When you think of invasive weeds, a high-end culinary experience in a Michelin-starred Manhattan restaurant might not be the first thing that springs to mind. Or maybe it would. See, weeds are having something of a cultural moment in food. The rise of Copenhagen's Noma to the world stage in the 2010s led to a growing interest in foraging for ingredients we have all around us in abundance, which most of us disregard as useless, or view as a problem rather than a potential food source.
According to Tama Matsuoka Wong, a New Jersey-based finance lawyer turned professional forager, this shift in how we view plants is gaining momentum. ‘Any chef that is ingredients-focused is interested in edible weeds and wildflowers; supply cannot meet demand right now,’ she says.
