Virtual Illinois Libraries Present: “The Act of Foraging with Alexis Nikole Nelson,” April 10

Thursday, April 10, 7 p.m.

Presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries

A wildly popular presence on TikTok and Instagram, and the 2022 winner of the inaugural James Beard Award for Best Social Media Account. Alexis Nikole Nelson serves as the latest virtual guest in the Illinois Libraries Present series, her April 10 program The Act of Foraging, co-presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries, designed to celebrate all the edible plants hiding in plain sight.

Nelson grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is of Cape Verdean descent through her mother's side. Her mother first showed her how to forage at the age of five by introducing her to onion grass. She attended the New School Montessori and Walnut Hills High School, and graduated from Ohio State University in 2015 with degrees in environmental science and theatre.

Best-known for posting videos of her foraging finds on social-media accounts, Nelson's videos are informal, playful, and humorous, despite a long experience and encyclopedic knowledge of foraging. She has maintained the Instagram account "blackforager" since 2019, and created the TikTok page "alexisnikole" in 2020. Nelson's posts concern such topics as the indigenous roots of foraging in America, the history of American foraging laws, and sustainable ways for her viewers to include wild plants and mushrooms in their diets, with a focus on vegan recipes. In most of her videos, she documents ingredients that she finds in the wild and then turns them into dishes using her own or adapted recipes.

Her popularity grew in 2021, from under 500,000 TikTok followers early that year to 3.3 million by January 2022. Nelson's efforts were successful enough that she left her office job the previous September to focus on her foraging work full-time. National media attention that year included New York Times and Bon Appétit articles, as well as segments on The Kelly Clarkson Show and The Drew Barrymore Show. She was also added to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In April 2022, Nelson attended the 2022 TED conference in Vancouver, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began. At the conference, she gave a TED Talk about her foraging work, and cooked sweet-and-salty seaweed chips using Vancouver-foraged bull kelp. In June 2022, she won the James Beard Award for social media influence, her accounts at the time having had a cumulative 4.8 million followers.

This virtual event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).

With her guest joined in conversation by Natalie Evans, a wild edible foods instructor, The Act of Foraging with Alexis Nikole Nelson will take place on April 10, participation in the 7 p.m. online presentation is free, and more information is available by calling (309)732-7323 and visiting RockIslandLibrary.org, and calling (309)755-3393 and visiting SilvisLibrary.org.