Fire up their fascination with Mother Nature and her bountiful larder on a foraging adventure amid some of the most beautiful, unspoilt habitats in the world. Lucy Kehoe dons her wellies
This article was taken from the October 2024 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.
Set your budding botanists loose on the hunt for the red blooms of nasturtiums, white sprays of yarrow and regal purple flowers of wild thyme in the meadows surrounding Lac d’Aydat, central France. As wildflowers burst into life in early summer, mountain guide Christopher Anglade offers day-long foraging trips for families which include education on plant identification and help putting together some delicious dishes with what’s gathered at the end of the day.
From £74pp based on a family of four. aluna-voyages.com
Fill your bag with cloud-like elderflower, fragrant mint and hairy bitter cress as you yomp across the Brecon Beacons searching for edible delights. Climbing trees and cartwheeling across Welsh meadows are part and parcel of the experience with Adele Nozedar, who ensures tiny hands are kept busy (and safe) as children try bark rubbing, leaf pressing and picking wild produce. It’s all highly appetite inducing, so good news, then, that a portable oven, dough and passata are brought along to make pizzas topped with the day’s finds.
Half-day course from £35pp. breconbeaconsforaging.com
Set sail on a Swallows and Amazons-style adventure to Bergholmen and discover the wilds of the Swedish archipelago. Seven luxury tents await just 40 minutes by boat from Stockholm, where Island Lodge chefs will equip guests with instructions (and a basket) for foraging. Soon-to-be-stained fingers will enjoy picking plump blueberries and lingonberries, while head chef Daniel Guest will help older kids with mushroom identification. Produce that makes it back to camp is put to use in the open kitchen, where local fish is grilled on an Ofyr firepit.
From £405pp per night. islandlodge.se
Wild-at-heart city dwellers don’t have to traverse mountains to taste the countryside. Follow Countryfile-favourite James Wood through the verdant landscapes of North London’s Lee Valley Park to harvest edibles. Hunt for leafy greens, baby hazelnuts and the yellow flowers of gorse bushes before cooking up a nature-inspired mushroom risotto or wild garlic pesto pasta lunch at a makeshift campsite. Totally Wild UK tours are available year-round in Cheshire and London.
Adult price of £60pp includes one child under 12 free. totallywilduk.co.uk
Cretans have been foraging for horta – or wild greens – since Minoan times, harvesting aromatic basil, oregano and mint from rocky mountainsides to stuff into kalitsounia pastries and plucking snails straight from stones to sizzle in frying pans. Foraging spots are closely guarded secrets, but follow botanist Haris Saslis on a day-long tour and the whole gang will discover the bounty of ancient landscapes. Snacks of meze plates collected from villages along the way will keep hunger at bay if the group-cooked meal at the end seems too far away.
From £69pp (£47 for children aged 6-12). foragecrete.com
Let teenagers run wild with jungle elephants and hollering gibbons in Cambodia’s first private reserve. Adventurous big kids won’t spend much time in the luxurious tented accommodation at Shinta Mani Wild: alongside hiking, sailing and animal tracking, guests are invited to look for citrussy kuy, krasang and mangosteen fruits before cooking up a storm with Chef Los
From £3,302 per night for a tent sleeping four. Children must be aged 13+. shintamani.com
For three weeks in July, Finnish families flock to Lapland to harvest the area’s most elusive produce: cloudberries. Join in picking the raspberry-shaped fruits and other native berries with a trip to the village of Ranua. The tourist office can point you to known hotspots, but we recommend booking a guided tour. After a day seeking out the tart but sweet-tasting ‘gold of the forest’, head back to the village to experience the berry festival and taste the local delicacy of leipäjuusto cheese with cloudberries.
Three-hour tour from £104pp. visitranua.fi
Your kids probably haven’t heard of the monkeyface eel, but after a few hours scampering on San Francisco beaches with Kirk Lombard, all the family will have learnt to ‘poke pole’ the unfortunate-looking yet flavourful creature. This isn’t a foraging trip for the faint-hearted: alongside poking angry eels, seadog Lombard advises on the best way to catch rock crabs, where to pick the best molluscs and even how to throw a Hawaiian casting net for herring. Plus, he’ll let you in on the secrets of seasonality and how to cook what you’ve caught.
Subscribe and view full print editions online... Subscribe