The Association of Foragers
By Daniel Butler, author and forager
This is an unabashed plug for the Association of Foragers - an anarchic group dedicated to wild produce in all its forms. Membership is restricted to professionals, so one might have thought its relevance to most people would be limited. This is not the case, however.
To understand why this is the case, we need to begin with a very short history lesson.
Foraging ‘bans’ loomed
(Photo: author’s own)
Thanks to the Industrial Revolution and Britain’s patterns of landownership, the prevalence of foraging in Britain has been very limited over the years – certainly compared with our Continental neighbours. Despite this, by the early years of the 21st century, it was clear bodies such as the National Trust, Natural England and some local councils were getting increasingly unhappy with the idea of picking plants or fungi. Worse, some were announcing total bans – extending these even as far as educational talks and walks.
Matters really came into focus when the Forestry Commission, declared a 1.5kg per person limit on mushroom-picking in the New Forest in 2015. It also insisted on a licensing scheme for guided forays within the former hunting ground. The following year this was extended to a total ban. Meanwhile Natural England was mounting a directed attack on one particular forager, Miles Irving, to stop him from collecting sea kale near Dungeness.
Alarmed, a group of professional foragers, notably Andy Hamilton, John Renston, Mark Williams, Mo Wilde and James Grant, wanted to set up a trade body to put forward the case for responsible foraging. They invited others to meet on a cold Bristol wharf in December 2015 to discuss how best to counter the threats. Membership was to be restricted to people earning a substantial part of their income from foraging and to increase credibility, everyone would be expected to keep to the highest standards.
Foraging was facing major threats
(Photo: author’s own)
When Dublin-based Bill O’Dea asked if I was going, I tried to decline. The idea of building a trade union of self-employed individualists, implicitly in competition with each other, seemed doomed to failure. But Bill won’t take no for an answer. Not for the first time he bullied me into going and as always he was right. There were about 30 attendees and it was a riotously enjoyable affair. The same has been true of all our regular meetings over the decade since.
An bronze axe head made during a workshop at the 2020 AGM
(Photo: author’s own)
Really good friendships have been forged and a huge amount of information exchanged: from workshops on butchery, smoking, pickling, fermenting, medicinal herbs, training truffle-hunting dogs and dying fabrics. Mo has even conducted an ambitious study on the impact of foraging on the gut biome (and written an award-winning book on the subject).
And, of course, as well as sharing information and good practice, at each meeting lashings of homemade booze and sumptuous road-kill dishes are consumed.
AoF AGMs do not conform to the norm
(Picture: author’s own)
Why blog about all this? Well, membership may be restricted, but it still has a relevance for anyone with an interest in learning more about foraging. We have total faith in our 120-odd members, A directory of members is freely available on the Association’s website. This allows anyone to find a local reputable forager with specialist knowledge. Sometimes these can be surprising - how about a kayaking foray along the Galloway Coast or truffle-hunting in Sussex? An bicycling oyster safari along the Kent Coast with Lucia is next on my bucket list.
Whatever happens, when you find a great course or activity, we are telling you they are to be trusted, know what they’re talking about and that they are good at their job.