HERBS

VISITING CASA CAPONETTI in Tuscania in central Italy with my daughters, we were asked to forage for salad—gathering wild fennel, mint, and other wild herbs from the fields. It was a late afternoon on a warm spring day and we followed our noses, wandering wherever the smells led. I realized we were doing what people have done forever: finding what is edible in the landscape. Nature has a way of leading you along. It’s the business of plants to attract. Curiosity and hunger have encouraged us to discover just which plants in all that wildness are good to eat. Gathering herbs engages our senses. Whether it’s a tour of the garden, roaming a farmers’ market, or even snipping a pot of thyme on the windowsill, we are repeating a primal act, letting our senses lead us to herbs that will season our food with the aromas of the land.