Foraging: Beyond reality TV, some see it as an alternative to rising food prices

At first glance, it didn’t look like much: a 5-inch, upright weed sprouting from a synthetic front lawn in a parched Southern California suburb. Most people would consider horseweed an undesirable invader on otherwise pristine turf. But for Doug Kent, it was a "gift."He rattles off a list of uses for horseweed, an edible native plant that has been used to flavor stews, but is usually dismissed as a common weed.When he steps out his front door, Mr. Kent, an expert forager who lives in Orange, California, sees a bounty of food springing up from sidewalks, parking lots, and front yards in his community. Doug Kent stands next to coastal prickly pear (Opuntia littoralis) while demonstrating urban foraging at Santiago Park in Santa Ana, California, Aug. 30, 2026. Why We Wrote This Rising food prices and a desire to connect with nature are among factors driving some people to forage, experts say. Even an urban landscape looks different once one learns what plants are edible. Surging supermarket prices, high-profile food safety recalls on grocery store produce, and a desire to reconnect with the land are piquing interest in the centuries-old practice of foraging, experts say.“Anytime food gets more expensive, people get more exploratory and creative,” Mr. Kent says.Not far from his house, there’s miner’s lettuce, a unique, disc-shaped round leaf. It tastes like a cross between butter lettuce and spinach with a pinch of cucumber. Steps away, there’s broadleaf plantain, a weed with wide, spoon-shaped leaves that surpass the nutrition in store-bought kale and spinach. And, there always seem to be a multitude of dandelions, which he affectionately calls “the belle of the ball” because it’s a nutritious superfood. Its young and tender leaves make an easy salad, and its bright yellow petals can be fried into fritters, baked into pancakes, or brewed into a tea or syrup.Cost-of-living pressures, food inflation, and regional recessions are some of the reasons that urban foraging, as well as community and home gardening, has surged in popularity in the United States, according to a 2023 study in which researchers from Lincoln University in New Zealand analyzed consumer survey data focused on foraging behaviors in the U.S.Urban foraging most recently took off during the COVID-19 pandemic. Global food supply disruptions and inflation drove interest in the practice, according to the study.Christopher Nyerges, a prominent Southern California forager who runs the School of Self-Reliance in Los Angeles, has taught wild food identification for more than 50 years. He points to the Iran war and other current world affairs that lead to supply disruptions as some reasons for what he describes as serious interest in survivalist classes, such as on foraging.Making connectionsCandace Miranda, who lives in Santa Ana, California, says she’s long enjoyed hiking and considers herself resourceful. She knows how to make her own candles and blankets.“But what about food? Do I really know about plants? Not so much,” she thought to herself a few years ago.In the back of her mind, she says, there is always some worry about natural disasters. Ms. Miranda wonders what would happen if her community lost electricity for days. Doug Kent demonstrates how to pick a coastal prickly pear (Opuntia littoralis) at Santiago Park in Santa Ana, California, Aug. 30, 2026. “I don’t like to think that I cannot do without,” she says. “I want to have some sort of skills to be able to survive.”This concern recently propelled her to start dabbling in urban foraging. From time to time, Ms. Miranda picks lavender, rosemary, and other herbs from the gardens of neighbors she knows. In no way does it provide the lion’s share of her meals, but she’s curious to learn more just in case.Ms. Miranda also likes connecting with her community and land. Recently, she joined a walk in her neighborhood guided by Mr. Kent.“As cities become more congested and open space becomes more scarce, people seek any relation with land, even if it is with a weed growing in concrete cracks,” he says.Old and newFor most of human history, people subsisted primarily by hunting animals and gathering wild plants, fruits, nuts, and roots. Foraging is a learned skill and requires intimate connection with and knowledge of the environment. Around 10,000 B.C., crop domestication began to shift people’s relationship with food.Even before the current uptick in interest, foraging has long provided supplementary nutrition for many people in the U.S., particularly immigrants, Mr. Kent says. Doug Kent stands in a dry riverbed at Santiago Park in Santa Ana, California, Aug. 30, 2026. The expert forager sees a bounty of food in an urban landscape. He often sees immigrants and people who belong to diaspora communities foraging for herbs and fruits on his walks.“Foraging isn’t just a trend for them,” he says. It’s a vital continuation of their heritage.At the same time, technology has transformed urban foraging.For instance, global registries, such as Falling Fruit, use open-source mapping to track millions of foraging locations around the world. Users can focus on a neighborhood street and find the exact location for berry bushes, herb patches, and public fruit trees tagged with harvesting dates.Artificial intelligence-powered applications, such as iNaturalist, analyze a user’s photo of a plant or tree and spit out an identification match. But these applications can be dangerous because computer vision models don’t see plants or fungi the way a botanist would. Several edible species have toxic or lethal look-alikes, but carry nonvisual or subtle differences.Expert foragers warn newcomers to be careful and get proper training before venturing out and putting something in their mouths.A few months ago, California had the largest and severest outbreak of deadly wild mushroom poisonings in U.S. history, driven by a surge in wild mushroom foraging popularity and unusually heavy seasonal rains mixed with extended warmth. As of May, 47 cases have been reported to the California Poison Control System, with severe illnesses resulting in four deaths, California Department of Public Health officials reported.Popularity carries risksAlthough foraging has become more popular, the practice is still on the fringes.Joel Robinson, an expert forager in Orange who is known as Barefoot Joel, says he’s seen interest in urban foraging ebb and flow throughout the years.He first saw a surge in interest in the early 2000s, mostly due to survivalist and reality television shows, such as “Survivor” and later “Naked and Afraid.” Also, culinary trends driven by the likes of Noma, a world-renowned Danish three-Michelin-starred restaurant founded in 2003, revolutionized the restaurant industry by transforming foraging into a culinary luxury. Doug Kent holds fruit from a Brazilian peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolia) at Santiago Park in Santa Ana, California, Aug. 30, 2026. California’s undeveloped natural areas feature greater biological diversity than any other state.“But that does not mean they can support an increase in foraging because they are protected due to threats of extinction,” Mr. Robinson says.Mr. Robinson, founder and director of Naturalist for You, a nonprofit that teaches outdoor skills, including urban foraging, says he’s heartened by greater interest in urban foraging. But he worries about its sustainability.Different rules tend to apply to different landscapes based on ownership and environmental laws.For instance, in some places, such as California state parks, it’s illegal to forage. If a plant is rare or provides important habitat for a declining wildlife species, such as pollinators, experts recommend leaving the plant alone.If a plant isn’t rare or protected, it’s usually the rule of thumb to take only about 10% to 20% of any single plant or patch, leaving the majority behind for pollinators, other wildlife, and plant recovery.“It is important to understand how to interact with different plant species in mutually beneficial ways,” Mr. Robinson says.He recommends providing the plant with water or soil nutrients, or helping with seed dispersal.Mr. Kent encourages foragers to delay a bit before picking to assess the situation and the food's condition. “Pause before taking,” he says. “Ask for permission.”