vegoftheweek

“Wildman” Steve Brill is known as one of America’s Best Known Foragers. He gives park tours primarily in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, instructing people how to find edible plants, wild mushrooms, and weeds. His best known book, “The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook”, contains dozens of recipes from Sassafras Peanut Sauce to Mashed Potatoes with Daylily Shoots. A longtime vegetarian, who jokes that he still eats “chicken mushrooms” and “sheep sorrel,” he agreed to chat with me while tending to some mulberries he had collected earlier that morning.

On His Decision To Go Veg:
3 Reasons-health, environment, and humane. My mother died of cancer at the age of 57. I’m now 59. My father, his brother and sister all died of heart disease in their early 60s. And my cardiovascular system is in apparently good health. I swim a mile in 36 minutes, run around to all these parks with kids…keep very active. So I think the genetics (of me and my family) are the same. It has to be the lifestyle.

I don’t like the way the animals are treated-the cruelty is quite upsetting. And all of the waste-from what goes into the waterways to all of the large carbon footprint of being involved with the meat industry-is also quite objectionable.

What he’s eaten for the week:
At this point, it’s mulberries and juneberries-those are in season. I’m going to make some jam. I’m going to put some of the jam into a vegan ice cream. I’m going to make a Juneberry cobbler. I’m also making salads with all of the early summer greens.

Tofu or Tempeh:
Tofu. I just don’t really care for the flavor of tempeh. (It’s) one thing I just don’t have an affinity for making taste delicious. And I can make a hell of a lot of things taste delicious.

Bok Choy or Cabbage:
I prefer Bok Choy.

Morel Mushroom or Chanterelle Mushroom:
That’s a hard one. I guess the morel…I’m not good at finding morels and when I do, all the people in my group get them all.

Dandelion Fried Rice or Cattail Fried Rice (from “The Wild Vegetarian Cookbook”):
I think I prefer the Cattail Fried Rice. I love cattails. I love dandelions too, but cattails are something special.

On Being Stuck In A Food Monotony:
I guess in the cafeteria in college the first year when you’re forced to live in the dormitory. That was probably the worst.

What he wouldn’t mind eating over and over again:
Oysters Newburgh-made with Oyster mushrooms.

On The Dave Letterman Show And The Media In General:
Letterman was a real exception. A lot of media people are really nice-Regis Philbin loves cracking jokes, Al Roker is incredibly intelligent and was very into all the science relating to what I was showing him. There are lots of people that are into cooking. And Letterman was just plain unfriendly, obnoxious, and self-involved. His entire staff was the same way. (But) I had a good experience…I watched the show and I knew ahead of time, this was not going to be supportive situation. And I thought for a while and I came up with a plan. Learn about the plan to take care of Letterman and Wildman’s advice on how to find love after the break… (more…)