Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love, and the Perfect Meal (S&S, 2014) reveals how foraging and the DIY-food movement helped Ava Chin to heal up from the disappointments of an estranged relationship with her father, and taught her important lessons in self-reliance. After the loss of a beloved family member, she immerses herself in urban natures—discovering the hidden bounty of edible mushrooms, mulberries, and even a swarm of wild honeybees in plain sight—meeting fellow foragers and mycologists along the way. As the seasons turn, she starts to see the world as a place of abundance and beauty, where everything is interconnected and interdependent, and timing is key.
Praise for Eating Wildly
“In this instructive and often charming book, Chin, who wrote the Urban Forager blog for The New York Times, explores uncultivated tracts of land…in search of physical and emotional sustenance.…Studded with instructions for everything from identifying edible plants (“Wood sorrel really did resemble small shamrocks, and taking a bite was a bright and lemony relief”) to preparing a wild foods brunch (with a tasting menu that includes day lilies, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed and dandelions), “Eating Wildly” should inspire readers to grab a box cutter and some baggies and head for the nearest park.”
—The New York Times Book Review“A delectable feast of the heart.”
—Kirkus Reviews“[Chin’s] poignantly candid memoir illustrates that one sometimes has to veer from the beaten path to find what one needs in life and in love.”
—Carol Haggas, Booklist“From the first pages of Chin’s memoir-with-recipes, you’ll be rooting for her as she roots for wild edibles in NYC.”
—MORE magazine“Chin’s memoir is the story of finding when you’ve stopped looking so hard and offers practical advice for foragers of all experience levels.”
—”starred” review in Library Journal
“Chin’s affectionate rummaging through the fields and forests of her life yields some tasty dishes.”
—Publisher’s Weekly“Chin’s story is as much about her personal journey as it is about the food, a pot-boiling mix of narrative and instruction. Sharply revealing, and, at times, uncomfortably honest, the book throws wide a window into a fascinating New York — nee, American — story, that’s thrillingly voyeuristic to read and unbearably human.”
—The Village Voice
“You’ll root for Ava Chin from page one of her winsome memoir. Loves lost, herbs, mushrooms, and vegetation of all sorts found, and then how love—elusive and rare—follows suit like a ‘patch of violets’ among the weeds. Her story is not only about where to look for love and forage for edibles, but rather about how to keep your heart wide open while doing so.”
—Monique Truong, bestselling author of Bitter in the Mouth & The Book of Salt“Like the Metaphysical poets, Ava Chin finds the world in a weed, making us hungry for mysteries, edible and otherwise. So spare and careful is her prose, one at first is unaware of how moving and instructive her foraging excursions are. But by the time this quiet, enchanting memoir ends, and she has unearthed not only exotic foods but much of love and life as well, we realize a heightened taste for everything.”
—Roger Rosenblatt, bestselling author of Making Toast and The Boy Detective: A New York Childhood“EATING WILDLY is a pithy, elegant memoir that takes the reader into the urban wilderness and the thorny complexities of family and love. Ava Chin is a warm-hearted, intelligent, and trustworthy guide to hidden treasures and hard-won finds, whether a trove of oyster mushrooms, a backyard mulberry tree, or compassion and forgiveness.”
—Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner award-winning author of The Great Man and Blue Plate Special
Publicity inquiries, contact: Meg Miller, publicist, 212-698-7656, meg.miller [at] Simonandschuster.com.