WorldWild Podcast
Episode 11 28th May 2019
Eating the Evidence with 'Wildman' Steve Brill & Violet Brill
The year is 1986 and Steve Brill is about to become a nationwide celebrity. He was running a foraging tour in the city, as he had done many times before and was asked by one of the attendees to take a picture with his freshly picked plant; 'He told him to hold up the specimen, only; he was the specimen!' Violet, his daughter, recounts.
Then as if out of nowhere, park rangers came out of the trees: 'There he is on 81st Street, get him!' they screamed. He was arrested and would become the public face for foraging in America. As he tells us in this conversation, the true reason for his arrest was something he would learn only 20-years later. Listen in to find out - and to hear more from the father-daughter foraging team about other great escapades, lawn culture in the US, foraging as a gateway drug to environmentalism, and a lot of recipes for tasty wild meals...
'"What do you want?!" he said, "I haven't eaten a single dandelion today, I haven't even had breakfast yet!"'
- Steve & Violet Brill (together), episode 11
About Steve & Violet Brill
Born and raised in New York, ‘Wildman’ Steve Brill came to fame in 1986 when he was arrested for foraging in NYC’s Central Park. He went to appear on Late Night with David Letterman where he served the audience wild salad and was interview by CBS, BBC, and others. The charges were dropped, and Brill says he was ‘hired to lead the same tours I was busted for’. He has since released an app called Wild Edibles Forage which gives info on 250 common North American plants. He is the author many books including Foraging with Kids (2014), which he wrote with a little help from his daughter; Violet Brill, a young naturalist and forager who co-leads foraging tours with her father.
Further reading
> Find more from 'Wildman' Steve Brill.
> Footage of Steve on Late Night with David Letterman from 1988.
About the show
We offer a series of conversations to tap into the wildness within ourselves and to uncover what is possible when we do. It is our hope that through the WorldWild Podcast we can contribute to the revitalisation of wild food culture and conversation around the world.
Through people who know their landscapes intimately, we gather the threads to weave a rich tapestry. Piece by piece the vision of a wilder world comes into view. The wild embrace of nature welcomes us back and offers us a seat at the table. A feast, no less!
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