On Saturday 10 May 2014 we collaborated with food professionals from Watershed Cafe Bar and Source Food Hall & Cafe and local wild food experts to organise Wild Thing – an event that attracted over 70 people and filled the KWMC studio.
We started proceedings with a Saturday Kitchen-style cooking demonstration, which included the skinning and cooking of a rabbit and the preparation of wild garlic risotto. This was followed by a panel discussion exploring the legality, ethics and health benefits of sourcing wild food, including plants and fungi, rabbits, pigeons and fish. There was also a produce market where visitors could get a taste of locally-sourced food. The event culminated in a foraging walk in the green spaces of Knowle West.
Pieminister created a Hopping Rabbit pie especially for the event. It included locally-sourced rabbit and was available at both Wild Thing and the Tobacco Factory Sunday market. Special Knowle West inspired dishes appeared at Watershed and Source too.
With lots of opportunities for tasting, networking and discussing, the event proved to be a thought-provoking and delicious experience for experimental foodies, chefs, and people new to the idea of catching and foraging wild food.
Watershed Executive Chef Oliver Pratt talks passionately to Knowle West Media Centre about foraging & cooking with wild ingredients. Oliver hosted Wild Thing, the Food Connections Festival event at Knowle West media Centre. "Although I didn’t know it back then I have been a forager all my life. It all started as a kid, walking in the woods, exploring,...
