Seaweed salad? Pickled kelp?

“When the tide is out, the table is set” goes the old Coast Salish saying.

On Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m., Jennifer Hahn, writer, illustrator, wilderness guide, and naturalist will teach how to spot the “food at your feet” as well as the culture and cuisine of shoreline edibles.

The 2010/11 Marine Science Lecture Series was created to inspire the general public and to highlight the amazing fish and wildlife of our region. Lectures are free; park in the upper parking lot at Camp Orkila.

When it comes to eating within your own food shed, wild foraging is as local as it gets. Hahn, an award-winning author and naturalist, will explore more than 50 common edible native plants. She will share slides and stories from her new book “Pacific Feast: A Cook’s Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine.”

Discover a host of delicious and nutritious wild and weedy greens, trees, ferns, berries, flowers, mushrooms, sea veggies and shellfish that thrive along the Pacific Coast. Enjoy a refreshing blend of natural history, stories about First Nation uses, personal anecdotes, nutrition, sustainable foraging guidelines and recipes. You’ll even get to samples a few items like as Chocolate Ocean Pudding (thickened with Turkish towel seaweed – so rich it rivals truffle ganache) and bullkelp pickles.

Following the lecture, Darvill’s Bookstore will have her new book “Pacific Feast” as well as “Pacific Coast Foraging Guide: 45 Wild Foods From Beach, Field and Forest” available for purchase and signing.

Hahn is an adjunct professor at Western Washington University and teaches classes on Northwest Wild Food. She was the winner of the Barbara Savage Miles from Nowhere Memorial Award for her book “Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage.”