Move over Michelin stars, food foraging is the new eating out. And no napkins needed. We’ve picked our top ten food foraging trips around the world:

 

1.  Finding anything other than old burger wrappers in Central Park, New York, would challenge anyone other than ‘Wildman’ Steve Brill. Described by The New York Times as a ‘forager extraordinare’ he’s one of America’s best-known food foragers. Visiting New York and wanting to do something really different? Book one of Steve’s tours.

2.  Caroline Davey of the brilliantly named Fat Hen runs these 2 hour food foraging walks in West Cornwall. And they’re a culinary bargain at £10 per person. Book now for their March walks.

3.  Someone had to call their mushroom foraging business ‘Fungi To Be With’ and we forgive Andy Overall, the man who’ll help you identify the Amethyst Deceiver or Stinkhorn on Wimbledon Common in London. £20 for 5 hours foraying is great value for something really different to do in London.

4.  We’ve been big fans of Roseanne Van Ee and her mushroom safaris in British Columbia for a while. Check back shortly to see what new safaris our favourite Canadian naturalist is offering later in the year…

5.   Polly and Tom Robinson at Food Safari are famously passionate foodies and their day discovering the pleasures of wild food won’t disappoint. Their courses never do.

6.  Expert forager Marcus Harrison says – depending on the season – that he can help you identify 40–90+ of Britain’s edible wild plants and he’s running several half day courses in beautiful Lostwithiel, Cornwall , around Easter time.   

7.  Hedgerow Harvest promises a Spring day foraging for all you need to make salads, soups, sauces, desserts and many other dishes. With time spent cooking and preparing a 3 course lunch, this £50 one-day event in Dorset in April is going to be busy, so book early.

8.  Swinton Park in Yorkshire is a grand setting for this ‘Wild About Food’ foraging day. Join Chris Bax of BBC Countryfile fame for your ramble and rummage, and round the whole thing off with lunch cooked by Chris at Swinton Park. Perfect for people who are looking for a touch of glamour on their foraging day, but who still want to wear wellies.

9.  Join Patrick Harding in Scotland for a course that will teach you to recognise plants such as pignut, garlic mustard and sorrel to help keep the weekly food bill down.

10.  And last but by no means least, our friends at Wilderness Survival Skills take food foraging to a whole new level. Book one of their weekend courses and you can live out in the woods, sleep under a shelter and cook your foraged food over open fires.

So from city to seaside, and from mountainside to metropolis, there’s a table-full of free food out there. Go gather.