This educational film is an episode of the TV program titled “Discovery ’70” . Discovery aired on ABC from 1962 until 1971 (with each season denoted as “Discovery XX” with XX as the year). It was an award-winning children’s program about the history and culture of America. This episode, titled “Foraging in Nature’s Supermarket” takes hosts Bill Owen and Virginia Gibson on a foraging expedition with Euell Gibbons to teach about wild foraging. Gibbons (1911 – 1975) was an outdoorsman and early health food advocate, promoting eating wild foods during the 1960s.

The episode ends with a four-course meal cooked with wild ingredients served for Gibson and Owen by Mr. Gibbons and his family. The film is a Jules Power production in association with ABC News, written and directed by Bernard Morris, photographed by Chuck Austin, edited by Kenneth Wagner, and produced in consultation with the National Educational Association in cooperation with the American Library Association.

Euell Gibbons and a boy, Mark, sailing a canoe (00:10). They walk onto land (00:35). “Foraging in Nature’s Supermarket” title banner (00:36). Discovery 70’ intro-segment (00:40). Hosts Virginia Gibson and Bill Owen introduce the episode (01:07). Gibbons and Mark sailing a canoe (01:41). They walk across a field (02:26). They start foraging on the forest ground (02:46). Mark finds Burdock (03:06). Gibbons walking around in the forest (03:14). He and Mark walk on a field (03:31). Gibbons finds Sumac bushes and picks berries (03:44). Mark digs for wild parsnip (04:03). Gibbons picks white pine needles (04:17). Mark picks fruit from a viburnum tree (04:33). Gibbons is walking through a stream to catch freshwater crayfish (04:49). Mark and Gibbons fish from the shore using rods (05:21). Gibbons catches a bluegill fish (05:28). Gibbons prepares Bluegill fillets (05:51). They are fried on a pan over a bonfire (06:00). Mark is preparing the vegetables including burdock root and leaf stem and the wild parsnip (06:06). Mark and Gibbons soak the sumac berries in cold water, add sugar, and make a drink (06:26). Blackhawk berries and hickory nuts (06:51). Mark and Gibbons sit and eat (06:56). Virginia Gibson and Bill Owen speak about foraging (07:34). Gibson and Owen begin a foraging expedition with Gibbons in his backyard (08:00). They walk into the forest (08:13). They find and dig up Jerusalem artichoke (08:26). Mr. Gibbons shows Gibson and Owen dwarf mallow (09:32), sheep’s sorrel (09:42), dandelion (09:49), and watercress (10:22). Gibbons harvest persimmons by climbing up the tree and shaking it to let the ripe ones fall (10:37). A drive through the countryside (12:24). Fruits and vegetables, which reach peak in late autumn include wintergreen leaves and berries (12:40) and ground cherry related to the deadly nightshade (12:46). Gibbons walks through a stream picking cattails (13:15). Mr. Gibbons explains about the cattails to Gibson and Owen (13:32). He shows them slides of cattails during other seasons (14:31). Owen and Gibson have dinner cooked by Euell and Freda. Gibbons of wild foraged ingredients in his kitchen (15:30). Gibbons is making a chiffon pie made from ground cherries and graham crackers (16:08). They made a watercress, sheep’s sorrel, wild garlic, and wintergreen berry salad (16:44). Freda Gibbons is frying young groundhog (17:41), boiling Jerusalem artichokes (17:55), and boiled dandelion crowns serves with butter and salt (18:03). Tea made from the root of the sassafras plant (18:10). Gibbons and his family are seated for dinner with Gibson and Owen (18:18). They pray (18:23) and start eating (18:32). First dish is a cold soup made from wild black raspberries and dewberries eaten with sour cream (18:36). Second dish is a crayfish cocktail (18:48). The main dish is fried groundhog served with wild grape juice, a persimmon and hickory nut bread, wild plum and strawberry jam (18:57). The dessert is ground cherry chiffon pie served with whipped cream and frozen wild strawberries (19:21). Credits (21:41).

Often mistaken for a survivalist, Gibbons was simply an advocate of nutritious but neglected plants, which he typically prepared not in the wild, but in the kitchen with abundant use of spices, butter and garnishes. His first book, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, was an instant success. Gibbons followed it up with the cookbooks Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop in 1964 and Stalking the Healthful Herbs in 1966. He was widely published in various magazines, including two pieces in National Geographic.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com