Good morning on this stuffy Friday.

A New Yorker may see a leafy park and think, What a great place to picnic.

Steve Brill would see that same patch of green and think, Mmm delicious.

Mr. Brill is a naturalist who for years has been leading foraging tours in the city and cooking up vegan dishes made with plants he plucked from the five boroughs.

We recently joined him along with 15 novice foragers as they hunted for edible plants in Upper Manhattan.

Our first stop was near a playground in Fort Tryon Park. Mr. Brill paused in front of a purple-flowered Burdock plant, took out a shovel and dug it up.