An Eye for the Edible : Parisian Parsley

We were walking in the hot November sun* last week, up in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, when Rina stopped dead in her tracks, bent down and grabbed a leaf or two of something pushing up through a crack in the pavement. "Parsley !" she cried .

 It wasn't the first time I'd been out walking with her family and someone with a keen eye for the edible started gathering this or that...Escargots (snails) under a rock, wild chickpeas, wild greens, quince. Her mother has keen eyesight and can see quince fruit floating high up in a tree, a mile off in the distance. Out came the bucket(s) or some convenient container and when we left the area there was not one snail, fico d'india (prickly pear) or edible leaf left. But that was in the Sardinian countryside. In Paris ?

If you keep your eyes and mind open you'll find city forests, meadows and streets hiding plenty of edible plants, fruit and flowers.

I love the idea that anyone can walk 'round this beautiful city and find mulberries, ginko nuts, rocket, capucines (nasturtiums) , mint, plum and cherry buds, pine needles, purple sage, hazelnuts, wild fennel, wild asparagus, nettles, mushrooms (cepes, langue de boeuf, les meuniers, coulemelles, pied bleus) even parsley ! All within the city limits !

*sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? "Paris weather Nov 1, 2014 :  high 22° C - 71.6° F"