A Cook On The Wild Side

Record ID: 119513
  • Title: A Cook On The Wild Side
  • Date: 9th August 1995
  • Summary: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will go anywhere and eat anything. A discontented urban foodie, he has decieded to escape from the suffocating convenience of supermarkets, sell-by dates and cellophane and take to the road to explore the vast and underused resource of Britain's wild larder. Behind the wheel of the gastrowagon, he roams the countryside in search of ingredients for an impromptu roadside feast. In each episode Hugh contends with different terrains, different ingredients and unusual and sometimes life-endangering methods of procuring them. Besides his battered pots and pans, the gastrowagon contains his shrimping nets, fishing rods, climbing ropes, lobster pots and a pile of other strange devices to aid him in his hunting and gathering. In this six-part series, Welsh rabbits will fall to his ferret, he will be shinning up a tree for elusive Norfolk fungi and throwing out his lobster pots on a Cornish reef. Next he will be abseiling down a cliff for Dorset samphire. Scottish scallops will be gathered from the deep and the best-kept secrets of London's natural freebies will be revealed in the final episode. Throughout his travels, Hugh will be aided and abetted by the country characters he meets along the way. Wily pachers, Welsh witches, stubborn survivalists and hoary old herbalists, all will offer the benefits of their wisdom. And should the land fail to surrender its finest edible treasure, as a last resort, Hugh may be forced to beg, borrow or barter to gain the ingredients that will allow him to complete his feast. Along the way, Hugh investigates the curious culture of food foraging, the laws and lores, customs and conflicts, and unwritten codes of conduct - revealing what you can and can't do if you decide to forage beyond the supermarket. HUGH's first stop is for a bit of wilderness training with Vince, a man who specialises in putting hairs on the chests of urban softies. Vince talks a lot about death and danger and very little about roadside feasts. He reckons any man with a bit of meat on his bones should be able to survive three weeks without food. Vince's idea of life in the open air didn't sound like much fun so Hugh heads for a Welsh river which he hopes is full of flavoursome, glistening, wild salmon. With limited financial means a fishing licence is out of the question so he enlists Bernard, a coracler, to teach his tricky techniques for fishing in an unstable tub of willow and hazel stretched with linen. Hugh struggles to get something out of the river to go with the fresh, tender green hogweed he has picked for supper. Waking up hungry the next day, Hugh turns to the magic of nature to lift his spirits. Ros, a white witch, stirs up a brew, made from the srong and steadfast oak - just the qualities he currently seems to lack. Packing him off with a few bottles of the stuff Hugh decides that, if he can't drink it, he can at least barter it. Alas, no one seems to want his elixir vitae and the only thing he has to offer a Welsh farmer's wife is his body - put to good use in some hard labour tethering a goat. Still, it is worth a pot of honey. Hugh's final attempt to get something worth eating for dinner is to use Nobby the ferret. Malcolm, a former pacher, shows him how to trap a rabbit for a stew flavoured with the day's gatherings - Bunny a la runny honey! AFTER studying at Oxford and travelling in Africa (where he mastered the art of bush cookery), Hugh landed himself a job as sous chef at London's famous River Cafe. Here he honed his cooking skills, but unfortunately not his sense of culinary order - after eight months he was sacked for being too messy. In the last few years he has been cookery correspondent for the SUNDAY TIMES and food columnist for the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH. His first cook book, CUISINE BON MARCHE is about the clever use of cheap ingredients and was nominated for the Andre Simon award this year. He has been a producer on QED for the BBC, and appeared on Channel 4's FOOD FILE - the magazine programme that takes hard food issues into the home. Anthropologist and film maker Andr
  • 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 1
  • Transmission Date:09/08/1995
  • Rights:On Request
  • Decade: 1990s
Register