Stalking The Wild Asparagus | 
 enlarge | Author: Euell Gibbons
Publisher: "Hood, Alan C. & Company, Inc."
Category: Book
List Price: $17.50
Buy New: $10.65
You Save: $6.85 (39%)
New (29) Used (11) Collectible (1) from $10.65
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 40691
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 303
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0911469036
Dewey Decimal Number: 581.632
EAN: 9780911469035
ASIN: 0911469036
Publication Date: January 1, 1962
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Condition: BRAND NEW HARDCOVER, CRISP & CLEAN, NO MARKS, SHIPS NEXT BUSINESS DAY...BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM A 5-STAR SELLER!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Euell Gibbons was one of the few people in this country to devote a considerable part of his life to the adventure of living off the land. He sought out wild plants all over North America and made them into delicious dishes. His book includes recipes for vegetable and casserole dishes, breads, cakes, muffins and twenty different pies. He also shows how to make numerous jellies, jams, teas, and wines, and how to sweeten them with wild honey or homemade maple syrup.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
Euell Gibbons is da man! August 13, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Not only is this book full of recipes for wild plant dishes, but it includes wild animals as well. I like his attitude towards the things that many people won't touch - I mean this dude ate a bobcat and had a buddy there eating it with him. Where do you find these kind of people? I don't know anyone who would eat bobcat unless money was involved.
 Not a field guide March 30, 2006
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Euell Gibbons was master forager, or at least among those that are also authors. His book is absolutely fascinating, and he makes the reader aware of a multitude of wild plants and animals that few have ever tasted, or even been aware of for that matter.
There are countless useful recommendations for the preparation of foraged foods, many of which would be unpalatable or even inedible without using the provided suggestions. His stories are great and he relates many tales from his days as a forager.
The problem I have with the book is that it is first and foremost a cookbook. It has drawings and descriptions of most, but not all, of the wild edibles he talks about. This is hardly a good method for identifying plants. On the back cover it even suggests you could live off the plants and animals described in the book. This is possible, but not likely, particularly if you cannot even properly identify the plants! And considering that there are numerous poisonous plants in any given locale, you had best not delve to deeply into the world of foraging without tagging along with an expert or at least having a detailed field guide.
Take the book for what it is - an excellent resource for preparing wild edibles and opening a whole new world for the outdoorsman.
Bret
Stalking the Wild Asparagus September 29, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have known this book for over 20 years. I has been almost a bible for my foraging. I used to borrow it from the library several times a year. Then the county libraby removed it from the shelf to make room for newer books. I was very dissappointed. I had to borrow the book from a library 2 counties away. I was delighted to discover that Amazon carried Stalking the Wild Asparagus. The book is a wonderful reference tool, personable, acurate, and has detailed illustrations.
The Forager at Work July 10, 2005
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I was always interested in survival and eating wild foods and I tried several (with indifferent results) during my boy scout days. Thus, it was that "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" was a revelation to me when I first encountered it as a young man. Somebody else in the world was interested in eating wild plants! Quite a few somebodies, it developed, because this book ran through a lot of printings and Euell Gibbons became a folk hero and TV star.
Gibbons identifies and discusses the culinary virtues of about 50 different wild plants and animals. Among the familiar plants he identifies are dandelions, cattails -- the "supermarket of the swamp" -- and daylilies. He tosses in a few animals worthy of pursuit and ingestion by the modern day hunter/gatherer: bluegills, turtles, frogs, and carp. One is immediately impressed that Gibbons knows what he is talking about. He tells you what you need to do with the plant or animal, gives you a recipe or two for its preparation, and adds a bit of personal experience and folklore about the plant. He even gives you menus for wild-food feasts.
There is something of the primeval in the attraction of children to gathering their own food, even if is only raspberries growing beside a road. For a few, such as Gibbons, it becomes a lifelong passion. His strength as a writer is infectious enthusiasm. I usually find nature writers to be preachy and sanctimonious. Gibbons isn't. He seems impervious to the thought that he might be considered as crazy as a loon (not one of the animals he proposes for eating). He can say with a perfectly straight face, "Let's go nutting."
"Stalking the Wild Asparagus" has found a permanent place on my bookshelf and due recognition as a nature classic.
Smallchief
A Classic- Like a Thoreau, Will Rogers & Mark Twain Blend May 12, 2005
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Euell Gibbons (1911-1975) had an adventurous life to say the least. His first intro to wild foods was due to his family's poverty when they lived in New Mexico. At 12 years old, Gibbons went out in the surrounding country-side to forage for edibles to help feed his family and a life-long love of wild food got off to a pragmatic start. One of his first discoveries was wild asparagus, hence the book title namesake.
This book is lyrical, yet practical and covers a sizeable array of wild foods- location, preparation, uses, etc. Recipes are given all through the book as well as some medicinal use info. One of Gibbons' favorite plants was the Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). He relates how the Dandelion has been one of humanities longest known and useful wild foods and medicines and laments the assault by lawn care chemical manufacturers in trying to demonize this beautiful, helpful gift from Nature.
Gibbons traveled the world lecturing on the benefits of wild foods and was often seen on popular talk shows along with becoming a pitch-man for Post Grape Nut Cereal commercials where he treated America to hilarious daily line: "...taste like wild hickory nuts!". Gibbon's came across like a modern-day cross between Mark Twain, Will Rogers and Henry David Thoreau.
Those familiar with Thoreau's recently published last manuscript, "Wild Fruits" will see the close resemblance to "Stalking the Wild Asparagus"- both now classics and useful guides to Nature's cornucopia of wild edible gifts.
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