Things To Do: Foraging and Natures Food with Wild Folk and Flavour Fred.

event attended by invite in exchange for use of photography

As spring set in and my dog walks started looking luscious and abundant I was feeling drawn to making the most of the plants and weeds available to us. Having done a few foraging events recently, the knowledge was starting to sink in but when Hannah at Wild Folk invited me along to her event I was keen to see what it was all about.

Following the Maps app, I pulled into a residence in North Somerset, near Bristol. I might have been forgiven for wondering if it was the right place, from the front you wouldn't know what peaceful woodland was lying behind, with a secret.

Heading on up the driveway and passing through some paddocks with some inquisitive horses, you soon start to get a sense there is more here than gets the eye. It’s when you pass through a gate and ascend into dense woodland that it all starts to make sense. Climbing a hill and rounding a corner, suddenly a round wooden structure comes into view with a roaring fire blowing smoke through the roof. It’s at this fire you first meet George - a wild chef going by the name Flavour Fred (Fred is part of his last name).

As your brain processes everything going on you see aubergines sizzling and apricots being griddled, ready to be dropped into a pan of syrup and elderflower. To the side of the hut ingredients are being prepped with skill, ease and passion.

This is the first impressions of this wonderful event with Wild Folk. Wild Folk was founded by Hannah after noticing a lack of the kind of events she wanted to go to. With a love of the outdoors and storytelling, Hannah wanted to create a roster of events that combine all the things she loves.

While I got to know my fellow foragers in the sunshine we were soon presented with a pillowy soft pitta, stuffed with an explosion of Eastern Mediterranean flavours. With fuel for the hills in the body, the group starts to follow George into the woods where we begin to have a wealth of wild food knowledge imparted on us. Engaging and passionate, George knows how to hold attention (even for ADHDers like me) while he runs through the medicinal benefits of plants we came across, ideas of what to do with them and the entertaining folklore. Then there’s the equally important pointing out of plants that should be avoided and why - we learned all about Socrates demise by conducting his own execution through the ingestion of poison hemlock - a plant he knew too well would cause excruciating pain and convulsions.

For a few hours we discovered edible plants in the woodlands and the hills of Cadbury Camp and a few other things of note - mushrooms you can start fires with and signs of foraging abundance for late summer and early autumn. At one point George stopped in a woodland clearing, among the last of the bluebells, and whipped out a hand food processor proceeding to knock up some wild pesto which we ate on his homemade bread.

When we got back to the roundhouse, see serious cooking started - everyone chipped in prepping food and chatting around the fire and the time came for the spread to be admired before we got stuck in. The next hour was spent with us all sitting in a circle around the fire eating the most delicious plates of food and George answering all our questions. For the drinkers there was Flavour Fred liquor and for non drinkers like me, some Woodruff syrup that I found is delightful with a good tonic water.

I can’t imagine a better way to spend a sunny Spring day, events like this are worth 4 nights in the pub. It’s one to remember and hitting my inbox a few days later was an in-depth information sheet, including recipes, from George covering everything we’d learned.

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