LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Environmental activist and forager Robin Greenfield is on a year-long United States tour to explain why he eats only what he can find in nature.
"I'm foraging 100% of my food and medicine down to the salt, oil, spices, no grocery stores, no restaurants," Greenfield said.
Greenfield is currently in Lexington, leading plant walks and speaking at the University of Kentucky to encourage people to rethink their relationship with food. He carries his entire pantry with him, which includes wild rice, mushrooms, berries and herbs. He says the earth already provides what we need.
"In 2011, I was living a fairly typical life, very focused on material possessions and financial wealth, and then I started to watch some documentaries and read some books, and I learned that the way that I was living was causing so much destruction to the earth, to the people, to the plants and animals," Greenfield said. "If you learn one plant per month for a year, that's 12 plants. That's life changing if you can walk out your door and know 12 different plants, so one plant at a time."
He says his mission is not about giving up modern life, but about reconnecting with the natural world around us.
"Within just an arm's reach of this tree, I found seven different foods and medicines… dandelion, henbit, dock," Greenfield said. "You know our food just kind of comes from the grocery store and the restaurants, and we don't really think about it, but for every single person here in Lexington, if they go outside, they're walking past an abundance of food and medicine."
To learn more about Greenfield and his mission, visit his website here.
