From the category archives:

Field Notes

Cows Eat Weeds, Too

November 18, 2013

It’s not only humans that can develop an appetite for invaders. Kathy Voth, founder of Livestock for Landscapes, has helped farmers control invasive weeds on their land by training cows to eat invasive multiflora rose. The cows are fed the roses, until they develop a taste for it. Says one farmer: “the cows ate all […]

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News from Sparkling Lake

November 4, 2013

In the early 2000s, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison began an eight-year battle against an invasive species found in northern Wisconsin’s Sparkling lake. Orconectes rusticus, known as the rusty crayfish, was mowing down native plants, to better spot approaching predators, and outcompeting native crayfish. It consumed the eggs of native fish, and left other […]

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El Puerco, Conquistador

October 9, 2013

A new poem by ETI’s armchair invasivore, Debora Greger.
The smallest party but for two women,
we thirteen pigs boarded in Cuba.
Six hundred men, their horse and war dogs
disembarked with us in La Florida—
and who then had the best of it?

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Of Carp and Furloughs

October 8, 2013

DO NOT ship grass carp and black carp carcasses or eyes to federal facilities during the furlough. For grass carp captured from the Great Lakes or other portions of the United States where grass carp are very rare or not thought to be established, and for black carp captured from anywhere in North America, please […]

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Send in the Invasivores

September 13, 2013

“We’re trying to be unsustainable.” Joe Roman talks invasivory and shares a recipe with Conservation Magazine.

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ETI in Australia’s Smith Journal

August 2, 2013

Smith Journal‘s Chris Harrington interviewed Joe Roman for the winter issue. Caring for the planet needn’t come at the expense of enjoying its fruits. Or animals, for that matter. Eat the Invaders is a collection of recipes encouraging culinary conservationism by cooking with pests. We asked creator Joe Roman about helping the environment “one bite […]

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Have You Ever Tried to Eat a Feral Pig?

July 29, 2013

“Slide it out and try to start a dialogue.” Nancy Matsumoto discusses eating invaders in this month’s Atlantic. Can’t wait to try The Source’s snakehead with kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, cane sugar, ginger, and garlic in Washington, DC.

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Imaginary Sushi: Miya’s in New Haven

July 15, 2013

Spent a day on the water with Bun Lai, whose restaurant, Miya’s Sushi, was nominated for a James Beard Award, earlier this year. After flipping some rocks and gathering periwinkles, green crabs, and Asian shore crabs . . .

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No More Bacon!

June 27, 2013

Is eating invaders the trendy new food movement of 2013? Should we apply the snout-to-tail ethos in meat to fish and veggies? “We try to use everything, including the little things that often get composted,” Ryan Fancher, executive chef at Barndiva in Healdsburg, California, told Jessica Dur Taylor earlier this year. The Bohemian considers culinary […]

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Wild Edibles from Steve Brill

June 21, 2013

The updated Wild Edibles app by New York forager Wildman Steve Brill is a handy tool for the inquiring invasivore, whether an experienced forager or new to the Planet of Weeds. Brill’s app mixes vegan recipes, field guide, medicinal uses, and tips on how to spot these familiar plants. Wild Edibles has pages for invasive […]

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Land

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Wild Pig

Did the domestic ancestors of today’s feral pigs streak off De Soto’s ship into the Florida scrub of their own accord in 1539? Or did they have to be urged to go find something to eat? All you need to…


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Garden Snail

Deliberately or accidentally, by the movement of plants and by hobbyists who collect snails, humans have spread the garden snail to temperate and subtropical zones around the world.


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Garlic Mustard

  Alliaria petiolata Native range: Europe, Asia, Northwest Africa Invasive range: Much of the Lower 48, Alaska, and Canada. (See map.) Habitat: Moist, shaded soil of floodplains, forests, roadsides, edges of woods, and forest openings. Often dominant in disturbed areas. Description: Biennial herb. First-year plant has a rosette of green leaves close to the ground. […]


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Prickly Pear

Fall is here, and the “cactus fig” is in season. Time to plate-up another widespread invader.


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Sow Thistle

It’s spring and time to weed. Sow thistle is a delicious invader found throughout the continent.


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Sea

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Asian Shore Crab

The first sighting of the Asian shore crab in the United States was at Townsend Inlet, Cape May County, New Jersey, in 1988. Though the source is unknown . . .


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Periwinkle

The common periwinkle, which first appeared in New England in the 1860s, is now found along the coast wherever there’s hard substrate–rocks, riprap, broken concrete, or docks–from Labrador to . . .


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Lionfish

Some say it started in 1992 in Miami when Hurricane Andrew smashed an aquarium tank. Don’t blame the weather, others say; in the mid-nineties, disappointed yet softhearted hobbyists…


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Wakame

  Undaria pinnatifida Native range: Japan Sea Invasive range: Southern California, San Francisco Bay, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Argentina Habitat: Opportunistic seaweed, can be found on hard substrates including rocky reefs, pylons, buoys, boat hulls, and abalone and bivalve shells. Description: Golden brown seaweed, growing up to nine feet. Forms thick canopy. Reproductive sporophyll in […]


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Green Crab

Since the green crab was first recorded off southern Massachusetts in 1817, it has been hard to ignore. A few minutes of rock-flipping in Maine can turn up dozens of them, brandishing their claws as they retreat…


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Fresh

Armored Catfish Meatballs (1)

Armored Catfish

The armored catfish is abundant and destructive in Florida, Texas, and Mexico. Cast your nets for these flavorful natives of the Amazon. Scientific name: Two types have become established in North America: armadillo del rio, Hypostomus plecostomus, and sailfin catfishes in genus Pterygoplichthys Native range: Amazon River Basin Invasive range: Texas, Florida, and Hawaii; also […]


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Common Carp

For a bottom-feeder, what is the good life? The common carp isn’t very demanding: any body of water that’s sluggish and murky will do. If the water is clean, and you’ve got corn for bait, try one of these recipes.


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Watercress

  Nasturtium officianale Native Range: Northern Africa, Europe, temperate Asia, and India Invasive Range: In USA: all lower 48 states, except North Dakota. Found in Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Also southern Canada, Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Australasia, and parts of tropical Asia. Habitat: Common along stream margins, ditches, and other areas with […]


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Crayfish

  There are numerous invasive crayfish. We include details for the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and the rusty crayfish (Orenectes rusticus). The same recipes can be used for both species–and many other invasive crayfish. Red Swamp Crayfish Native range: Known as Louisiana crayfish, crawdad, and mudbug, Procambarus clarkii is native to the south central […]


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Nutria

Nutria, also known as coypu and river rat, is native to temperate and subtropical South America. It has been introduced to Europe, Asia, and Africa, mainly for fur farming. These voracious. . .


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Field Notes

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Can We Eliminate Invasive Species by Eating Them?

On restaurant menus across New England, green crabs are showing up in everything from bouillabaisse and bisques to croquettes and crudo. Read about it in Salon.


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Radio Health Journal

Can adding invasives to your diet help the environment and your health? Listen to Radio Health Journal here.


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Qui veut manger des espèces invasives ?

Joe Roman chats with Camille Crosnier about eating invasives on France Inter. Listen here. In French.


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Berlin’s Invasive Species Cuisine

A Berlin food truck is opening people’s minds and mouths by feeding them a menu of invasive species with the slogan, “If you can’t beat them, eat them!” Read more about it in the Good News Network.


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Rack of Squirrel, Anyone?

Patrick Greenfield discusses the rise of invasivorism in the Guardian. Read it here.


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“All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.”

Abraham Lincoln

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