edible brisbane | For Greenies

2
Jun
2010

Edible Streets Tour

For Greenies joined ‘Culture Club’ for a stroll around the streets of West End’s urban foodscape. What we found was a diverse array of sub-tropical fruit trees overhanging footpaths, edible vines spanning fences, and sprawling root crops replacing nature strip grass. This is a testament to the culturally diverse community and the favourable climate of sub-tropical Brisbane.

The tour involved plant identification as well as discussing the ethics of harvesting, share maps, what to do with surplus and how to contribute to the urban edible foodscape.

Edible Brisbane ~ Food Plants in Public Spaces

On my birthday last month my partner and I spent the day in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. It was past lunch time and our stomachs were starting to get that empty feeling but we were far from any good nutritious food. Walking down the main path back to the entrance we came across a tree we had never seen before with spikes between the leaves and small yellow fruit about the size of a plum. The tree was loaded with fruit and the ground below covered in fallen fruit. “What is this tree?” we asked each other, “is it edible?” at this stage we were very hungry. A covered rat trap had been laid under the tree and the fact that the name plaque had the word ‘apple’ in it was enough for us to decide that it COULD be edible and that it must be safe if the rats were eating it!