Happy Snacking, Don't Die!: Foraging and Vegan Recipes with Black Forager (a Cookbook)

By Alexis Nikole Nelson

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Beloved social media sensation Black Forager's long-awaited guide to foraging, sometimes even in your own backyard, and vegan cooking.

Your next favorite ingredient might be hiding in plain sight in your own backyard. Alexis Nikole Nelson, best known to millions of fans as Black Forager, invites you on an adventure to discover the abundance around you. Alexis captivates people with her joyful enthusiasm and deep knowledge of foraging and inspires them to explore the bounty of their own backyards, parks, and trails, and now she does the same in her eagerly awaited first book.

Part foraging guide, part plant-based cookbook, Happy Snacking, Don't Die shows you how to turn common plants, flowers, and fungi into yummy, vegan meals during each season--no wilderness survival skills required. In spring, you'll learn to pickle Magnolia flowers and turn Japanese Knotweed into a refreshing granita. Summer is for frying up Milkweed Buds, making Juneberry Hand Pies, and crafting Rosewater Baklava. When fall arrives, you'll be making savory mushroom dishes (a.k.a. chicken of the woods) like Maitake steak and bacon. And in winter, cozy up with Pine Shortbread Cookies and Oyster Mushroom Chowdah.

With helpful plant identification photos throughout, this book is an essential resource packed with practical tips on ethical foraging and crucial safety information (so you "don't die") for people across the northern hemisphere. With her signature humor and infectious spirit, Alexis proves that foraging isn't just for survivalists--it's for anyone who wants to connect with nature and add exciting new flavors to their table.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 166800254X
• ISBN13: 9781668002544
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: S&s/Simon Element
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.4" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Go Foraging!

You know her, you love her, its Alexis Nelson aka BlackForager. If you follow her on social media, this book will be a delight. A printed recipe book is much easier to use than sifting through her posts to find that recipe you saw once and wanted to try. Super informative with a bunch of creative recipes for not just local native plants, but also those invasive ones we need to get rid of. Not to mention learning about plants I didn't even know were edible! I can't wait to go out looking for my own ingredients, or even planting a few in my own garden for ready access. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the eARC