Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: of Eastern and Central North America

by Samuel Thayer

Eastern North America is one of the richest foraging landscapes in the world, with a wild abundance of fruits, berries, nuts, roots, tubers, shoots, flowers, seeds, and leafy greens. This guide is the key to unlocking the nutritional and culinary secrets of the natural bounty around us. As the most comprehensive regional guide ever written, it contains detailed descriptions, range maps, and sharp color photos of 700 edible species as well as some of our most troublesome toxic plants.  Sam Thayer’s Field Guide  pioneers a novel identification system using everyday language accessible to beginning and advanced foragers alike, designed to stand alone or work with phone-based identification apps to confirm positive ID before a plant is eaten. Readers will also learn about the plant’s habitat, conservation, edible parts, seasons of harvest, and methods of preparation. Destined to become the new standard in foraging field guides. 

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Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Reference, Gardening, Cooking, Survival, Food

736 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2023

Reviews

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible. Not only must I have it (I checked this out from my local library), but I'm also have to make a cute book holster to strap it to my leg. I don't want to venture into the woods with out this book ever again. It's the most through field guide for edible plants I've ever seen in my life. It has maps, it has biological descriptions, it has pictures of every plant, it has suggestions on how to eat the plants and where it fall in conservation efforts. It's like the field guide of your dreams. Every library and household in the Midwest should have this book.

[Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photos, a ton of plants, and easy to understand. Think it’ll be great during the apocalypse, both to forage food and also it’s so heavy I could use it to fight off attackers.

[Mel Gillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable if you’re interested in foraging in the eastern US. Easily the most comprehensive and useful field guide I’ve gotten to read, by a mile.

[Abby Gruber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The introductory and reference sections of this book were so accessible and eye-opening. I'm excited to keep using this out in the field!

[Jess The Bardificer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be coming back to this one again and again.

[Lacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually just got this book after seeing a lot of foragers give effusive recommendations for it. It is heftier than what I was expecting. The description of each plant is clear and broken down to the most distinctive salient points, with excellent colored photos to clarify any additional points.

And the thing about the format is, the author only optionally adds sections that would be helpful, and excludes them if not, which strikes me as being a truly personal field guide. I love the comments, warnings, and anecdotes included with the plants. As an example, some time ago, I was excited to find out that day lilies were edible, and that I had in fact eaten them before, in traditional home-cooked hot-and-sour soups as a child. But the information I found online gave me pause with advisories about explosive diarrhea and gastrointestinal discomfort. Better not pick the ones growing by my front door, I thought. In the field guide, the author explains that, first of all, "There are other species and hybrids of day lily, the safety of which are questionable (even more than this one.)" Additionally, "I no longer allow people to eat it in my foraging class. Eat at your own risk." But also, "petals are traditionally stored by drying and then reconstituted for cooking," which is exactly how it was prepared for the soups when I was a kid. Having that extra context served to answer a lot of my flabbergasted questions.

This book really is a great companion to my PictureThis plant identification app, which my florist friends say provides questionable plant identifications. I've learned a lot so far by using the app as a starting point and looking up its findings later. The book provides a lot more context and breadth to each plant I find. And knowing that the author survived the advice he's dished out in the book gives me a lot more peace of mind when exploring the interesting diversity growing in my backyard.

[Susannah Shmurak · Rating 5 out of 5]

​If you’re only going to buy one foraging guide, ​THIS is the one you want. If you already have a shelf full of foraging guides, you ​*​also​*​ want this. I've never found a foraging guide with more information jammed into its pages. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars.

I was given an advance copy to review and spent many happy hours perusing its pages. Thayer has invested an immense amount of energy designing a guide with thorough and careful information about 700 plant species as well as helpful explanations and a novel system for identifying plant types.

I have turned to his former books over and over again through the years, but this one will keep me busy for the rest of my life. Plus if you don’t find straight up plant information enough entertainment, Thayer’s irrepressible humor shines through often. You will especially enjoy "The Best Index," different from the *Regular Old Boring Index* (his words) which includes helpful categories about which are the best greens to fry versus eat in a salad, which make the best survival foods, and my favorites, the best things to feed a first date and the best things to avoid feeding a first date. You get the idea.

On top of hundreds of pages of plant descriptions and ​pointers, Thayer has added a super​-​useful ​foraging ​calendar that he has separated out by habitat, so you can pick the habitat you find yourself in and scan through things to keep an eye out for during the different seasons. Really genius.

I can’t say enough good things about this book!

[Wherefore Art Thou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not perfect, but certainly the best foraging field guide to have been written thus far. Appreciate mightily that he actually worked to eat every likely edible part of each plant in the book, challenges conventional wisdom and the issue of copying and pasting from older, perhaps mistaken sources, and lengthy physical descriptions of each plant that make identification foolproof. Comments on the practicality of consumption, identification difficulty and similar plants, and notes about conservation were particularly nice inclusions.

Some of the pictures were not really enough. Small in size, taken from weird angles often (sometimes deliberately to show identifying features) and often not having pictures of the plant as a whole and at its most identifiable or edible stage was a little annoying. I understand the need for space and that this is a tome already, but the pictures are the most important part for me! I can find more online I guess but I’m suspicious of those I don’t trust. I think I would still take more included plants over more and larger pictures though if that was the compromise.

