Features / Reportage
We’re going on a mushroom hunt
In a ‘secret’ park on the outskirts of Bristol our group of novice foragers have eyes down and baskets ready as we set off on our first fungi foraging trip.
Before we’ve even gone a few of metres from the car park we’ve found our first haul of mushrooms just off the footpath.
To our unaccustomed urban eyes they may look like something suspicious lurking in the grass but to professional forager Martin Bailey, from Go Foraging, we’ve discovered a delicious delicacy.
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“We’ve lost our way when it comes to mushroom picking,” says Martin, “there is a huge mushroom picking tradition on the continent but we seem to be scared of wild mushrooms in this country”.
There is of course good reason to be cautious and Martin double checks everything we enthusiastically pluck before it goes in the basket.
It takes years to achieve the skills to detect the delicious from the deadly and even with all his experience Martin still refers to his trusty handbook to double check some specimens.
“You have to know the rules,” he says, “it’s relatively safe as long as you pay attention but some species have deadly lookalikes and they are not for beginners. Never get blase or cocky and throw it in the basket without properly looking at it – always be mindful, careful and cross reference.
“Unless you are 100 per cent certain never eat it.”
Martin’s knowledge of mushrooms and foraging has been accumulated since he was a child.
“My mum taught me about giant puffballs, field mushrooms and shaggy ink caps when I was very small,” he says. As well as collecting wild food for some of Bristol’s finest restaurants he’s now set up as a foraging teacher and leads groups on foraging expeditions in and around Bristol.
“Taking something home that you know is safe to eat and cooking and eating it goes very deep – you never forget that,” he says.
“It’s really healthy connecting people with the food that they eat – and it’s really good fun.”
Read more: New rules ban blackberry picking in Bristol