Paul Wesley
County Fare
by Diana Cercone
Who knew that chickweed could taste so good or be so good for you? Or that sumac, one of the key ingredients to the savory spice za’atar, can be yours for the picking? Better yet, you most likely have both—as well as a host of others—waiting in your backyard for you to harvest and eat. Who knew, indeed. I always thought weeds were, well, just weeds—something to be frowned upon, pulled up and thrown out. Worst still, viewed as an arch enemy of my lawn and garden and a personal embarrassment. Something to apologize for when friends and family dropped by—like dust on a windowsill or a messy kitchen.
But say the word “weeds” to Tama Matsuoka Wong and she smiles. She knows their hidden secrets and thinks they’re great. Show her one and she’s likely to declare it not only edible but tasty and nutritious. Then happily tell you where to find it and how to grow it—even offer a recipe or two of how you can prepare it.
Tama is the author of Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market, which was named as a finalist for the 2013 James Beard Cookbook Award. A popular lecturer at area garden clubs and horticultural and conservation organizations, Tama has been featured in The New York Times and in Martha Stewart Living, as well as in other publications and on local and national talk shows. A resident of Hunterdon County, she is a board member of the New Jersey Chapter of the Garden Club of America, a steward of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and a member of Central New Jersey Slow Food, The New Jersey Beekeepers Association and NJ Audubon Society. Though she lives in Hunterdon, she says, she considers Bucks County as a natural extension of her backyard, and proudly talks about Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve as an area treasure—one where she’s lectured and had taken many classes about our shared native habitat.
To continue reading this article please turn to page 134 of the Summer 2013 issue of Bucks County Magazine.