Foraging with Langdon Cook

The Umami Podcast

Author Langdon Cook has been leading foraging expeditions for more than 30 years in the Pacific Northwest. We learn about foraging mountains to sound, in the wild and in our own backyard on this episode of the Umami Podcast: everything from clams, to nettles, to morels and chanterelles.

Foraging is a great way to be introduced to nature and to feel more connection to it, and from that to have a stake in it, to become a steward of the land and the water. It's in our DNA! We're all the descendants of successful foragers from the deep, deep past. --Langdon Cook

The Umami Podcast is about examining our food selves—how what we consume is an essential expression of who we are--personally, culturally, and civically. But the subject of food is daunting: Iit’s different for every person, many of us never had the privilege of feeling nourished by or connected to it, and some of us are downright alienated by it.

Part of getting to know our food selves is to examine what grows around us. There is empowerment in learning about how nature continues to nourishes us; how we benefit most by working in concert with its rhythms.

As such, Langdon has written, taught, and led expeditions focused on learning about the wild foods around us in the Pacific Northwest. On this episode we touch on more than 20 foods in the wild, like salmon, mushrooms, seaweeds, clams, and nuts, to those in our backyards, like berries, nuts, and weeds. As Langdon put it:

For people who have a desire to connect with the outdoors, there’s no better way to do that than through the food that grows at your feet. It's an important lesson to teach ourselves and our children.--Langdon Cook

More information on Langdon's events and classes: https://langdoncook.com/events/

Langdon's books: Fat of the Land, Upstream, The Mushroom Hunters