Edible British Bush Tucker?!

[Jamin-84]

Hey Guys and Gals,

I am planning to undertake an epic journey in April 2010. Myself and a friend are going to cycle from lands end to John o’Groats, taking in the 3 peaks (Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Scaffel Pike) en route! This is obviously a thread for another forum but the added twist to our journey and the reason that I am writing in here is that we will be camping for the most part and living off of the land as much as feasibly possible (or at least buying locally). We have a fair bit of knowledge on coastal and forest foraging for edible fungi, plants and animals etc but have found very little information on the edible insects, invertebrates and alike found in Britain! Does anyone here have any ideas on:

What’s hot n what’s not?

What to eat and what to avoid?

Any good recipes?

Or any good sources of information?

Bearing in mind this is going to be very basic camp fire cooking! Any help with this would amazing

Thank you,
Ben

[Meta menardi]

Dr. Barbara Moore - Breatharian

You may have to train before mountaineering whilst consuming only water.

[Jamin-84]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

Dr. Barbara Moore - Breatharian

You may have to train before mountaineering whilst consuming only water.

lol! Thanks but we both hold a number of mountaineering qualifications between us and we will have been training for about 4 months before embarking on our journey. Also, failing our ability to find adequate food we will be supplementing our diet- I'd rather do it on bought food than pass out half-way through the challenge. Unfortunately, neither of us will have time to convert to running on lemon water or cosmic energy like the good Doctor you mention!

[fairplay]

I'm reluctant to help here (assuming i could in the first place).

If you are going to be taking supplements with you or are prepared to buy them, why the need to eat our native wildlife in the first place, especially animals ?

Neil.

[Trik]

As far as amphibians go, the obvious one would be Toad in the Hole.

[AshLee]

I would have thought Fergus would be your man for any questions (Wild Man Wild Food - Fergus Drennan the Forager)
Sounds like a fantastic adventure. Good luck!

[Meta menardi]

Some spuds knicked from a field and some grain from wherever you can find it are about all you will get as a fast-moving high-activity party. A quick fry-up of, say, ground elder are the main kind of things you can get passing by.

[Beekeeper]

Ground nuts are always good to eat, there used to be a lot of them growing on the river bank behind my home, i probably wouldn't even recognise them these days.

Truffles are of course much sought after but you need a pig on a lead to find where they are hiding, many other edible fungi as well at different times of the year but you would need help from everyone in the Fungi slot as to what is safe to eat.

Young stinging nettle leaves are meant to be quite good if boiled.

Ian

[fairplay]

In a life threatening situation, one could be excused for eating a wild plant, fungi or animal which are protected under the Wildlife Act, but in a situation such as this, you cannot just go around trapping animals, uprooting plants, etc, without paying head to the relevant laws.

Neil.

[Jamin-84]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I shall definitely be getting in contact with a few of the survival centres and I’ve already had a good look over Furgus’s site: some interesting stuff but still not much on insects! And I also have several books, including ‘Food For Free’, on their way to me as we speak so thanks again and please keep it coming.

As for some of the other guys who seem to be troubled by my plans:

My original post was a simple light-hearted note in an attempt to get some information and I didn’t want to place a long post reeling off all of our plans for the expedition and my current knowledge base of native flora and fauna. I am well aware of the status of a large number of our species and have no intention of running off into the woods shooting barn owls and chopping at blue bells or anything else that might be edible! Any wild food that we are able to obtain will be done with sensitivity and sustainably and well within the confines of our law and yes, my knowledge of wild fungi is definitely adequate for me to avoid illness or death! This expedition will also have one or more very worthy charities in mind and hopefully we will find some support here in Wild About Britain, although yes, it is indeed a big personal challenge and we hope to find out a little more about ourselves and the beauty of our country during the course of our journey. In an age when so many people sit at home with their TVs, computers, and central heating using up electricity, driving to and from work or the local supermarket, consuming food that has travelled thousands of miles to reach our table only to be thrown away because our stomachs are already full, I will effectively be ‘off of the grid’ for a month and producing a very small carbon footprint... is this not a good thing?

And not to mention the fact that when it all goes wrong in 2012, I will be in a much better position to survive!!!!!

Thanks again though, and keep the info coming, specifically about the invertebrates.... I now know how to cook sand-hoppers and ‘prepare’ worms and snails before cooking.

Ben