Good food needn’t always come from the supermarket, as Gayle Ritchie learns when she meets foraging expert and BBC MasterChef finalist Fiona Bird
Fiona Bird is on a mission to show foodies what, where and how to eat from nature’s larder – safely and all the year round.
“Now is a good time to forage for seaweed and herbs like sorrel and plants such as chickweed which can be used in an abundance of recipes,” she explains.
“As February arrives, you could start looking underfoot for shoots of few-flowered leeks and wild garlic.
“With luck and a bit of effort, the scent and flavour of supper can be ‘off the land’; in other words, free and not bought.”
Fiona – author of several cookery books including The Forager’s Kitchen and Seaweed in the Kitchen – divides her time between Kirriemuir and her home in South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, where her husband Stephen is the local doctor.
The mum-of-six has been passionate about foraging for as long as she can remember.
“As a child, I enjoyed long walks with my grandmother, picking up sticks for the fire and learning about plants and flowers,” she says.
“She taught me so much and opened my eyes to the bounty of wild produce available. I still have a copy of A First Book of Wild Flowers, which she gave me for my seventh birthday.
“There was a lot of looking up and down, exploring woodlands and shores, turning things over and seeing what we could find.”
During her time at St Andrews University, Fiona rediscovered the joys of scouring the Fife hedgerows for edible flowers, plants, weeds and berries to help eke out her frugal student budget.
As a finalist in BBC MasterChef, her final dish was venison accompanied by the herbs and berries the deer might have grazed on, such as wild thyme and brambles.
Fiona believes in encouraging others to get outside, see what’s available and use whatever is in season.
That’s what inspired her to write the book, Kids’ Kitchen, and found Stirrin’ Stuff – an organisation dedicated to campaigning for cookery skills and nutrition to be taught to primary school children.
“My kids have always helped out cooking because I was never prepared to peel potatoes for eight people,” she laughs.
“MasterChef was a platform for me to educate kids about cooking. It was a chance to get the wild message into schools.”
With her life split between Angus and the Outer Hebrides, Fiona is spoiled for choice when it comes to foraging.
“My local food supplies vary from Angus hedgerow, moors, coast and woodland to Hebridean ‘machair’ (fertile, low-lying grassy plains), peatland, coast and lochside,” she says.
Since she moved to South Uist, she’s also become a seaweed fanatic after realising the ferry couldn’t always make it to the island and the shelves of the local shop might be left a little sparse.
“Now is a great time to get to the beach as there are lots of lovely seaweeds coming through,” she says.
“Dulse is a good seaweed for beginners as it cooks in the same time as tatties and tastes wonderful.
“My best advice is to keep things simple. I’m not a chef but I believe it’s all about provenance and the great thing about foraging is that you can do it anywhere and it’s free. It’s just a question of opening your eyes.”
