I decided to make a day of it, so the first event I went to was Nature Now:
This was a conversation with environmentalist Gemma Jerome and wild food and funghi expert Jesper Launder. I found the debate fascinating. I was on a waiting list to go on a subsequent forage, so then watched a film about Love and Funghi, hoping they'd be able to fit me on!
The forage was billed as an urban food adventure – "a walk to explore what late autumn wild food we can uncover and savour". I'd been a bit slow booking my place partly because I didn't think they'd find much at this time of the year. I very soon had to eat my words (sorry about the pun).
We didn't have to go far, before we were finding all sorts of edible plants, like comfrey, ground elder, vetches and yarrow:
Some plant I knew and some I didn't, but every plant seemed to have a fascinating story behind it.
I learnt that the common ink cap:
is not poisonous unless you drink alcohol! If you drink alcohol within the next six days of eating it the symptoms can be serious (see here).
We saw all sorts of fungi, some were poisonous, and others which were edible, went in our basket (pictured at the top of this post) for later consumption. We hear about Agaric (formerly used as an insecticide) which is said to be taken by Viking warriors. The Vikings would tolerate the unpleasant side effects, as the chemicals contained also inhibited their fear and startle reflex!
We gathered hawthorn berries by the cathedral:
to later make a Hawthorn Ketchup:
We also found some three cornered leeks:
which joined other edible greens in a frying pan:
to make a seasonal Wild Food Tortilla:
which we enjoyed with the Hawthorn ketchup.
I felt so happy during the day! I was beginning to wonder what was in the mushrooms, there's something vary satisfying about gathering and jointly preparing food.
Some young children were in the party, and it was lovely to see how enthralled they were, and they took an active and enthusiastic part in the foraging.
It's so sad that most of us have lost touch with nature. So many people these days rely on disgusting manufactured microwave ready meals, which are far from natural. There's even more pictures here of the forage if you're interested.
DO make sure you are absolutely positive of identification before eating any wild mushroom.
After the forage, I went to the talk on Supermarkets – A Local Inconvenience. It was every bit as good as I'd hoped. We hear how farmers like Andrew Pimbley cut out supply chains and got their produce to shops and restaurants the same day it was harvested. Another speaker, Abdul Ghafour explained how he preferred to by direct from local producers, I must visit his stores in Manchester and Toxteth.
I've read and would recommend you read Joanna Blythman, books like Shopped: The Shocking Power of British Supermarkets, Bad Food Britain: How A Nation Ruined Its Appetite, and What to Eat: Food that's good for your health, pocket and plate. Joanna told us how food manufacturers are now using so called "processing aids" which seem completely unnecessary and undesirable (from my point of view). The manufacturers however like them as it keeps food "fresher" for longer - and especially because they don't even need to mention them on the label!
I'd like to thank Food for Real and Squash Nutrition for an amazing day. Squash nutrition are hoping to open a shop soon, I'll be there as soon as it opens!
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