Not just a cookbook for familiar foods like corn chowder, but how to fix clover soup, purslanne salad and stewed wid rabbitt.

Unlike many other Native American cookbooks, this one begins with an understanding of the plants and moves to recipes later. It includes many plants you probably won't find at any grocery stores, though they may be available at farmer's markets, specialty providers online, or perhaps growing in the wild near you. As a cookbook, there aren't as many illustrations as I usually like, but the recipes I tried were simple and absolutely delicious. I enjoyed some of them so much I'm thinking about trying to grow some of the ingredients myself. The biological specimen illustrations are helpful, as are the descriptions of which seasons these ingredients would naturally occur in and the processes traditionally used to preserve or prepare them. It does include a chapter on poisonous plants and plenty of warnings about exploring without proper knowledge.I was surprised to see how many things I've seen growing wildly here in Chicago could actually be edible - goldenrod tea, anyone? ( )