A Cook On The Wild Side

Record ID: 119511
  • Title: A Cook On The Wild Side
  • Date: 23rd August 1995
  • Summary: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will go anywhere and eat anything. A discontented urban foodie, he has decided to escape from the suffocating convenience of supermarkets, sell-by dates and cellophane and take to the road to explore the vast and under-used resource of Britain's wild larder. Behind the wheel of the gastrowagon, a fully equipped mobile kitchen, he roams the countryside seeking out ingredients for an impromptu roadside feast. In Cornwall Cornish pasties and clotted cream are off the menu when you've got no cash. In search of a diet with low cholesterol and less cost, Hugh encounters Ken and Ariadne. They are two vegans who take him on a floral eating experience. They practise permaculture - obviating the need for the sew and harvest cycle by growing a variety of perennials that can fill their larder. Ken is convinced that eating bowls of flowers has calmed his evangelical spirit and he has ceased to be a vegan bore. While Hugh admires their commitment to a different lifestyle, he needs fish. George, a Cornish fisherman takes Hugh down by the sea in search of lugworms for bait. Digging up the mud flats is permitted as long as they are filled in later so tourists don't fall in and break anything. Hugh is dreaming of great things from his fishing expedition. He reckons a gleaming sea bass would make a fine feast grilled on the gastro wagon. He's been there before - in the first programme dreaming of a shiny salmon, he had to settle for sprats. This time he has to eat his bait - a few sand eels. Simply, "they're not that nice". Hugh has not played his final card - the lobster pot on top of the gastro wagon has not been wetted. In return for sorting out his bait Larry offers Hugh a free trip out in his boat so he can drop his pot at sea. Meanwhile Hugh meets author Sonia Surrey-Gent who takes him snorkelling. They swim through an underwater forest of edible seaweed. Sonia believes six months of eating a seaweed diet full of vitamins E and A helped her conceive. The moment of truth arrives as the lobster pot is pulled from the deep. The seel is the sun dried tomato of A COOK ON THE WILD SIDE and it makes another appearance in the lobster pot but will he have the crustacean of his dreams in there as well for his supper soup?
  • Description:SIX PART SERIES,PRESENTED BY HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL,ABOUT EATING FOR FREEIN THE BRITISH COUNTRYSIDE.
  • Broadcaster:Channel 4
  • Collection: Channel 4
  • Genre:Entertainment
  • Producer:Stephens Kerr Ltd.
  • Programme Episode:Episode 3
  • Transmission Date:23/08/1995
  • Rights:On Request
  • Decade: 1990s
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