For this month’s blog, I have gathered together some brilliant and original wild food ideas… from Scottish foraged sushi to a Southern Indian “nightshade” curry, with recipes generously provided by my foraging peers from as close to home as Hampshire’s New Forest and as far away as New York State. That’s one of the best things [...]

It’s a lovely month January, a wonderful time in every way and my absolute favourite part of the year! Did that sound convincing? I hope so…..Really though, it can be quite a tough time of year but rather than focusing on the negatives I’d like to suggest a few things to help pass the time [...]

It’s all my fault and I’m genuinely sorry….In my last blog I wrote about how warm it was, like Spring Time in November I said, and almost the second I published my monthly ramblings, the weather turned and the forecasters announced that we are looking at the worst winter since Woolly Mammoths where a common [...]

The Weather…..there’s not much we like better in the UK than to bang on about the weather, how it’s too warm, too cold, too wet or too dry, how we are shocked that there is so much rain in June (hardly a revelation to anyone who’s ever been to Glastonbury) and never any snow in [...]

My grammar  is probably incorrect but the sentiment is true. I bloody love it! Autumn in the woods; that slight chill in the air and a mission to find some elusive and wonderful foods that have been hiding all year.  Carluccio calls it “the quiet hunt” and when I’m not running a course and therefore talking my [...]

What a summer! This is a tricky time of year for me though; my twin obsessions collide, the rock climber wanting the great weather to go on forever, the forager getting very excited about the mushroom season. So, on the cusp of these two wonderful past times, I find it best to ignore them both [...]

Do you visit the coast? Do you stare at the sea and breath in its fabulous aroma? Do you come away from a day on the beach with that wonderful, weary, “too much fresh air” feeling?………You should; we all should, especially those of us who live in cities, and as for Londoners, it should be [...]

I used to be a photographer (actually sometimes I still am). One thing I learnt from this profession is that you never get the best shot if you just stand there and hope it comes to you. You have to move around, look for the best angles and most importantly go where the action is. [...]

It’s summer time, whatever that means in England, and as such I’d like to offer you these easy and delicious recipe ideas for a few of my favourite wild edibles, in season right now. I’m quite a lazy cook, preferring to take the most direct road to Flavour Central rather than wandering all over the place on route. “Do [...]

Last month my season of London based walks finally kicked off. It’s been a long time coming and has been far more complicated than I ever imagined with park managers, ecology officers and local councils to convince; risk assessments, insurance schedules and safety management plans to write and  an enormous amount of time finding the [...]

What is a super food anyway? It’s one of those popular terms that gets over used by companies trying to sell “healthy ” foods and with the mass food industry having wandered so far from the path these days, the idea of food being good for you is actually a selling point, rather than a [...]

It’s the start of March and I have just been for a stroll around Victoria Park. I like to pretend that what I do is work so I decided this was some very early preparation for the walk I’m running there in May. According to the council’s website, it was the first East End park [...]

The snow has gone and if your happy to brave a bit of cold, wet weather there are plenty of amazing winter greens out there just begging to be picked (see my January posting for many of these). Having said that, I have wanted to write about a few of my favorite foraging books for while [...]

That’s right, it’s never a bad time of year to go foraging for a basket or bucket full of free, delicious, healthy food. You just need to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time and as a good friend of mine says, there’s no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate [...]

Foraging; It’s not all about wandering through summer meadows in your Cath Kidston wellies, basket on arm and the sun high in the sky. At this time of year the best food to be found is down by the sea and for me this is the perfect reason to escape the city and go hunting [...]

I’m sure it’s not correct grammar but it’s true. I bloody love mushroom hunting!  Autumn in the woods; that slight chill in the air and a mission to find some elusive and wonderful foods that have been hiding all year.  Carluccio calls it “the quiet hunt” and when I’m not running a course and therefore [...]

Last week I went out and picked some elderberries to make an elderberry and clove cordial. A simple task to make a simple drink but one that is brilliant on so many levels, not least of all it’s taste. Two hours later and I had created the best winter tonic there is (save leaving the [...]

Is summer over? Did I blink and miss it? Has autumn begun? It’s a strange year, apparently the wettest summer since 1910 or something like that.Even so,the trees in my local North London park are already busting with wild treats.Most of them are not quite ready but I thought I’d do this post anyway.So, from [...]

Sixty years ago our food was between 45-125% more nutritionally rich. Fresh vegetables contained 110% more magnesium and calcium and 120% more iron in the 1930s than they do now. Monoculture and mass production favour food that is bred to look good, not bruise, pack conveniently, travel well and last longer, with little emphasis put [...]