forager

[ fawr-i-jer, for- ]

noun

1. a person or animal who goes out in search of food or provisions of any kind:

   The ants you see are the foragers, out looking for food and water, and they represent only a very small number of the total colony.

2. someone who collects or obtains things through hunting or searching about:

   We meet the protagonist struggling to make ends meet as a scrap-metal forager in a remote community.

Word History and Origins

Origin of forager¹

First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; forag(e) ( def ) + -er ¹( def )

Example Sentences

"London is a forager's paradise" full of a diverse range of plants that can be eaten, says John Rensten, foraging expert and author.

From BBC

For example, Ana Shellem is a coastal forager, who regularly brings us these gorgeous wild mussels and recently discovered tulip snails . . . as a result, we’re now talking to our guests about this ingredient that no one has seen before and it invites conversation about Ana and her work as a coastal forager.

From Salon

And on her new plant and fungi walks, starting this month, Bay Area forager Cindy Li will share knowledge gained foraging with her immigrant parents.

From Salon

“Finding wild food is like going on a great treasure hunt,” says wild food writer Langdon Cook, whose books include “Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager.”

From Seattle Times

“It’s probably a lot more ubiquitous than we understood,” says co-author Bruce Winterhalder, a behavioral ecologist at UC Davis and pioneering scholar of forager theory.

From Science Magazine

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