Emma Dance goes on a city centre foraging walk with Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School and discovers that there's more in the cracks in the pavement than you might think.
It wasn't long ago that people who went out picking wild foods were considered to be crazy hippy types.
But now, thanks to the phenomenal success of Rene Redzepi's Noma in Copenhagen which has built its menu around ingredients found in the Nordic countryside (and was named Best Restaurant in the World three years in a row) foraging has become "sexy."
More and more people are now choosing to go out into the fields and woodland to find ingredients for dinner rather than battling through the supermarket aisles, and it's not unusual to find freshly foraged ingredients on restaurant menus.
But although the selection growing outside the cities is more bountiful, there's actually a surprising amount of edible plants growing in the centre of Bath, as expert forager Christopher Robbins showed me on a foraging walk with Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School.
Originally from Australia - now based in Ross-on-Wye where he practises herbal medicine in his own health centre - Christopher's knowledge of wild plants and flowers is vast, and with his hat and long stick he looks every bit the part as we set off around the city in search of tasty treats.
While most people walking around Bath find themselves looking up at the beautiful architecture, Christopher encourages us to look down at the little green shoots that were determinedly pushing up between the cracks in the pavement. But although many of them are actually edible, the number of dogs that have undoubtedly "done their business" over them, actually putting the plants in your mouth is not adviseable.
The walk took us from the cookery school on Terrace Walk, to the Abbey, up Walcot Street, along George Street and finally finishing in Victoria Park and along the way we discovered a whole range of tasty plants, from hedge garlic to hawthorns and wood avens to wild garlic with Christopher giving us tips on how to prepare it should be decide to try foraging for ourselves.
It was amazing to learn just how many of the plants I had simply dismissed as weeds could be transformed into something delicious and nutritious, and just how much can grow in a city centre.
From now on I'll be looking at pavements just as much as the buildings.
Christopher Robbins will be leading a wild plant walk on April 23 and an evening foraging cooking course on May 1. For more details visit www.vegetariancookeryschool.com.
What we found:
Bath Abbey: Dandelion, Thistle, Bittercress, Sherpherd's Purse
Cattle Market Car Park: Chickweed, Shepherd's Purse
Walcot Street (old fountain): Wormwood
Walcot Chapel Cemetery: Dandelion, Ground Elder, White Dead Nettle, Stinging Nettle, Cuckoo Flower
Path between Walcot Chapel and Walcot Street: Goose Grass, Hedge Garlic
St Swithin's Church Garden: Hawthorn, Oregon Grape
Victoria Park: Wild Garlic, Wood Avens
