Being food competent means knowing how to live of the land
Text and drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt, HIking.org
People closly connected to the places they walk in often have a unique knowledge of edible species of herbs, vegetables, fruits roots and other foods.
And a growing number of hikers, goes out in the landscapes, not only to watch pretty scenery, but to connect to nature through more challenging ways. One of them is to taste the landscapes.
Strange thing is that this is actually one of the ways you can really become one with a place… Not only simply because you become what you eat, but also because the sense of taste (strongly related to the sense of smell, among others) is more hardwired directly into our subconsciousness than hearing and seeing. And we can actually “record” many more dimensions of a place by tasting it, while walking, than we can just by seeing it.
So next time you go hiking… try open your mouth to taste the experience much more.
Hiking.org - Hiking Research 