New Yorkers looking to save a buck are scavenging NYC parks for their meals — finding high-end mushrooms, pricey berries and coffee plants
They’re taking a bite of the Big Apple — literally.
NYC parks sound like the last place you’d want to eat something off the ground. However, a growing number of New Yorkers are perusing these urban oases for wild berries, top-shelf fungi and other locavore eats not available at Gotham’s inflation- and tariff-ravaged grocery stores.
And urban foraging is in full bloom in NY — just ask the pied piper of the park-to-table trend, “Wildman” Steve Brill.
“I did have one tour in 1983 with just one attendee, and two years ago I had to turn people away in Central Park and Prospect Park when a hundred people signed up,” Brill told The Post. Over 60 people, including The Post, joined him during a late March trip to Prospect Park.
And Brill isn’t the only fun-gi: Type in “NYC foraging” on TikTok and you’ll see recent videos galore of Gothamites picking wild blackberries in Central Park, turkey tail mushrooms on Randall’s Island and other farmer’s market-caliber hauls, sometimes a stone’s throw from a Duane Reade.
A proud vegan and former professional chef, Brill has been leading free tours since 1982 in Central Park all the way to Forest Park in Queens. Along with helping others graze Gotham’s cornucopia, the 76-year-old Queens native and author also teaches online foraging courses and has an app featuring 250 species.
On a recent expedition to Central Park, the veteran grazer held up a clump of oyster mushrooms harvested from a stump near a jogging path.
“[These are] the first mushrooms we found this year,” Brill, sporting his trademark brimmed hat and toting a jumbo garden spade, explained to the 30 or so attendees. “Definitely one of the top mushrooms on Earth. You cook them in seafood recipes and they’re absolutely wonderful.”
The plant pioneer then handed out the earthy fungi to the hungry crowd, who eagerly filled their bags like adult trick-or-treaters.
These OG Easter Egg hunts couldn’t have come at a better time. US shoppers reeling from inflation-fueled price hikes may be further hurt by recent tariffs, which are expected to cause food prices to rise by 2.8% overall, including 4% for fresh produce, Yale University’s Budget Lab estimates.
Journei Bimwala, an herbalist who educates Bronx communities on using local flora, estimated that she’s been able to save $2,500 a year by gathering fruits on the city’s edible margins — it reportedly comprises 25% of her diet.
“It gave me security in a sense like ‘Ok, if at any point we don’t have access to food … I can go into nature and find food for free,’” Bimwala told The Post. “If I can find it in nature, I’m not buying it.”
Brill noted that most of the gatherables are not sold at supermarkets, despite being tastier and more nutritious, as stores prefer heavier produce that commands higher prices.
Josh, a regular grazer who withheld his last name to avoid blowback from the NYC Department Of Parks, told The Post that he likes finding “tasty and nutritious food unavailable in a common grocery.”
Yes, taking vegetation from NYC parks is can result in a $200 fine. However, these penalties aren’t enforced like during Brill’s salad days. In fact, he famously got arrested in 1986 for eating a dandelion in Central Park while guiding a group.
“I ate one leaf,” Brill recounted during the recent tour. “The male ranger ducked behind a tree and took out a hidden walkie-talkie.”
They then handcuffed Brill, who was charged with criminal mischief for removing vegetation from the park.
However, he joked that they turned over “a new leaf” by hiring him to lead his foraging tours for the city. Since gaining permission, the NYC Department of Parks hasn’t hassled him over weed possession, even now that he guides independently.
Despite potential consequences, the spruce is worth the squeeze for Josh, who said he can’t stand seeing the Big Apple’s edible bounty go to waste.
“Serviceberry. There’s so much in June, in every park. It just goes to the birds,” he told The Post. “Burdock stem is a very successful invasive so you can haul it away in quantity. Kentucky coffee pods litter many NYC streets, more than I could hope to drink.”
Josh described the plant as so “nutritious that I’ll use it as a meal replacement.”
“The beans also make a tasty coffee, substitute; I made it for a friend and they just wanted more and more,” he said.
Brill’s app contains over 500 preparations for wild edibles — root beer made from Central Park sassafras, gingko rice and vegan chocolate truffles flavored with the aforementioned wild coffee, often found in the Ramble, near the Boathouse.
If fear of fines linger, salad searchers can visit the Bronx River Foodway in the Concrete Plant Park, a half-acre stretch of land that’s the only place in NY where people are allowed to rummage produce — including raspberries, chickweed and thyme — for free sans repercussions.
“You can come in and harvest anytime you want,” said Bimwala, who helped found this metropolitan Garden of Eden.
Naturally, living off the land has been met with concerns, including poisoning, environmental degradation, urine and pesticides.
Brill dismissed the latter, claiming that people have more to worry about from store-bought produce, which is sprayed with pesticides regularly unlike its park-fresh counterpart.
Meanwhile, Josh claimed that people can avoid contamination by washing roughage “thoroughly.”
To avoid poisoning, Brill implored people to identify everything with “100% certainty before eating.”
“Use my materials, or look at multiple sources,” the green space guru advised. “Eat only a few bites the first time, as anyone can have an adverse reaction to anything.”
Lastly, he quipped, “Don’t pick anything if there’s an official standing over you!”
NYC park foraging guide
Ramps: Van Cortlandt Park
Morels: Brill says these are rare, but he’s found them in the Bronx River Pathway and Central Park
Gingko nuts: Prospect Park, as well as most parks and city streets
Kentucky Coffee: Central Park, also found in Inwood Park, Prospect Park and some city streets
Thyme: Bronx River Foodway
Burdock stem and root: Forest Park
Sassafras: Prospect Park
Blackberries: Battery Park, also found in other parks such as Inwood Hill Park and Central Park
