In a region full of mushroom hunters, public-park fruit scavengers, and clam diggers, Langdon Cook is a forager’s forager. He sees not only salmonberries and wild mussels but the tiny field greens (aka weeds) and lesser fungi all around us. He dropped out of the corporate world a few years ago to write—beautifully—about wild foods. Each of his weekly blog posts is devoted to some local ingredient that he researches, locates, photographs, and cooks with, finding unexpected uses for unexpected foods. More than a few of the weeds get turned into pestos, for instance, but some end up in chocolate sauce or tempura-fried. Tonight, he’ll discuss such improvised recipes from his new collection, Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager. (Event takes place in the Environmental & Audubon Center.) JONATHAN KAUFFMAN

Thu., April 22, 7 p.m., 2010