‘This little weed has 83 times more iron than spinach – more Vitamin C, too,’ Lizzie explained to her group as deft hands yanked out a clump of chickweed. ‘It's dynamite in a salad; and the best part… it's free!’
I picked a shoot or the juicy plant myself and, for the umpteenth time that day, gingerly tasted something new. It was peppery, slightly tart, and a definite candidate to replace rocket or radish leaf in a salad.
A fledgling forager, I had joined a group of Americans on an urban foraging excursion in Eshowe, Zululand, with a local eco-tour guide named Lizzie. Our baskets were stuffed with pink Brazilian pepper from the edge of the town airstrip, bright red amatangulu fruit from behind a school, and juicy shell ginger from below the town dam.
But there was still work to be done to gather sufficient wild edibles to feed ourselves, and the Americans weren't shy to get stuck in. Cameras and puffer jackets cast to the wayside, the intrepid gatherers were well into their own search in this vacant lot, enlivened by the somewhat eccentric botanist
