The purpose of my work is not to treat people with the plants, the herbal medecine only is entitled to do that. I simply want to initiate the readers into the former eating habits and the virtues acknowledged in the written works of the ancient popular medecine and the historical background of the plants reported in our ancestrors' books ; in including the ethnobotanists', naturalists', nature lovers' researches and the precious culinary knowledge of our grand-mothers.

Traditional cooking chef for more than 25 years, I've been interested in grannies' recipes, Roman and Greek gastronomy with plants and I've tried them out.

I create new recipes with gatherings of comestible plants in order to pass my knowledge on in turn, during the adults' training courses and the activities for children in schools, a know-how forgotten today and a rediscovery of the true taste in our food.

The botanical aspect of nature is taken into account too.

My culinary training courses are based upon 4 phases :

• Identification of plants (in nature with botanists)
• Gathering (to learn how to gather plants and to protect their environement)
• Smelling wild plants and recognizing their fragrances (olfactive tests)
• Tasting (cooking activities, meals, identification of different tastes)

You will find in this book clever manners to eat. We have to learn to identify plants and flowers so that they can give us their virtues, their flavours, they can prevent us from being ill, they can make us healthier. Make these treasures of nature the partner of your health. This is the real purpose of my book, mixing what is useful and and what is agreable.

This is a serious discipline, we need to have a good knowledge of the wild plants, master them perfectly, gather only the plant desired and savour it immediately after. Ban road sides, areas cultivated with chemical products and don't forget to wash the plants several times with vinegar drops in order to eliminate wild animals' urine and excrements.