Paperback: 384 pages	Macmillan (18 Aug 2006)	0330442376	This is the most recent mushroom/fungi from Phillips - it is updated from the original (shown below), but there are die hards who still prefer the older publication.
Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe (A Pan Original)	Roger Phillips, Lyndsay Shearer, Derek Reid (Editor), Ronald Rayner (Editor)	Paperback: 288 pages	Pan (14 Aug 1981)	0330264419	The first mushroom/fungi book from Phillips and many still believe it to be the best - however, I'd never personally rely on just one fungi guide - but then that's me. Very Happy
The Encyclopedia of Fungi of Britain and Europe	Michael Jordan	Paperback: 334 pages	Frances Lincoln Publishers (1 Sep 2004)	0711223793	A bit hard going, but it is comprehensive and has the added advantage of pictures taken in the field, not the studio. It is a very large book though, and again, hardly a 'field' guide.
The ACORN, Hazelnut &c. Cookbook	Johnny Jumbalaya			0 9544158 7 6	How to transform acorns and other similar wild nuts into edible food.
Country Wines & Cordials - Wild Plant and Herbal Recipes for Drinks Old & New	Wilma Patterson.		Omega Books 1983		Because of its date you'd be best to double check some of the plant info for current thinking before following the recipes, but makes for a very interesting read & is a nice little book.
Eyewitness Handbooks - Mushrooms	Thomas Laessoe		Dorling Kindersley	0-7513-1070-0	'A visual guide to over 500 species of mushroom from around the world.' This is a superb, clear well laid out book in the typical and well regarded DK reference style. It doesn't cover every single fungi you're likely to find (or want to find!), but the clarity of the explanations for important identification features such as gills, cap shapes, stem etc. make it worth having even if it were for those alone and there are still plenty of fungi that are listed in it to keep you busy. I'd be happy to let our daughter loose with it, & have been very impressed with it - the only trouble is, it's really hard (and expensive) to get hold of in the UK! Occasionally though, one does turn up on Ebay. Or you might be able to order it through Amazon if you can find it at an affordable price.
Living in a Wild Garden	Roger Banks		World's Books Ltd.		Banks is an illustrator, and this book is packed full of his very attractive work. Part story of his purchase of an old tumbledown Scottish estate back in the 60's, part ramble through the history and use of the wild plants he and his wife found and also encouraged to grow there. I really enjoy this book. It makes you read it from cover to cover, beause Banks buries his information in the story and makes you pay attention to it because you have to find it. This isn't a book for the impatient - if you want a quick reference work - best to look elsewhere - but if you like a gentle yarn that'll teach you something along the way, this is an excellent read. Just keep a notepad handy to jot down stuff while you're doing it - it's that sort of book!
A Country Harvest	Pamela Michael		Peerage Books	1-85052-070-4	'An illustrated Guide to Herbs and Wild Plants including Delicious recipes, herbal remedies and beauty treatments.' This is a really carefully thought out work, from the seasonal listings inside the cover to give you a rough guide of what you could be looking for, to the 90 well illustrated plants with their uses and recipes listed by latin and common name. Although this, and the Roger Banks books are both older publications I'd say they were well worth seeking out and snapping up if you find them.
The Wild Foods of Great Britain	L. Cameron	70's facsimile re-issue			A foraging manual written well before Richard Mabey became God. ;) Bear in mind this book was originally written in 1917 so at nearly 100 years old you'd be forgiven for wondering if it has any relevance to today. There are precious few pictures to guide you (simple engravings being the only occasional adornment - but latin names given can be used to cross reference), while some of the foods mentioned may now be on endagered lists, whilst others (cooked cabbage white larvae, for example) might not be immediately appealing at all! However, in spit of its age I really like this book (which is remarkably comprehensive), partly because it doesn't just settle for wild plants, but covers pretty much the entire spectrum: fish, fowl, animal and vegetable (even insect!) - but also because it's a view back into the past and books like this often contain snippets of info that have otherwise become lost from later works. So I enjoy the lure of the chase sifting through and tracking those little grains that can point me towards some new (old) knowledge! It is difficult to distil the essence of this book easily though, I do like it and have enjoyed it so consider it money well spent in my terms. But I can also see that many won't and I doubt that it's a book that I could honestly recommend to anyone other than perhaps an old hand, hard core forager who also has an interest in history. I guess what I'm saying is this is worth looking out for but one to thumb through before you commit to buy. Smoked Badger Ham, anyone?
Now Cook Me the Fish	Margaret Butterworth		Country Life Books. Circa 1950		146 freshwater fish recipes. Fairly basic details, but interesting and quite varied.
The Complete Angler's Wife	Suzanne Beedell		Countryside Books. Circa 1964		A complete guide to cooking the angler's catch. Covers a broad range of freshwater and sea fish, including shellfish, crayfish and lobster.
They Can't Ration These	Vicomte de Mauduit		The Book Club. Circa 1941		One of the Holy Grails of foraging literature. Wonderfully comprehensive listing of all things foragable and an important piece of social history too.
A Concise Guide in Colour - Herbs			Hamlyn	0 600 31681 5	Now out of print. Covers a really broad range of wild plants and including some in cultivation too. Gives details of medicinal qualities, harvesting and preparation techniques, distribution etc. Colour illustrations. A good little hardbacked book, well worth seeking out - I've seen it selling for a little as 1p on Amazon UK.
Food For Free	Richard Mabbey		2001		The new edition of the classic text is a lot bigger than the other one but it has SO many photographs and is a LOT easier to read.
Wild Food For Free	Jonathan Hilton		2007		This book is fabulous (And not on the list so far I see) It has several photographs of each specimen (Tends to be of blossom, fruit and whole tree or plant in its habitat and close up of the leaves) but the thing I like most about it is the fact that each plant section is divided into sections with "What is it?", "What to look for", "Can be mistaken for", "Where to look", "When to look for it", "what does it taste like?" and "How is it used". I don't know about you, but I am a huge fan of subtitles!
Easy Wild Food Guide	Neil Fletcher		2007		This one doesn't seem to be in the list either but is really good too. Has a combination of photographs and drawings and is very helpfully split up into what you can find in the different seasons. My favourite thing about it though is that it has a LOT of different seaweeds and seafood like razor clams, mussels, limpets and other shellfish which the other books don't seem to have (So it'll be useful when we next go on holiday to the seaside)
Living off Nature	Judy Urquhart		Allen Lane 1980		This is great little book. Part history, part experience, part anecdotal & packed with stuff to keep you occupied on a broad array of foraging woodcraft & survival topics: Food, Drink, Smoking/snuff mixes, Shelter, Containers, Tools and utensils, Raw materials, Writing, Time & motion, Clothes & clothing, Grooming, Health. Being over 30 years old you have to keep in mind that not everything is going to be do-able now, nevertheless it's still fast becoming one of my favourite reads from the bookshelf.