I was a little apprehensive when asked to review The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook. I thought it would be another cookbook to dress the shelf with too many complicated, hard to obtain ingredients to get involved with. I was delightfully proved wrong!

"Wildman" Steve Brill spends the first 30 pages of his 500 page cookbook (small font!) to explain his journey into foraging and healthy food preparation. His adventurous tale of being arrested and subsequently hired by the New York City Parks Department draws you in to read more. This section supplies the novice vegetarian with comprehensive, hand-holding information about nutrition and food preparation. There are even some helpful tips for the well-seasoned vegetarian chef. His approach is personal and friendly, peppered with a few bad puns.

The "unwild" food recipes are presented first, including tofu cheeses, nut butters and breads. The wild food recipes come next, sectioned by seasons. Brill offers commonly-found-in-the-supermarket substitutions for most of the wild ingredients. The book includes an Herb and Spice User’s Guide, and quick guides to making dairy-free cheese and wild wine. All of the recipes are primarily vegan. Some recipes call for honey, with a choice of alternative sweeteners provided. Brill uses natural sweeteners like fruit juice, stevia, rice syrup and barley malt. Most of the recipes are wheat-free.

How many times has a vegetarian been asked by a meat-eater, "but what do you EAT?" I know that I eat a far more varied diet compared to those on the Standard American Diet just with the variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes available in any local supermarket. Brill offers an enormous list of wild, edible plants to forage locally, from our backyards and parks and experience more variety than ever before! He provides a description of each, including what they look like, when they are available and what they taste like. Even if you don't try any of the 500 recipes in the book, the information on the available plants to forage in make the book a good read and a good resource for your cookbook shelf.

After picking up the weekly box of produce from my local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), I had a huge bag of dandelion leaves that I didn't know what to do with. The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook had a delicious solution:

Dandelions and Vegetables Smothered in Hollandaise Sauce

Healthy Hollandaise Sauce

I have signed up for a Wild Food and Ecology tour in Central Park at the end of the month. I plan to fill up my bags with weeds and flowers and experience their new and exotic flavors with more delicious recipes from this cookbook.

For more information about Wildman Steve Brill and Wild Food go to his website at: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com