3rd May. Springfield Park It was hot, really deliciously hot, that weekend in early May where the weather pretends it’s mid-summer for a few days before settling back to the seasonal norm of ‘slightly disappointing’. There are probably 250 wild and not so wild plants in my urban repertoire, it may be more, I’ve never properly counted. Add to that at least the same amount from the hedgerows and the coast, plus numerous edible seaweeds and mushrooms. The list is enormous and the culinary possibilities are endless, so why should I find myself, at such a fertile point in the year and, unusually ..read more

1st December. At a friend’s in Walthamstow, post fungi-hunting in Essex ‘When are you going to take me mushroom hunting then?’ If I had a penny for every time I’d been asked that question I’d have, well, about £1.50, I think. The trouble is, I am always ready to head out but when that rainy Sunday morning comes round, most folk are not as keen as they were in the pub the night before. Today was the exception, the sun was out and at 8 a.m. my over-enthusiastic friend was banging on the door and insisting I made good on my promise. The horrific task of driving in London becomes an absolute joy ..read more

This months blog is written by my dear friend Irwin Edgehill. Irwin describes himself as a trainer and personal development coach. Over the last decade he has helped hundreds of people build or rebuild their confidence and resilience in their personal lives or at work. For my own part, when reading a book about mindfulness six or seven years ago, and struggling to cope with ongoing health issues, I realised that I had actually been teaching something very similar for at least a decade. Foraging is a multifaceted practice with mindfulness at its very centre and Irwin’s work with individuals a ..read more

September 5th September. Tottenham I like to call it ‘green vision’. Once turned on, it’s pretty much impossible to ever turn it off again. Rushing to the Tube is punctuated by flashes of edible plants, just leaving the house turns into an opportunity to lookat potential ingredients, and a walk in a local green space will always be brimming with foraging possibilities and culinary ideas. Sometimes it’s all a bit too much, even for me! In addition to finding ourselves surrounded by wild food, previously irrelevant spots on the city map can become pivotal and much visited, favourite places to r ..read more

June 5th June. Stoke Newington Sunshine, blue skies, roadworks and traffic jams. I’m not a huge fan of summer in the city but I never tire of visiting my most local park, an old friend who keeps me sane and always has something interesting to say. Today he says just one word: blossom. Lime, elder, plum and hawthorn all combining to give soft, sweet wafts that come and go as I walk. It’s the elder I’m most interested in today, with an idea already in mind; sometimes it’s the act of foraging that gives birth to a new recipe, other days, like today, it’s the recipe that leads me to hunt for what ..read more

April 2nd April. Waterlow Park, Highgate A dense and damp mist was hanging over most of the city this morning and Highgate, which looks like something of a time warp even without it, was positively Dickensian. For various random reasons I seem to have visited this park at regular intervals across the last twenty-five years, once for a picnic, once to break up with a girlfriend, once to clear my head after visiting a friend in the nearby hospital. Today, however, I was on ‘official’ business, meeting with the borough’s ecology officer to discuss running a foraging event here. Her caution was un ..read more

Introduction I can think of nothing more fulfilling than cooking with food that I have foraged. To feed yourself and those you care about with ingredients sourced by your own hands is to rekindle a relationship with nature, and the simple act of gathering our own food is the way man has existed for the majority of time on this planet. Although this isn’t an activity that most people associate with living in a twenty-first-century city, I’m sure this book will change the way you look at where you live and allow you to share in some of the wonderful edible experiences that the city has to offer ..read more

Did you know that there are lots medicinal extracts and tasty wild foods that can be made with roses? Roses are possibly the love of my life so this is quite the ode to them. People are usually fascinated to discover how easily they can make things from them. Here are recipes for using Roses as a wild foods, herbal medicines and natural cosmetics. I do hope that this inspires you to try things out. There are also links to interviews that I’ve done recently, info about a film about the hawthorn (whitethorn as its known in Ireland) and news about upcoming events and classes with me. So if you’r ..read more

Baker and food writer, Helen White, interviewed me for her own blog. We talked at length about the concept of forgotten exotic spices in the UK – our very own homegrown spice rack! More details of Helen’s writing and fantastic cookery here. Helen begins… The disconnect between humans and the environment outside our cities and how this affects our well-being (both physical and mental) has been written about a great deal. What has been noted less is what John terms, “our neglected native spice rack”. John got into foraging a few years ago.  When I say got into, I don’t just mean he picke ..read more

Sea Spaghetti (Himanthalia elongata) While you might not be able to forage Sea Spaghetti (Himanthalia elongata) from any of London’s green spaces, with the growing movement towards a grain or gluten free diet this amazing seaweed deserves a mention. You can find sea spaghetti for sale at health food shops or you can easily buy it online. If you have access to the coast, an enormous luxury in during lockdown you could even harvest it yourself for free! Sea spaghetti dries very well and it can be preserved like you would pasta and rehydrated when required just the same. It has a mild flavour co ..read more