Wild edible plants and fungi in the region of Israel and Palestine have been used to sustain life in periods of scarcity and famine, or else simply used as a supplementary food source for additional nourishment and pleasure. The diverse flora of the region offers a wide range of plants suitable for human consumption, many of which have a long history of usage in the daily cuisines of its native peoples.
The local population has traditionally made use of these plants, which they gathered for human consumption, whether to be eaten fresh or by steeping them in hot water, or by cooking, or by making use of them as a spice or condiment. All plants herein named are without regulation and can be utilised by the public, unless otherwise noted as protected under Israeli law. Such legislation has been a source of conflict (see for example Za'atar#Cultural and political significance).
History of foraging The flora of Israel consists of roughly 2,272 species from 128 families and 775 genera. Fungi such as truffles can be found in mycorrhizal relationships with other endemic plants, primarily helianthemum. In Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza), there are ~2780 recorded plant taxa. Ethnobotanical studies of the West Bank region document 100 wild edible plant species, including Majorana syriaca (wild marjoram), scorzonera judaica (viper's grass), and Eryngium creticum, the latter of which is mentioned in the Mishnah as a 'sacred herb'.
In the Talmud, wild edible plants are called yerakot hasadeh ("field vegetables"), and they constituted an important food staple for those lacking the means to sustain irrigation for cultivated vegetables. Palestinian food culture preserved this ancient practice of foraging and cooking wild plants, reintroducing this knowledge to Israeli cuisine, so for example, gundelia ("tumble thistle"), is best known in Israel by its Arabic. Studies of the continued use of wild edibles among Palestinians in the West Bank for nutritional and medicinal purposes document a wide array of applications, with the stated aim of preserving this indigenous knowledge.
German orientalist Gustaf Dalman (1855–1941) stated of foraging in Palestine, "[as] for all plants, the young growths of spring are used; for the thistles usually only the core and the stem." Foraging requires careful identification to avoid handling and/or eating noxious species. Some edible plants have parts that are allergenic or unfit for any human consumption, while some may require cooking.
Wild plants, and the knowledge of how to identify them both in the wild and in family gardens where they will often spontaneously sprout, is an important part of Palestinian identity and the traditional agricultural practices preserved by the fellahin and bedouins of Palestine. The weeding of family gardens is generally overseen by elders with knowledge of which wild plants should not be removed, like za'atar for example, so they can be used as ingredients in traditional dishes and teas for nutritional and even medicinal purposes.
Selected species
Edible species include herbs, grasses, fungi, shrubs, and trees.
Herbs, grasses, fungi and shrubs