François Couplan
The reference in edible wild plants: François Couplan has been teaching the uses of plants since 1975 in the USA and Europe. A pioneer of wild gastronomy and gentle survival, with more than 15,000 satisfied students and trainees over nearly half a century through his courses and his school, he is at the heart of the interest in wild cuisine among restaurateurs and the general public thanks to his work with Marc Veyrat. He has published 120 books to date and others are in progress.
Keiko Imamura and François Couplan
Plants are what brought us together! Keiko, a traditional Japanese chef, had a café in Nagoya and wanted to take a break to get inspired by the way wild plants, which are very popular in Japan, are used in Europe. Through a friend who was translating one of my books into Japanese, she met me in Paris. We’ve lived together in Switzerland, France and Japan ever since.
Keiko and I run the Wild Gastronomy and Gentle Survival courses together ─ I run the courses and Keiko the cooking with the trainees, to which she brings her Japanese touch. We both manage the Collège Pratique d’Ethnobotanique courses and travel the world… when possible. We also enjoy making short videos to share the pleasure of harvesting plants. While I’m writing books, Keiko teaches Japanese cooking classes and is a tea ceremony master. Together, we propose a different way of conceiving the world, based, through our shared passion for plants, on the balance between East and West.

Courses
Passionate about wild plants, I began giving workshops in 1975, at the age of 25, on the West Coast of the United States, then in Europe. Since then, I’ve always enjoyed seeing the sparkle in the eye of someone discovering for the first time the incredible mushroomy smell of a crumpled plantain leaf… I love meeting people as much as plants, and giving them the leads they need to develop their own relationship with plants.
Books
In 1973, at the age of 23, I began to write up the notes I had systematically taken on all my experiments with wild plants. Ten years later, they gave rise to my first book, Le Régal végétal, soon followed by Cuisine sauvage. More than a hundred other books followed on the uses of wild and cultivated plants, natural gardening, life in the open air and the relationship that man has maintained since the dawn of time with plants, nature… and himself.
Training
After teaching hundreds, then thousands, of people during my courses, I wanted to work closely with small groups over a longer period of time, to share the knowledge gained from my long association with plants and nature. So, in 2008, I formed a team and created the Collège Pratique d’Ethnobotanique, followed ten years later by a Distance Learning course, open to anyone wishing to explore in depth the relationship between man and the plant world. It’s a wonderful adventure!
Latest news
We are delighted to announce that the Collège Pratique d’Ethnobotanique has recently been awarded Qualiopi certification, attesting to the quality of our training activities and our commitment to pedagogical excellence.
Qualiopi guarantees that our organization meets the requirements set by the national quality standards. This approach is part of our ongoing commitment to offering high-quality training courses tailored to the needs of our learners.
The Collège Pratique d’Ethnobotanique has been offering specialized training courses in ethnobotany for many years, with the aim of imparting in-depth knowledge of the interactions between plants and human societies. Thanks to Qualiopi certification, our learners can have total confidence in the quality of our programs, our trainers and the overall organization of our training activities.
This certification is an important step in our continuous improvement process. It reinforces the credibility of our establishment and testifies to our commitment to high standards and rigor in the delivery of our training courses.
The Collège Pratique d’Ethnobotanique would like to thank all its teaching, administrative and technical staff for their commitment and professionalism, as well as its partners and students who contribute every day to the success of our training courses.
We’ve just launched a unique three-year online course designed to give everyone the means to develop their own relationship with plants, so that they can better understand themselves and the world we live in, and thus act effectively in it.
But in a very pragmatic way too, this training course will enable you to become more independent, develop your culinary creativity, learn to identify plants with certainty and pick without making mistakes, improve your health thanks to the nutritional benefits of plants, and share some very special moments with your loved ones.
This online training course is backed up by field work with former students of the Collège Pratique d’Ethnobotanique, who will put their expertise at your service to help you discover plants with all your senses, and go deeper in your knowledge and understanding of them. This is professional training, and if you wish, you can make it your career!
You see, we’re enthusiastic, and we hope that, in one way or another, you’ll join us. We’d like to create a real team with whom we can work towards a common goal. Find out more about our training program here: https: //school.couplan.com/cours/formation-complete/
I personally offer a one-year distance learning course, where you can work live with me. Click here to find out more: https: //couplan.com/formation-a-distance/
And if you’d like to find out what we’ll be proposing over the months and years ahead, I suggest you subscribe to my newsletter below.
Books
Newsletter
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