Foraging and Wildfood

Overview

In recent years the backlash against unsustainable food provisioning systems has seen a resurgence of interest in organic and local food. In contrast to globalisation the term 'localisation' is used to refer to 'slowly' produced, local food, lovingly consumed in the context of a particular place-bound culture. Foraging takes the concepts of food localization and bioregionalism to their logical conclusion. First establishing the concept of 'food for free', Richard Mabey's 1970s classic has now been joined by a plethora of foraging guides and manuals. The tone varies from self-sufficient minimalism to gourmet indulgence, but in all cases there is an insistence on the relationship between the authenticity of culture, local knowledge and the ecology of place. Wild food now finds a regular slot on TV and radio magazine programmes, up-market restaurants (e.g. Gennaro Contaldo's Passione in London) with sufficient market demand to sustain professional foraging companies (e.g. Forager). Complementing the Bushcraft training, the practical tuition in field botany as well as many of the food related academic modules, the Institute's foraging programme will operate through all four seasons on the basis of a series of day long forays into the surrounding countryside. It will be supplemented as necessary by day and evening tutorials and reading.

Reading

Ray Mears & Gordon C Hillman (2007) Wild Food (Hodder & Stoughton)

Richard Mabey (2001) Food For Free (Collins)