We’ve since gotten really good at agriculture, so much so that it might not occur to today’s youth that you can find food in the woods. (Never mind that wild animals have to eat something.)

A recent trend toward local, organic, and sustainable food has also inspired some people to go all the way back to our foraging roots.

Michael Pollan wrote about his experience creating a hunter/gatherer meal in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Pollan hunted wild boar, gathered mushrooms, and prepared a feast for his family and the people who helped him out. Though it was a lot of fun, foraging was also a lot of work for Pollan. It’s easy to see why we don’t really mind spending out lives on other activities.

We’re also starting to see food foraging become popular in cities.

ForageSF is an organization that brings fresh, wild food to city dwellers. It’s like a CSA without the farm: They also deliver boxes of wild produce to people who want it.

Every month, ForageSF hosts an eight-course meal; tickets are $80 and in very short supply.

Last month’s forage dinner … featured dishes like miso-marinated black cod with blood red daikon and quick-fried wild radish greens, wild fennel pesto over handmade gnocchi, black trumpet risotto with braised wild cattails and wild lavender-grilled duck breast, and local albacore tuna tartare with tempura-fried sea beans.

Not that everything actually made it onto the plate. A forage-based menu, after all, depends on what can actually be foraged in the days leading up to the dinners

Though ForageSF has only existed since 2008, their model offers inspiration for other communities. I wonder if something like this would work in my home of Lansing, Michigan.

Foraging is not and will never again be able to feed the world (at our current size), but then again no one is suggesting that foraging try to do so. What groups like ForageSF do very well is tell the story of where food comes from and present an alternative to the grocery store status quo.

The fact that many of those weeds out back are edible is lost on most people. The idea that those weeds can be tasty, well that would blow people away. (Note: Please don’t go and eat random weeds based on that line.)

Food foraging is making a comeback, and I’m excited to see what happens.

Locavoria represents a major ideological shift for consumers in America’s industrial food economy. It means stopping by farmers markets, tending to a garden, learning how to can, and planning meals around what’s in season. That’s the exact opposite of being able to walk into a supermarket at any time of year and pick out fresh fruits & veggies.

“Fresh” is a relative term. Supermarket vegetables tend to be specific varieties that have been selected for their ability to travel long distances. What’s gained in transportability, however, is lost in flavor. Anyone who’s ever tried a ripe, locally-grown tomato in August knows the difference—locavores take home a landslide victory in taste.

Locavores also get to feel good about passing their food dollar directly to farmers, instead of giving 85 cents to middlemen when they buy from supermarkets (value-added food processors make out like bandits).

Before running out to the nearest farmers market, though, you should consider the various values of food. Buying local is great, but what if you’re buying pork from a CAFO, or cucumbers that were soaked in fertilizer and pesticide? Suddenly locavoria becomes much more complex.

Personally, I’d skip the CAFO meat and pick up the cucumber (provided I couldn’t find less-pesticided green guys elsewhere). Most trips to your local farmers market won’t raise these kinds of questions, but it’s always good to keep thinking about it.