TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Fergus Drennan makes a living as a forager but it is also
a way of life. For him, foraging for wild food is about connecting
and finding balance, living a life fully engaged with, and
responsive to, the natural world. He explains his philosophy…
The natural world, the wild, can be seen as a place of raw
archetypal power. We should allow it to teach and challenge
us as it did the pre-Roman inhabitants of Britain and Northern
 Europe,
our ancestors, the hunter-gatherers, who arrived on these
shores as the last Ice Age receded some 10,000 years ago.
Living on locally foraged foods – leaves, nuts, roots,
flowers and berries, and an abundance of wild animals ranging
from bird to wild boar – and with deep intuitive understanding,
they could read the ever-changing but predictable narratives
of nature. Such skills allowed them to live intimately within
her cyclic flow of balance and transformation. Nowadays, in
contrast, there is a general and pervasive sense of disconnection
from the natural world around us. We generally know very little
of the rich diversity of life in our gardens or the alleyway
behind our house, let alone within the farther reaches of
our local environment. Again, sparse is our knowledge or meaningful
appreciation of the importance that wild plants, in particular,
have played since time immemorial within the diverse realms
of human endeavour, experimentation and understanding. That
importance is reflected by their persistent, intriguing and
profound association with folklore, myth, legend and magic.
Plants connect us to nature, nature in turn connects us to
the wild, the wild resonates with true spontaneity, freedom,
creativity, and unmediated possibilities, which are the hallmarks
of a life fully lived. We need this, more than ever, to serve
as a genuine counterpoint to the mediated, second-hand, vicariously
experienced and vicariously lived cultural trajectories of
our televisual and multimedia dominated world. Here the wild
is often grotesquely distorted, romanticised, rendered harmless
or filtered to insipidity. Nature televised is nature decontextualised,
fragmented and disconnected before our very eyes, whilst we
sit slouched, transfixed and immobile, consuming our plastic-wrapped,
standardised, purified, supposedly fortified, denatured, reconstituted,
scientifically processed and preserved supermarket ready-meal
from – who knows where and who knows when?
"Foraging for wild food offers a unique
gateway to that world of experience. It is a world of both
sound nutritional and psychological health."
 It
is no coincidence that with food companies more than willing
to sacrifice good nutrition for profits that diet-related
diseases and obesity levels are reaching unprecedented levels.
More people are suffering from depression now than at any
previous historical period. And yet, rather than seek out
real alternatives we are encouraged to consume more and more
of the same crap and nutritionally bankrupt food: the vicious
circle ever strengthens. However, through fostering and facilitating
a greater sense of connection and awareness with respect to
our environment, foraging, as an individual or communal activity,
involves NOT taking refuge in food, in eating, in order to
forget one’s sorrow and depression, rather, it dispels
such concerns. This is the case no matter what the season.
In foraging both seasonally and locally one actively proves
ones connection to the earth, to nature and to the local environment
whilst, simultaneously, the question of the food’s provenance
is uniquely answered: by the thoroughly enjoyable, though
often wildly and delightfully inconvenient, climbing of both
trees and cliffs, the wading through of both rivers and sea,
and the ambling through of both forest and field. Here, one
is rewarded ten-fold with these differing habitats’
respective riches: wood ear fungi, chicken-of-the-woods mushroom,
walnuts, rock samphire, watercress and water mint, seaweeds,
countless woodland fungi, as well as garlic mustard, nettles,
chickweed and a rich cornucopia of other delicacies. Join
me on a wild food course and I’ll prove it to you.
So why are wild foods so nutritionally rich? In a sense, perhaps,
they are only relatively so. Many conventionally grown vegetables
have been selectively bred for mass consumption and, in an
age of growing superficiality, appearance is everything. Tasteless
plants grown in nutrient deficient soil sell because they
are grown with an emphasis on healthy appearance, rather than
healthy reality. On the other hand, a wild plant, whether
leaf, flower, nut or berry, thrives in the location in which
it is found purely and simply because in such a habitat the
ideal conditions for healthy and vigorous growth occur naturally:
there is an optimal balance of light, temperature, moisture,
minerals, acidity level and, especially in relation to some
fungi, the co-existence of the specific players in the symbiotic
relationships that are necessary for prolific fruiting. No
management, pesticides, fertilisers or other environmental
manipulations are required. What has astounded me over the
years, is the dawning realisation that, in the temperate climate
of the British Isles, a forager can comfortably supplement
his or her diet throughout the entire year, gathering seasonally,
locally, sustainably and healthily as a practical alternative
to the everything goes, any time, no consequences considered
globalised food system. Nutritionally, the statistics speak
for themselves, as can be seen from the figures in the chart
below.
