The benefits of eating a wild variety of plants | Foraging

Zoe Williams is unfortunately not the only one who is unable to identify 30 plants per week to eat (we should all eat 30 different plants per week. I can’t even name as much, August 19). Nowadays, 50% of the daily calorie contribution of the world comes from three species: wheat, corn and rice.

In 2020, I decided to live “food for nettles” – as Zoe says – for a year in Scotland, eating only free wild dishes. During this period, I ate 300 plant species, 21 algae species and 87 types of fungi. It is not non-typical of the contribution of hunter-gatherers, and most children of six natives can identify the same number of plants as an adult. Although commercially produced and transformed foods provide calories, these are plants that produce the incredible variety of micronutrients, antioxidants, flavonoids, etc. That our body needs to stay healthy and free from inflammation that causes pain and so many “modern diseases”.

The Wildbiome project has measured the health measures of 120 people who only eat wild food for periods of one or three months in 2023 and 2025. The results are fascinating, with many unexpected improvements through a range of health problems. These will soon be published in an open-source review and evaluated by peers.

The inability to name the species of fruits and vegetables is the reflection of a broader general decline in familiarity with the natural world. He goes hand in hand with the growing inability to identify trees, birds, butterflies and insects. The loss of names results in a loss of consciousness, which blinds us to the decline and extinction of species. Unfortunately, we do not miss any nameless species and disappeared until it is too late – whether in the outside world or inside our guts.
Mo Wilde
Principal researcher, The Wildbiome Project