We don’t often think of eating wild food.
Although sometimes we demand wild food. Like wild fish. You hear a lot about wild fish. Although when it is advertised they tend to call it “wild caught fish”. Which makes me wonder a bit. I get suspicious when people play with words. There’s usually a reason. Like is this fish truly wild? Or is it just really mad because it got caught?
Anyway, there is still a bit of wild food in our diet. Although not a lot of wild vegetables. I’m not sure how you tell a wild vegetable from a domesticated one. But many of our vegetables would probably be considered domesticated.
Fiddleheads would be an exception. I looked online. I don’t think anyone has figured out a way to farm fiddleheads yet. There are a few types of ferns around the world that are eaten during their early growth stage as fiddleheads, so we aren’t the only ones to dine on them. But all tend to grow wild.
People around the world also have some interesting ways to prepare fiddleheads. I just happened upon a recipe for fiddleheads in a coconut milk sauce that looked pretty interesting. But fiddle head season around here is pretty short. We don’t get a lot of time to experiment.
I just like boiled fiddleheads with butter and a bit of pepper. Nothing fancy. Just some baby ferns in butter.
I know not everyone likes them, but I do. And they’re only available a few short weeks of the year. So you have to make the best of them when available. When it comes down to it, they’re probably my favourite green. I guess they would be considered greens. Although the Swiss chard may argue.
Like lobster, in some ways. I don’t need a steady diet, but I do like a good feed a couple times a year.
Maybe I should call them wild caught fiddleheads. Somehow it makes them seem more exotic to think of people chasing them through the forests of New Brunswick, hunting the wild fiddleheads.
Whatever the name, I still like to eat them.
