ABSTRACT
Amidst a great range of colourful fruits and vegetables in the many open street markets of Athens, one invariably finds an old widow dressed all in black, selling a pile of wild horta (dandelion-like greens). Collecting wild greens at the edges of cultivated fields and vineyards is a popular pastime for many urban Greek women and these are an important source of winter vegetables in the countryside. Wild greens such as dandelion, chicory, sow's thistle and mustard add vitamins and variety to a village diet based primarily on the caloric staples: bread, beans and olive oil. Throughout Greece, urban or rural, wild greens are valued for their health-giving qualities. Wild food sources have traditionally been a mainstay and an economic resource for the poor, such as the widows who market them. While gathering wild greens for oneself or for gifts to urban relatives is an acceptable pastime, the collection of horta for sale in the market bears the stigma of poverty of one who has nothing else to trade.
