Get outdoors this autumn and learn how to find top-quality ingredients in your local parks and woodlands with Wild Food UK
Some prefer to stay cosy indoors as the days get shorter and colder, but Wild Food UK is showing participants in its fungi and wild food courses why autumn is a forager’s favourite time of year.
The company, which operates all over Britain, teaches people how to safely find their own food in nature. It has been running courses in Cardiff this October, with the last session of the month taking place on October 27 in Bute Park.
Wild Food UK Director, Marlov Renton, spoke about the mixture of interests that led him to foraging. He said it was through combining his enjoyment of the outdoors, his interest in nature and his love of good food that he got his foraging bug.
According to Marlov, autumn is a good season for foraging, as not only are nuts and fruits coming out, but it is also when the vast majority of edible mushrooms can be found.
Some of what’s available can be seen on supermarket shelves or in restaurants at high prices, but foragers can get their hands on them for free.
There’s also environmental benefits to foraging: “It’s greener to forage for your food rather than go to the supermarket,” Marlov said. “Everything that we pick comes with no plastic wrapping, no air miles and no CO2 emissions.”
He added that Wild Food UK practises sustainable foraging to ensure it causes no damage to the environment.
The Cardiff sessions begin outside the Pettigrew Tearooms at 12pm. Participants will spend the afternoon looking for and learning about the various plants and fungi found in the park, before finishing the day with a foraging-based meal at 3:30pm.
One attendee, Emma Swan, said that it was something different to do.
Marlov added: “It keeps your brain and body active and it keeps you well fed.”