Autumn Foraging in the U.K.

This article appeared on Country Living UK's website on November 11, 2017. To read the original article, click here.

Our ancestors foraged nearly all of their food, but hunting and gathering fell by the wayside with agricultural revolutions. Yet in the last decade, foraging has made a comeback. It initially seemed like a passing foodie trend led by Copenhagen's Noma, but a steady rise in foraging experts and courses in the UK tells a different story.

Autumn is one of foraging's core seasons and 2017's is said to be the best for fruits and berries in years, so now is an ideal time for novices to learn the ropes.

The benefits of foraging

Foraging isn't merely about finding free food. "It feeds us on multiple levels," explains professional forager Robin Harford; and brings three distinct benefits, says Daylesford'sresident forager, Tim Field. Foraging reconnects us to nature, which in turn facilitates improved mental and physical health, is sustainable, and provides nutritious food for free.

If you become a foraging expert, you can also greatly expand your plant-based diet since nature offers more variety than supermarkets. Harford has recorded at least 700 edible wild plants in the UK whereas Brits typically consume no more than 30 domestically farmed ones.

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