Edible Plants: A Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of North America By: Jimmy Fike

Author: Jimmy Fike

For over a decade, artist Jimmy Fike traveled across the continental United States in an epic effort to photograph wild edible flora. Edible Plants is the culmination of that work, featuring over 100 photographs that Fike has selectively colorized to highlight the comestible part of the plant.

While the images initially appear to be scientific illustrations or photograms from the dawn of photography when plants were placed directly on sensitized paper and exposed under the sun, a closer look reveals “haunting [and] eerily beautiful,” photographs, according to Liesl Bradner of the Los Angeles Times. Beyond instilling wonder, Fike’s contemporary, place-based approach to landscape photography emphasizes our relationship to the natural world, reveals food sources, and encourages environmental stewardship. His clever, yet beautiful method makes it easy to identify both the specimen and its edible parts and includes detailed descriptions about the plant’s wider purposes as food and medicine.

Sumptuously illustrated and delightfully informative, Edible Plants is the perfect gift for anyone curious about unlocking the secrets of native North American plants.

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