Overall still highly recommended. Sam should try making more pesto (or at least recommending it more often) as some of the species in here are great pesto options considering flavor and local abundance — chickweed, garlic mustard, mint etc.

Side note: this is the only guide I’ve read to list Heracleum mantegazzianum as not only not “highly poisonous” but at least partially edible — and very casually! Surprising to me. I will still not be eating it.

[Megan Chrisler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't a book you check out at the library; this is one you have to keep with you always. It doesn't just have pictures of plants and how to eat them; it also teaches you botany lingo in case you go to other sources, has a whole section on similar-looking poisonous plants, and has a second "best of" index for when you want recommendations. Pretty much all the information you could want is here in one book.

I'm still getting used to how to actually find a plant in the book after I've spotted it in the wild; I'm using this book in conjunction with iNaturalist and Google for now, but someday I hope to not need those crutches. I'm not even using the book to forage at this point, but to identify plants (the first step in foraging), and it's still incredibly useful.

[Cara-Hannah-Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

We wanted something to take hiking in the forest in the Colorado Rockies when I recover from double foot surgery. What we found in this is something so much more. Our daughter's are finding edible plants in our backyard, next to their bus stop, our local park and the path to school! This book, combined with his other books, show our children how our ancestors survived on other food besides meat as described in school books, and it can taste delicious, especially when cooked right. It's so expertly organized so even our 8 year old can find things quickly. Now they are planning their own edible wild garden!

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I'm not thrilled with the organization. Coming from a scientific systematics background, it can be a bit harder to navigate if you already know the species you are looking for. It is designed for foragers, and it does seem more useful if trying to identify an unknown plant. It focuses on edible plants, specifically ones also found across the US, not just in the region of focus; however, except for the most toxic look-alikes to be wary of, it won't cover all other species in the region that you might encounter. I think it would be good in addition to a more taxonomic field guide or compendium, but I wouldn't rely on this as my only wild plant identification guide.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurdly, insanely well-researched, profoundly easy to use with clear iconography, stuffed to the brim with dozens of useful notations, this is single-handedly the best foraging field guide I have (and possibly will ever) read. I am fortunate enough to live in the Midwest and this is probably the only resource I will ever need to, as the author notes, tentatively identify plants. There is no other book like this that I know of on the market.

[Emilia Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough. I am slightly paranoid when it comes to eating plants out of the backyard, not having been raised with plant identification skills from a young age like some. But the amount of detail included in this guide is educational and extremely specific to aid proper identification. You can tell a lot of time and experience went into the making of this. I admire Thayer for the quality put into this assembly of information.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the only guide you will need for foraging edible wild plants! This detailed guide contains decades' worth of acquired information for each plant with colorful pictures throughout the book.

[Df3photo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still going over the book. Packed with tons of info and photos of wild edibles! Well made.

[The Ink Sipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amount of information in this book is astounding. The photos for identifications are great. This is another author that is an automatic purchase for me.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to purchase this one! Great field resource. Very extensive. Not light to carry around in your pack, but very informative with pictorals and useful info!

[PottWab Regional Library]

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[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is who I am now

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most complete and accurate ID book every written. Invaluable for any forager. Pictures all in full color!

[Nicko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource

[Chris Canale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, thorough, and highly accessible. Thayer's voice permeates his field guide with a refreshingly personal touch that doesn't sacrifice an ounce of credibility.

[Halle Berries · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of taking a foraging class with Sam this past summer and he is so knowledgeable and passionate about foraging. This book is like a bible to me!

[olivemage · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful I wish I could give it six stars

[Pastor Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavy and difficult to carry into the field without damage. Has everything you need to know about edible plants and adds a huge element of reward and discovery to trail walks and hikes. Great at first glance and better as I have used it more.

[Lex Littleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the most comprehensive and utilitarian guide to wild plants out there today. He leans into a common characteristic based taxonomy to group his plants, while color coding each grouping to give an additional visual aid when jumping through the book. There's also a flowchart type diagram in the beginning of the book to help you jump to whatever group the plant you're trying to identify likely belongs to. Once you find the page for the group, there's another flow chart to find the most likely plant.

Sam greatly improved the usefulness of his harvesting calendar iterated over in previous books by splitting it out by biome and simplifying the chart itself. He uses graphics to aid in communicating which parts of the plants are edible both on the pages dedicated to each plant and on the calendar.

Due to the sheer number of plants included in this book, Sam had to cut down on some of the flavored writing and individual detail which is understandable.

Overall this is probably his most visually compelling and practical book. I don't know exactly how many plants are included but it may be more than all of his other books combined. Nobody has done more for the modern forager and it shows. I imagine this must have been a labor of love.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this book - it is jam packed with info, and I really appreciate that Thayer has thoroughly tested/eaten his recommendations. I also like some of the features that I haven't seen in other books, such as his "The Best Index" which has short lists of his top recommendations for teas, jams, etc. It is a very dense book and heavy, so I like to use it in collaboration with a couple other books to go even deeper on certain plants.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sam Thayer reports in the intro that he spent 17,000 hours working on this book. While that may be the amount of time spent directly working towards the book’s completion, it would be just as accurate to say that there is a lifetime of preparation and study that has gone into this field guide. Sam Thayer started foraging at a very young age and has remained passionate about the topic since that time. His unmatched foraging knowledge shines through in this field guide very clearly. I cannot recommend this book enough.