Calgary foragers Denis Manzer and Malcolm Saunders reveal the wild foods and medicinal plants growing in urban landscapes. This documentary screening explores ethical foraging practices, followed by a live Q&A with Denis Manzer and filmmaker Kimberly Gray.
The Food Beneath Our Feet Overview
The Edmonton Permaculture Guild hosts Denis Manzer and Kimberly Gray from Calgary for a screening of the documentary The Food Beneath Our Feet. This film follows an educational plant walk through Calgary’s river valleys and urban forests, showing how wild foods and healing plants thrive in spaces most people walk past without noticing.
Denis Manzer and Malcolm Saunders guide viewers through the city, identifying edible and medicinal species, explaining sustainable harvesting techniques, and sharing the ecological relationships that make wild foraging possible.
The film treats the urban landscape as a living classroom, where attention and respect reveal abundance.
After the screening, Denis and director Kimberly Gray answer questions about foraging ethics, herbalism, plant identification, and the process of making a documentary that centers place-based knowledge.
Whether you’re curious about starting to forage or want to deepen your understanding of wild plants in Alberta, this evening offers practical insight and inspiration.
The event creates space for conversation about how we relate to the land around us. Foraging is not just about gathering food. It’s about learning to see what grows, understanding seasonal patterns, and developing reciprocal relationships with the ecosystems that sustain us.
What You’ll Discover
How to identify common edible and medicinal plants growing wild in Alberta’s urban and rural landscapes
Ethical harvesting practices that protect plant populations and support ecosystem health over time
The ecological relationships between wild plants, pollinators, and the broader food web
Practical methods for using foraged plants in cooking, medicine making, and fermentation
How urban foraging connects people to seasonal cycles and builds resilience in local food systems
The process of creating documentary films that capture place-based ecological knowledge
RITCHIE PRESENTS
Our 2025-2026 session of Ritchie Presents is hosted by our friends at the Edmonton Permaculture Guild. They’re bringing together organizations across Edmonton who work, advocate, and organize across a variety of fields with the common values of “Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share”.
The Edmonton Permaculture Guild connects you with hands-on education, a growing community of practitioners, and practical skills for building food security and resilient landscapes across Edmonton and all of Alberta. Click here to learn about all of their upcoming events.