Superfood for Wanderers

This morning our conversation went something like this…

Him: Did you read the article about the "The Ten Best  Superfoods for Women" in your blah blah magazine?

Me: No. 

Him: You should read it.  They said that strawberries have just as many antioxidants as blueberries and white mushrooms are….

Me:  Of coarse. They are whole foods.  It doesn't matter what real food you are talking about-every real and whole food has valuable nutrients. How can there be 10 such  super foods?

Him:  hmmmm

I hate to get on my high horse.  And those of you that know me personally know I can't even get on my high horse because my horse is rather short- but, - I really don't think food value is a mystery.  What is a mystery is that we continue to discuss the "best foods to eat" and "superfoods" and "what's in now".  My philosophy has always been, as Michael Pollan has said, "If it comes from a plant, eat it.  If it is made IN a plant, avoid it."  

That's pretty simple.

I don't like to take vitamin supplements either.  I'm into food, what can i say. 

And  i've added foraging to my grocery experience.  It brings a new dimension to my walk in the woods. Now, when i walk, I peer at the ground and notice the succession and arrival of certain plants.  Everything has a name and a purpose in the fragile forest ecosystem.  In fact, it's hard for me to find a "weed".  First there were ramps, now the trillium and columbine and where are those morels?  It must be difficult to find a morel. I've been looking for a couple of days now, spending inordinate amounts of time peering under forest leaves and in general wandering. My wandering hasn't produced much, a few photos of this and that; mossy stream beds, red trilliums and blooming cherry trees.  My dog is happy though.  She sniffs and scatters about looking for something to chase while my nose leads me unpredictably through the woods.

Everything is slowly waking up. Emerging from it's earthly sleep. The big draw right now in northern Michigan, apart from the elusive morel, is the  snowy limbed cherry trees that blanket the hills in quiltlike patterns.  I love this season. It's a glorious time of the year. I'm waiting for the cherries and looking for morels, two of my favorite "superfoods". I don't need a blah blah magazine to tell me of the health benefits either. But, I can't eat those blooms, so where in heck are those morels?