Foraging has become increasingly popular among folks trying to escape reliance on supermarkets. If you’re stuck for where to begin, professional forager Jade Mellor of Wild Pickings might have your answers. She chats to Oliver R Moore Howells.
What attracted you to foraging and to organising a business around it?
I studied horticulture and had an allotment for years. When I moved to rural Wales, I started learning the wild plants. Realising some can be eaten, and that they’re often delicious, was like unlocking a secret world. My interest increased: gathering, cooking and preparing, and feeding myself and others. Fourteen years ago, I worked with a local forager who gathered herbs and sent them to restaurants in London. I wanted to bring my wild food creations to my local community so set up my business, Wild Pickings. I sold at farmers markets and food festivals; I met people who wanted to be taught, which became a major part of it.
Has the growth of veganism led to more of an interest shown in foraging?
The increased interest in food provenance and the way food is often mass-produced whilst disregarding the welfare of birds, bees and animals has definitely inspired foraging. Veganism is part of this picture.
Do you owe any part of your success to the likes of Bear Grylls and Ray Mears?
I think they’ve helped bring foraging into the mainstream, but we’ve evolved as hunter gatherers, it’s in our blood. It may have skipped a generation but there’s a desire to feel closer to the land.
Do you feel that educating people about foraging gives the public control rather than relying on supermarkets?
Yes! It also connects them to their environment, to the hedgerows around them, to the weeds in their gardens. Knowing more makes them want to protect and preserve the countryside. It’s empowering to be able to feed yourself without having to buy everything.
Can one sustain foraging long term as a supplementary addition to their everyday lifestyle?
I believe so. I mostly forage commonplace plants. I’m interested in making these taste delicious rather than picking rare, endangered ones. Taking a little from here and there, it’s like being a roaming grazing animal. Weeks later, the plants are re-growing. By eating just a little bit of wild food, by using it as a special garnish or exquisite sprinkle, I think it is sustainable.
Is foraging a hobby or can it dramatically reduce everyday shopping bills?
Personally, it’s part of my lifestyle; a passion and obsession more than a hobby. During certain seasons it definitely reduces my bills: in spring I gather nettles and wild garlic and buy hardly any greens. In the autumn I fill up on berries and fruits.
How safe is foraging?
Well, some plants look edible but are poisonous if consumed. Beginners therefore should avoid certain plant families – like the carrot family which has some of the most poisonous plants. I’ve never eaten something toxic or poisonous by mistake, but that’s not because I know everything. I am cautious and only eat what I am 100% sure of.
What’s your favourite landscape on which to forage? And your favourite place?
Depends on the time of the year: Gathering seaweed on the beach in late winter. Being in the hedgerows and woodland edges in spring. Estuaries are teeming with tasty edibles in the summer, and I love the woods in autumn for mushrooms, nuts and berries. I live in a wooded valley not far from the sea, which is a favourite place of mine.
What can someone expect from your foraging sessions?
My workshops are generally season-based. I love the whole cycle of foraging, cooking and eating, so I get people gathering and identifying wild plants and then preparing and eating them, so as to know how to use wild food and be inspired.
Where would you ultimately like to take the business?
I’d love to write a cookbook. I’ve got so many recipes in my head. I love collaborating with different people, so maybe TV or radio. The idea of a little wild food cafe tucked away in the countryside appeals too.
Info: wildpickings.co.uk