산채 "Can you eat that? Can you eat that one too?"

Can you eat that? Can you eat that one too?

Korean cooking utilizes a large variety of wild vegetables. I always had an undeniable attraction to wid edibles. I have spend my early years, growing up surrounded by nature & its bounty. As soon as I could walk my sisters and brothers took me along on their wild mushroom hunting, wild vegetable picking, snail gathering, fishing, & occasionally bird trapping. It was always a fun activity, as we didn't own a television; for that matter, none of the toys, either. I learned early on what's edible, & what's not; not too different from what humanity has done for millennia. As I proceeded with my academic work in later years, I could even call them out by their fancy scientific names. I always had one too many questions to my good-hearted botany professor, Dr Schultz. My botany professor even let me give a lecture on edible plants. I spent hours in the wood near the campus, looking at plants, gathering wild edibles, & hunting for delicate morels. In rare occasions, if I found a willing friend to come along, I would always end up overdoing things by overwhelming the uninnitiated with too much details. Invariably, these friends would end up flustered with information overload or if not by my intense enthusiasm. I know when I reached this point by their responses. "Do you eat that one? How about that one? ", they would mechanically ask. Often, they are not looking at the plant, nor even pointing at an actual plant.
There are literally millions of wild plants that are edible. Humans in all different parts of the globe have identified what to eat on daily basis since the dawn of time. However, not every edible plant is palatable.There are even less in the category of wild plants that are actively sought after. These rarified plants are endowed with wonderful flavors, scent, & texture. The hunter-gatherer instint never seems to have left the Korean kitchen. Go to a Korean market, grocery store, or even road-side stand, you will find cornucopia of vegetables that you may not have even imagined.
Now, back to the question. Do I eat "this", or "that other plant" on the side of the road. Well, "yes" & "no". Yes, being me, I would prepare it lovingly, & eat it, provided that it is not poisonous. Now, whether you would eat it is whole different matter, all together. You see, eating is not always about feeding to sustain life. We want flavor, texture, nutrition, ambience, color, scent, or even odor in some cases (durian comes to mind). We want all of that. In other words, to establish itself as a staple food item, a plant has to have all these elements or, minimum, most of these elements.
I have great news, Koreans over generations have tried out all the aforementioned elements & established what is acceptable for food. In Korea, many scientists are also involved in research of wild vegetables. Some of the plants are established not only as food but also as medicine. This is one of the reasons why the line between Korean food & medicinal plant pharmacopeia is often blurred in Korean cooking. In many modernized nations, these vegetable traditions are lost in the name of modernization, agricultural efficiency, corporate farming. Thankfully, though, in recent years, small groups of people in many countries are reviving or rediscovering this long lost tradition.

Korean wild vegetables are consumed in two major ways. They are often eaten, in season, fresh, or they are made into a dried form for preservation.
I will focus on the dried form as fresh form is more common way of preparing vegetables in most countries. This form is somewhat unique to Korea. When wild vegetables are in season, they are hunted & gathered, then these aromatic vegetables are quickly blanched in boiling water. They are, then, sun dried in well ventilated part of the house. When they are bone-dry, they are compacted tightly by hands into a ball. Tying of these adult fist-sized compacted vegetables is a sort of folk art. The more compact, the more generous the vender, as you will get more per bunch. These are traditionally sold in bunchs, not per kilos. In this form, the vegetables can last many months, even years. They are usually consumed during the winter month when vegetables become scarce. Along with kimch, these dried vegetables provided a wide array of nutritional options during harsh winter months. This dried form is named "San-Chae". This form is frequently found hanging like three diminutional mobiles in traditional homes. One can also encounter the same in most Budhist temple kitchens. The Korean form of budhism requires vegetarianism. One thing about dried vegetables is that the flavors are somewhat unique. It has the initial humble earthy taste, but then it leeds you to its unpretentious delicate depths.
In modern Korea, wild vegetables are going strong, aided by ubiquitous appearance on health columns, or in TV programs. They are often touted as healthy, medicinal food, or miracle cure.
One can easily find specialty "San-Chae" restaurants in Korea. One an also discover some of these wild vegetable delicacies as toppings for Bi-bim-bob. Look for the word "San-chae" on the "Bi-bim-bob" section of the menu. Outside Korea the most common offering in wild vegetable category are fern shoots, aster leaves, & balloon flower roots(this one,mostly farm grown).

"Sure, you can eat the grass, and even the tree bark" but "why would you?" "You definately have a better taste than that. Get out there, see what plants have been there along right under your nose on your back yard or strol down the Korean grocery aisles.

Go ahead, try it! you may like it!