San Diego San Diegans who refer panhandlers to St. Vincent de
Paul Village or the Rescue Mission may not know about San
Diego's third option for free food: the local canyons. Jon
Rebman, Ph.D., the curator of botany at San Diego's Natural
History Museum, says that much of the plant life that grows in
San Diego's canyons and back yards is perfectly edible. "I'm not
saying it would be easy to live off the plant life here. It's
not just the public areas but private too. Think of all the
different things that are planted, the different types of trees.
You can grow just about anything here. All the citrus...then
you've got things like loquats and all sorts of edible fruits
that produce throughout the year." Rebman, 37, works in the
taxonomy of plant species and specializes in the deserts of Baja
California, where he leads research expeditions every two years.
When discussing edible plants, his fascination with cacti is
apparent. "Most of them have edible fruits. The pads are edible.
In Mexico, they call that the n