The Bean Life Science Museum hosted a foraging event on Oct. 12, where participants went on a guided walk around BYU campus to learn about and collect edible plants.
The event has been hosted by the Bean Museum since 2019. Tom Smith, a professor in the plant and wildlife sciences department at BYU, runs the event and has had a long career immersing himself in the wilderness.
“We spend so much time out in the wild; we were always looking to learn about the world around us,” Smith said. “As we did, we found it very engaging and intriguing and a lot of fun.”
This event has been hosted by Smith since the beginning. He quipped that “we have parties with wild things — instead of being wild people.”
Wandering through campus with a group of foragers-to-be, Smith pointed out nutritious plants that could be collected. Trees that could be tapped for sap, edible flowers, safe-to-eat berries and several types of fragrant herbs can be found everywhere.
Heather Nuffer, one of the participants this year, has attended several times and finds the event a highlight of her year.
“A whole new world opened up,” Nuffer said about attending for the first time.
“My daughter and I were able to collect a bunch of acorns and we did the process of making acorn flour, and we have been using it in our muffins and cookies and things like that,” Nuffer said.
Beth Allen, another attendee this year, said this was her first Bean Museum event. Allen shared that she grew up in a lower income family and appreciated the event because it reminded her of times when foraging was a necessity during her childhood.
“We would run out of food, so our mom would take us out and we would forage,” Allen said. “In between my dad’s jobs or when we ran out of food, we just had to go get it.”
Being an adult with kids of her own, Allen now sees foraging as a useful skill. Having recently moved back to Utah from Arizona, she sought to learn the foraging ‘tricks’ for the area.
After finishing the campus walk, the group returned to their starting point in the JFSB and sampled an array of dishes that Smith prepared, all of which included foraged ingredients. Service berry muffins, juniper berry beef stew and purslane casserole were among the dishes prepared.
The event attracted all sorts of attendees — BYU students, alumni and interested community members. Those who came ranged from experienced hobbyists to interested newcomers. All who came learned something new about the wild world around them.
