Missoula, MT – As Easter egg hunts fill the air with excitement this spring, Missoula resident Cathryn Raan is taking a more unconventional approach to gathering—by foraging for her food. Raan, a passionate forager and advocate for wild food, has embarked on a unique journey to explore the health benefits of eating nothing but wild foods. She’s participating in the Wildbiome Project, a citizen science study that investigates the impact of wild diets on health.
Launched in the United Kingdom by Monica Wilde, the Wildbiome Project first gained attention in 2023 with a smaller study. Now in its second round, the project has grown to include over 100 participants worldwide. Raan is one of only two Americans taking part, and she’s committed to a three-month wild diet that will see her living off foraged foods from April to June.
For Raan, the decision to go wild wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment choice. Growing up in Troy, Montana, she developed a deep connection to nature by picking huckleberries as a child. That early love for foraging grew into a lifelong passion, eventually leading her to teach about wild foods, mushrooms, and herbal medicine through her Missoula-based business, Wild Wanders.
“It all started with huckleberries, and then mushrooms, and it just kept expanding from there,” Raan said. “What began as a hobby turned into a mission to help others see the value in the plants around them.”
Raan’s involvement in the Wildbiome Project is about more than just food—it’s an exploration of how foraging affects her body and mind. As part of the study, participants undergo extensive testing, including blood work, gut analysis, and even hair and nail clippings, before and after their wild diets. This data is used to measure the health impact of a forage-based diet.
“I’m thinking less impulsively about food and more strategically now,” Raan explained. “I’m not eating for pleasure; I’m eating for fuel. It’s a shift in how I approach food, and I feel more connected to both my body and the landscape around me.”
Incorporating wild foods like stinging nettles, wild mushrooms, and even wild-caught octopus into her meals, Raan is learning to navigate the complexities of foraging. For her, this is more than just a diet—it’s a way of life. “This is the freshest food you can get,” she said. “It’s not coming from a truck 1,000 miles away. It’s picked and sometimes goes straight into my mouth.”
Despite the challenges of foraging, such as the time-consuming nature of harvesting and preparing wild foods, Raan has fully embraced her new routine. As spring has just begun to bloom, much of her diet relies on stored foods from last year—berries, mushrooms, and meats from hunting season—supplemented with fresh greens as they become available.
“There’s a lot of time and effort that goes into this, but it’s worth it,” she said. “It’s a process of connecting with the land, and I think that’s empowering.”
Raan’s passion for foraging is evident in her desire to share this knowledge with others. Through Wild Wanders, she encourages people to learn about the plants around them, but she also emphasizes the importance of caution. Foraging, after all, comes with risks. “Get to know the plants that will kill you,” Raan warns. “There’s a lot of research involved, and it’s critical to start slow.”
While Raan is excited to see the results of the Wildbiome Project and hopes it will confirm the positive changes she feels, she’s also eager to inspire others to connect with the natural world in a deeper way. Through her work, she hopes people will develop a greater sense of sovereignty over their food and health.
“It’s such an empowering and fun thing to widen your lens to the landscape around us,” Raan said. “Foraging helps you feel more in control of your food, your lifestyle, and your health.”
As the Wildbiome Project continues, Raan’s journey into the world of wild food serves as a reminder of the power of nature and the deep, often overlooked, connections we share with the land. Whether the study results back up her personal experience or not, one thing is clear: foraging has become a way of life for Raan, and she hopes others will find the same fulfillment.
