If you go down in the woods today, you’ll be able to feed yourself for a lifetime. That is so long as you spend it with Yun Hider
Beaches and forests and estuaries – oh my! While Dorothy certainly would not have been in Kansas anymore on the FDA’s latest excursion, one gets the feeling this would not have been an entirely bad thing if the trip was anything to go by.
Guided by professional forager Yun Hider from the Mountain Food Company, guests and members were invited to find out just how their seasonal salads and dressings are procured. The order of the eight hour day was muck in and eat what you find.
Familiar stories of childhood memories of discovering plants and flowers in local woods provided a nostalgic soundtrack to the walk
With such an incentive in mind the team, accompanied by FDA director Richard Fagan, was on the hunt for ingredients to create a quick lunch during a break among forests in the hills followed by a slap up supper of more findings plus line caught sea bass from the previous day at the final destination of a beach on the coast of Newport.
Much like Dorothy on her travels to Oz, you did get the impression that you were transported to another world once you’d left the Narberth village car park in Pembrokeshire, Wales trailing behind Yun. Having spent most of his life in Wales, Yun knew virtually every nook and cranny of Narberth, taking us to the very best locations for foraging, including an estuary in a secret location.
At Marros beach, the first of three foraging locations, mussels were the morning’s treasures.
Hunters braved the rain and winds in search of what was to be the centrepiece of the first earned meal of the day.
Sprawled across a beach were hefty rocks laden with the blue stuff – some promisingly locked, others disappointingly gaping and empty. There was something satisfying about knowing that pulling these shells from fleshy clutches to their cold homes would lead to a meal later on. An hour later and the hunt for dressing had begun.
En route from the beach of mussels, Yun stumbled upon a bush full of nettles. And dove right in. Little did onlookers know that amongst the nettles, Yun spotted something far less perilous. Alexanders, once freed of their strangling nettles and weeds, were to prove instrumental in creating a complementary flavour to the mussels later that day. Once sliced at the root, the pieces taste much like celery and even resemble the vegetable, proving that looks are not always deceiving.
Next, up in the hills by the Cromlech was to be the scene of more salad hunting culminating in lunch. This was a bit more trying as rather than sing for your supper, you had to hike for your lunch.
Fortunately, it was easy to forget what was going on as the walk was regularly broken up by Yun discovering another plant on the list. Plus the scenery was hardly a strain on the eyes. Familiar stories of childhood memories of discovering plants and flowers in local woods provided a nostalgic soundtrack to the walk.
It’s surely no coincidence that the sweetest find of the day came here. The hedge sorrell tasted a lot like sherbet and acted as a reminder that in order to taste a plant in its raw state, time must be allowed to settle on the tongue. The reward really can be quite refreshing.
With new discoveries wild garlic and hawthorne leaves plus hairy bittercrest added to the mix, all the ingredients for a well earned lunch were present.
Yun clearly a weathered man of the woods took us to a little known spring where he cleaned the mussels with fresh water.
Then over to the kitchen. By a stack of rocks fashioned into a shelter which had been placed there thousands of years ago, Yun created a makeshift cooker out of rudimentary objects. He soon got a fire going and lunch was served. You couldn’t help but smile at the fact that this meal would cost a small fortune at a Michelin starred restaurant, even ones that Yun supplies.
After a visually nourishing journey across the Preseli mountains, the day concluded with a relaxing retreat to a beach near Newport.
Sea bass with heated sea beet provided a generous supper and the perfect end to a tough but enlightening day, especially as everyone can now boast to have eaten a meal fit for the Queen.
Copy and photography by Sarah Allen
sarahallenfl.com 