Foraging revival: How wild food enthusiasts are reconnecting with nature

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Standing barefoot in a grassy patch of dandelions, Iris Phoebe Weaver excitedly begins listing the many ways the modest plant can be used medicinally and in cooking.

“I just picked a bunch of dandelion flowers yesterday and threw them in vodka with some orange peel and some sugar, and that’s my dandelion aperitif,” Weaver said. “That will make a lovely mixed drink at some point.”

A longtime herbalist and foraging instructor in Massachusetts, Weaver takes people on nature walks that transform their relationships with their surroundings. Lately, she's been encouraged by the uptick in interest in foraging, a trend she sees as benefiting the environment, community and people.

“There is just an amazing amount of food that is around us,” Weaver said. “There is so much abundance that we don’t even understand.”

Humans have been foraging long before they developed the agricultural tools some 12,000 years ago that quickly overshadowed the ancient act that helped sustain early humans. Yet foraging enthusiasts say the search for wild mushrooms, edible plants, shellfish and seaweed has grown more popular in recent years as people tout their rare finds. Others share knowledge on social media, and experienced foragers offer training to novices on safe and sustainable practices.

The renewed interest ranges from those wanting to be budget-conscious — foraging is free after all — to those wanting to be more mindful of their environmental footprint. Some even use foraging as a creative outlet, using mushrooms they find to create spore prints and other art.

The popularity is also helped by the hobby's accessibility. Foragers can look for wild food everywhere, from urban landscapes to abandoned farmlands to forests — they just need permission from a private landowner or to secure the right permit from a state or federal park. Some advocates have even launched a map highlighting where people can pick fruits and vegetables for free.

Gina Buelow, a natural resources field specialist with the Iowa University Extension Program, says the university has had a backlog of folks eager to learn more about foraging mushrooms for the past two years. Buelow runs presentations and field guide days throughout the state, regularly meeting the attendance cap of 30 in both rural and urban counties.

“Typically, I would get usually older women for a master gardener or pollinator garden class. That audience still shows up to these mushrooms programs, but they bring their husbands. And a lot of people between the ages of 20 and 30 years old are really interested in this topic, as well,” she said.

Some creative chefs are also sparking interest in foraging as they expose patrons to exotic and surprisingly tasty ingredients found locally.

“Foraging is an ancient concept,” said Evan Mallett, chef and owner of the Black Trumpet Bistro in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a popular historic New England destination. “Our culture has moved far away from foraging and is fortunately coming back into it now.”

Mallett opened the restaurant nearly 20 years ago and uses foods foraged from around Portsmouth. He said he hopes more people will continue to learn about foraging, and encouraged those worried about picking something poisonous to find a mentor.

“I think the dangers of foraging are baked into most people’s brains and souls,” he said. “We as an animal know that there are certain things that when they smell a certain way or look a certain way, they can be encoded with a message that we shouldn’t eat those things.”

Mallett named his restaurant after the wild foraged mushroom as a reminder. Over the years, he's incorporated Black Trumpet mushrooms into dozens of dishes throughout the menu — even ice cream.

Other menu items have included foraged sea kelp in lobster tamales, as well as using Ulva lactuca, a type of sea lettuce, in salads.

“It’s nothing that I necessarily seek out, but I kind of love it when it’s on a menu,” said M.J. Blanchette, a longtime patron of Black Trumpet, speaking to the foraged dishes available at Black Trumpet and other restaurants.

She recently ordered the meatballs with foraged sweet fern from Mallett's restaurant, a feature she says elevated both the taste and experience of consuming the dish.

“I think it’s really cool and I think it’s also something that’s not only foraged, but also tends to be local, and I like that a lot,” she said.

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

A previous version of this report had an incorrect spelling of Evan Mallett's last name.

Jon Plaza explains the locally foraged ingredients of the Lebanese lamb meatball appetizer to a group dining at the Black Trumpet restaurant, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Dolmas, created with locally foraged grape leaves, are prepared in the kitchen for the evening's dinner at the Black Trumpet restaurant at the Black Trumpet restaurant, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A Dolma appetizer, created with locally foraged grape leaves, are served to a patron at the Black Trumpet restaurant, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Chef Jake Vatalaro sprinkles locally foraged locust flower seasoning on a Chef's Meze Plate, which includes locally foraged mushrooms, at the Black Trumpet restaurant, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Portsmouth, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Nelda Quigley, of Beverly, Mass., smells a plant during a foraging class, May 8, 2025, in Wenham, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Iris Weaver reaches for a plant while teaching a class on foraging, May 8, 2025, in Wenham, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)