As someone who grew up in what is now the Residential Red Zone around the Ōtakoro Avon River, it has been really interesting seeing how much the art of foraging seems to have taken off since the earthquake-damaged houses in that area got knocked down and the land along the river started to wild up again. However, despite the number of fruit trees and other berries and nuts left behind after the earthquakes - and the number of maps and other resources which make it really easy for experienced and new foragers to go out exploring and finding tasty treats*, like Christchurch City Council’s list of fruit trees on their SmartView website - I haven’t gotten around to going foraging myself yet. It has been something I’ve been wanting to try for a while, and so when I saw a few different foraging options available at the WORD Christchurch festival this year I was keen to participate and see what it was all about.
We met Peter Langlands – tour leader, expert forager, and author of Foraging New Zealand– outside The Piano at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, and straight away it became clear that Peter is passionate and knowledgeable about the plants and trees growing in the city that many of us would just walk straight past.
We learnt about what flowers have good, colourful petals to add to a tasty salad (calendula), which interesting-looking greens will grow well in your garden in winter conditions when you aren’t having luck growing other salad greens (miner’s lettuce), and which of the trees growing beside the Avon River could have their leaves steeped to make a refreshing cold drink, or be used for smoking fish and chicken (kānuka).
During our leisurely walk from Armagh Street to the Ōtākaro Orchard and across to the patch of native bush beside the stretch of river running beside the Town Hall, Peter kept up with the questions of the group and made his presentation interesting and relevant to everyone who was there. From the inquisitive junior forager to those more experienced, from people furiously taking notes to those more interested in walking through the city, and from very knowledgeable botanists to, ... well, me ... everyone seemed to get something from this walking tour.
We learnt about how Google Lens can be the first point of call for identifying an unknown plant – it might not be perfect the first time, but it will give you a starting point – and how to use the iNaturalist website and app to record the wildlife in our neighbourhood and share it around the world.
As well as trying leaves and petals from the plants around us, our host had brewed up some kānuka tea for us to taste and had brought along a stash of dried seaweed from up in Kaikoura that he had prepared for us. While we chomped on our seaweed and sampled our refreshing tea we heard about different types of seaweed and how you can guess their flavour from their shapes and structure. We learnt about different types of leaves for making teas, plants that are good for stir-frying, and which native trees you can use as substitutes for other herbs or spices, or for making sweet treats.
It was a lot of fun exploring the plants, trees, and shrubbery in our central city, and to see how many people there were who were keen to learn about how to use what there is growing around us in their baking and cooking. I’m sure I’m not the only one inspired to go home and try making some sweet candied fennel stalks...
*We all know that not everything that looks pretty and yummy is actually safe to eat. Please forage sensibly and safely and do not eat anything unless you are certain of what it is!
More WORD Christchurch
- Our WORD Christchurch 2024 coverage - Library staff report back from WORD sessions
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