Wild Foods

This course introduces students to wild edible foods in the Pacific Northwest across time, cultures and ecosystems including forests, wetlands, estuaries, marine coastlines, and built areas. We will learn by both field-based study and seminar-style meetings. Since time immemorial, the First Nations of the Pacific coast, including the Coast Salish, were sustained by a "seasonal round" of bountiful traditional foods which they managed, foraged, processed, and traded. What were these foods? Where did they grow? How did they contribute to the culture and ecology of the area, as well as to human physical and spiritual health and community resilience? How were they actively managed for sustainability? What place-based stories and ethics did people apply to caring for, gathering, and eating traditional foods? We will also look at historic Indigenous food cultures against the backdrop of settlement. How did two cultures--Indigenous and Settlers--interface and impact one another? What factors have contributed to the loss of Indigenous food wisdom over the last 150 years? Today, many wild foods are also threatened due to the introduction of invasive species, climate change, commercial and recreational harvesting, loss of habitat, and loss of traditional ecological knowledge of how to use these foods. How can we serve as stewards of wild foods for the well-being of animals, ecosystems, Indigenous food resilience and sovereignty? How can our wild plan wisdom be put into action in our own backyards, grocery stores, wild and urban environments?

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to: Identify a range of Pacific Northwest edible plants, seaweeds, and mushroom species; Gain appreciation and respect for plant defenses (e.g., toxic chemicals made by "poisonous plants"); Recognize a variety of introduced and invasive plants and describe their impacts on native habitats; More effectively use field guides for plant identification; Understand the impacts of colonialism on pre-settlement PNW wild food systems and indigenous peoples; Recognize contemporary threats to wild food systems; Practice reciprocity toward wild plants, animals and their homes including understanding "STEWARDSHIP" harvesting guidelines and wild harvesting permits and licensing; Blend science and art by rigorous practice using a field journal to record field notes, sketches and sensory experience; Research and write a science-based film script; shoot and produce a 10-minute "Wild Food Film" with a cell phone (or WWU camera rental); Upload a film to a personal Youtube link to share with classmates.