Reposed from The Rapidian

by John Wiegand (jwiegand08) on Tuesday Apr 22nd, 2014 11:41am in NEWS

Listen to the audio interview here:

https://soundcloud.com/john-wiegand/laura-casaletto-urban-foraging

As soon as Laura Casaletto planted popcorn seeds in the backyard of her family’s urban home, her love for natural foods was born. Despite her efforts, she was awarded a crumby crop of corn- but the passion stuck. Now, Laura enjoys scouring the city’s natural areas for edible fare in an activity known as “urban foraging.”

Casaletto is an Urban Forester at Our Kitchen Table (OKT), a nonprofit organization focusing on food and social justice for low income neighborhoods. She often leads walks through Grand Rapids parks and works to educate the community on the benefits of eating directly from nature. Casaletto sees urban foraging as part of a larger picture of nutrition.

“A hundred years ago, a slice a bread was ten times as nutritious as it is now,” she says. “The way that we grow the food now doesn’t allow plants to pull up the trace minerals that they used to. When you forage this stuff it is nutritious. The plants are fighting the same germs that you are fighting and it strengthens your immune system.”

OKT will host an edible plant walk at Garfield Park on April 22, to coincide with Earth Day. The walk is free and open to the public.