| Wild/Non-wild
Plants |
Water
( %) |
Protein
(g) |
VIT.C
(µg) |
VIT
A (µg) |
Fe
(mg) |
Ca
(mg) |
| NETTLES (SPINACH) |
84.8 (91.6) |
5.9
(2.5) |
333 (52) |
740 (700) |
7.8 (4.1) |
630
(126) |
| CHICKWEED (LETTUCE) |
91.5
(95) |
1.5
(0.9) |
|
383 (130) |
8.4 (1.1) |
80
(37) |
| DANDELION
(SWISSCHARD)
|
89.9 (92.2) |
3.3 |
115 (39) |
115 (590) |
1.2 (2.2) |
50
(103) |
| DULSE:dry (RED CABBAGE) |
4
(91.8) |
21.5 (0.4) |
6.3 (50) |
663
(5) |
31.1 (0.5) |
213
(35) |
Source: Cooking Weeds. V.Weise, Prospect Books 2004. www.atlanticmariculture.com
As noted earlier, apart from the many nutritious wild plants
that have been around since Neolithic times, today many commonly
available ‘weeds’ owe their existence here to
the Romans who introduced them. And, by the mediaeval period
these plants, as well as the already-available native species,
were both established staples of the peasant diet, as well
as valuable additions to the cuisine of nobles and royalty.
The point here is that there need be nothing exclusive or
obscure about wild plants. If peasants like me can enjoy them,
then so can nobles like you. Delivering wild food to various
restaurants allows those who would never consider foraging
to experience their culinary possibilities. However, I would
urge you to forage yourself. The benefits are enormous. If
you check out my web site, you will find some wild food recipes
to inspire: www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk.
In the meantime here is one of my favourites:
Wild Seabeet Pie
Seabeet, also known as wild spinach, has a fantastic texture
and flavour. Growing near the sea, the leaves are slightly
waxy and thicker than conventional spinach, allowing the plant
to withstand the onslaught of damp salty air. Also, gathering
the leaves in April, May and June – particularly from
the plant’s central leaves – prevents it from
too readily bolting and going to seed. Instead the plant is
stimulated to further leafy growth.
This recipe was inspired by my dear Greek friend Niki who
knows the intimate connection between wild food and wild behaviour.
Actually, some years ago, research into the Cretian diet concluded
that, in fact, it was the regular use of wild food in the
local diet that led to their renowned longevity.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients (all approximate measurements)
For the filling:
1kg seabeet leaves
2 large onions
2 large cloves of garlic
30g fresh mint
30g fresh dill
30g fresh parsley or wild chervil
3 tbsps olive oil
a little sea salt and freshly ground black peppercorns
For the pastry: (even more approximate –sorry, but
I never weigh anything!)
5oz rye flour
5oz white wheat flour
2oz fine potato flour
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsps natural Greek yoghurt
6 tbsps olive oil
some water
a pinch of salt
Method
In a large saucepan, heat 3 tbsps of olive oil. Add roughly
chopped onions and gently fry (sweat) until semi-translucent.
Add the chopped or crushed garlic. Wash the seabeet and add
to the pan, but without shaking off all the water. Also add
the salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and cook for about 10
minutes, until all the seabeet has wilted down. Remove pan
from the heat. To make the pastry, simply mix all the pastry
ingredients together in a bowl to form a dough. Of course,
you could just make a more traditional British style pastry
– but do try this because it’s great. Roll out
to a couple of millimetres thick and line a pie dish with
it. Roll out another piece for the top of the pie. Chop all
the herbs and mix them in with the cooked seabeet mixture.
Place in the pastry-lined pie dish, cover with the remaining
pastry, seal the edges and bake at 180 degrees C for about
30 minutes. The addition of sun-dried tomatoes preserved in
olive oil makes a delicious addition to the filling if desired.
This recipe also works very well with nettles. Enjoy!
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