VIDEO. Christophe is a fan of wild picking and teaches it to others

“In France, we have around 8,000 species of wild plants and, among the 8,000, there are around 1,000 that can be used, consumed either for treatment or to eat them.”, explains Christophe de Hody. Field botanist and founder of the nature trail, he organizes discovery workshops with walkers, so that they can themselves discover and eat the wild plants around them. Brut found him in the Bois de Vincennes.

“It should not be assumed that proteins are only found in animals”

“There are seasons, especially spring and fall, where I will really pick a lot of plants and eat a lot of wild plants and mushrooms. It can really represent more than 80% of the vegetable part of my diet, because I am an omnivore”, explains Christophe. He even has special recipes for consuming these wild plants. “They’re called kittens. It belongs to the hazel tree, it’s the male flowers. And when they pull apart like that, that’s when it makes pollen and it becomes nutritious. Because pollen is nutritious. It contains amino acids, proteins, minerals and vitamins. Me, what I do is I dip them in lemon to make it a little tart. Then, in the melted chocolate, it hardens and it makes not orangettes, but chatonettes.”

According to him, a good part of our diet could be replaced by wild plants. “We could more easily if we made preserves, if we made preserves in the right seasons. When it’s chestnut season, we make chestnut preserves. When it’s fruit season, we make fruit preserves. And with the addition of nettles, plantain, dandelions, small green plants that will also provide good nutrients. It should not be assumed that proteins are only found in animals. We also have good quality protein in certain plants, like nettle, which contains lots and lots of protein.”