Euell Gibbons, in the current American Survival Guide

EUELL GIBBONS, Does Anyone Remember him?

Some of you subscribe to American Survival Guide, right? In the current issue, I wrote an article about Euell Gibbons, who influenced so many of us who studied ethnobotany. Get the current issue and read the entire article.

But briefly… In the late 60s and early ‘70s, there was a wave of ecological and “back to the land” awareness which was sweeping the country. This period saw the rise of the incredibly popular Mother Earth News magazine, communes, and Euell Gibbons.

Euell Gibbons was a man of modest means who loved to fish and forage, and always wanted to be a writer. Wanting to be a novelist, his first work was about a man who tried to live off the land by eating common weeds that grow everywhere. But Gibbons’ publisher told Gibbons to rewrite the book from a novel to a guidebook for identifying these wayside plants. That book was “Stalking the Wild Asparagus,” first published in 1962, and by the early 1970s, it had become a best-seller, along with several other books by the aging naturalist.

By 1974, Gibbons began to capitalize on his popularity, and became the frontman for Post Grape Nuts, a cereal that contained no grapes and no nuts, but which Gibbon’s said “reminds me of wild hickory nuts.”

When Gibbons came to town to give a lecture at Pasadena City College, I was asked to sit with him afterwards as the press asked him questions. I was asked to sit there as “Pasadena’s Euell Gibbons.” We chatted for the better part of an hour, our conversation ranging from carob pods to American Indians to compost.

BOOKS BY EUELL GIBBONS
Stalking the Wild Asparagus (1962)
Stalking the Blue- Eyed Scallop (1964)
Stalking the Wild Herbs (1966)
Stalking the Good Life (1966)
Beachcomber’s Handbook (1967)
A Wild Way to Eat (1967) [booklet for Hurricane Island Outward Bound School
Stalking the Faraway Places (1973)
Feast on a Diabetic Diet (1973)
Euell Gibbons Handbook of Edible Wild Plants (1979) [finished after he died with co-author]

SO WHAT SORT OF PERSON WAS GIBBONS?
A Survivalist? No, though he loved to camp and fish.
A Nutritionist? No, he used plenty of white sugar, and loved to deep fry.
A Health Food enthusiast? No, just read his own recipes.
A Prepper? Nope.
A Communist? Nope. During the Depression, he was fond of Communist literature, but denounced Communism by WWII.
A Quaker? Yes. After marrying Freda, he joined the Society of Friends. As Gibbons put it, “”I became a Quaker because it was the only group I could join without pretending to beliefs that I didn’t have or concealing beliefs that I did have.”
A Vegetarian? Nope. Read his books. He ate many wildlife.
A Pragmatic Wild Food Enthusiast? Yes. At the core, Gibbons loved to live off the land, making delicious meals from what nature provided.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE: Call 800-764-6278, or go to www.engagedmediamags.comasg.

I write for the magazine nearly every month, and now have a monthly plant column.