Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers

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In 1970 he met the book designer David Larkin, for whom he did numerous book covers. It was Larkin who signed him up to publish his Wild Flowers of Britain (1977) with Pan/Macmillan. Owning all three of these will open up amazing fungal adventures and discovery to novice and improving foragers. Those attitudes went surprisingly deep. When he was researching his first mushroom book Phillips was up in Scotland staying on a farm. The farmer was a “tight sod, who charged you extra for hot water and all that”. Phillips was out every day collecting chanterelles. One evening he told the farmer: “You have millions of these in your woods. Put them in a box and send them to France and you will make a small fortune.” The farmer looked at him and said simply: “People shouldnae eat that shite.” “And that was it. That idea was common.”

Note: The original version of this book (published in 1981) called “Mushrooms and Other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe” was my first proper mushroom book, and remains my favourite. It is still available second hand. It is as good as (and in some ways better than) the 2015 revision that I’m reviewing here, though quite a few of the binomial names it uses are now out of date. The original includes a list of the 25 most common fungi found on British Mycological Society forays, which I think is extremely useful, but it was (sadly) omitted from the revised edition (I’ll blog it some time – and I feature many of its species my Webinar “20 Common, Poisonous, Medicinal and Delicious Mushrooms to Learn Before You Die!” ). The original version was a little less compact. The milk means that there’s no need to add cream of any stripe to the finished dish, though it looks so pleasing against the green of the finished dish that you might like to anyway. Or pop in some stale bread fried in leftover bacon fat, as White recommends. Thrifty, warming and delicious: what more could you ask for at this time of year? Perfect nettle soup

He has learned a lot, too, from spending time with a Native American tribe, the Nez Perce, in Idaho, who retain some of the ancient knowledge of hunter-gatherers. Not only did Phillips increase his knowledge of edible tubers, he became friends with an eminently quotable chief: “How long will it take mankind to realise that you cannot eat money?”

An invaluable reference book to aid identification at home, but a little too big to be used in the field. Highly recommended, used in conjunction with “An Initial Guide to the Identification of Mushrooms and Toadstools” by Paul Nicol (see above)He also served as chairman of the Society for the Protection of London Squares, helping to frustrate the incursions of developers, work for which he was appointed MBE in the 2010 New Year Honours.

Alastair Little insists on using only ‘the first young nettle of spring, dazzlingly green and with a unique, peppery flavour’. The first time I made nettle soup, it was edible, but underwhelming, leading me to the conclusion that, though I was glad one could eat one of the few edible wild foods in abundance locally, I wouldn’t be rushing to repeat the experience while I could still afford to buy greens. Yet the enthusiasm of others for this stinging weed unsettled me: could it be that I, rather than the poor old nettle, was at fault? Excellent, clear, full-colour, close-up photographs of mushrooms – often in various stages of growth and from various angles/sections Phillips, Roger, Derek Reid, Ronald Rayner, and Lyndsay Shearer. 1981. Mushrooms and other fungi of Great Britain and Europe. London: Pan Books.I suggest that, like the hunter-gatherers, Phillips must see a different countryside to the rest of us when he goes for a walk in the woods; so much to eat for a start … Not for beginners, but useful for more experienced foragers wishing to expand their mycological identification skills beyond the commonplace and edible. A real shame there are so few pictures/diagrams of undersides of caps etc. This may be a slight under-exaggeration, but at the time he made the book Roger was certainly no mycologist, and nor did he claim to be. He was a gifted and imaginative photographer. In 1975 Phillips began his life’s major work of photographing and publishing pictures of the world’s garden plants. Using modern photographic techniques, he set out to develop an encyclopedic collection of books to show the difference between plants as diverse as mosses, roses and annuals. His first book ‘Wild Flowers of Britain’ was a huge success, selling 400,000 copies in the first year. He wrote more than 30 additional books (often with his co-author Martyn Rix) selling over 4.5 million copies worldwide. Phillips trained at Chelsea School of Art from where he entered a career in advertising culminating in the position of art director at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. He left O&M to start a career as a freelance photographer, winning many awards before turning his photographic talents to the world of natural history.

This is an easy-to-use mycological key, that takes you through a series of YES/NO questions about the observable features of your specimen until you arrive at a genus. No microscopy is required, but you will probably need to do spore prints to use it properly. Most photographs show only the caps of mushrooms – this is a serious flaw, despite the accurate descriptions in the text Will not identify your mushroom to species level – you will require an identification guidebook to complete this process (see below)The most comprehensive single-volume guide to the fungi of Britain and Ireland available in the shops Called up to do National Service in the RAF, he was sent to Canada but resigned his commission, declaring himself a pacifist, and worked in a hospital, at the same time enrolling in night classes in painting at the Chelsea School of Art, later completing the full-time course. He presented two six-part television series, 1994's The Quest for the Rose for BBC Television and, in 1995, The 3,000 Mile Garden for PBS. [2] [3] In 1975 Roger Phillips began his life’s major work of photographing and publishing pictures of the World’s garden plants. Using modern photographic techniques, Roger set out to develop an encyclopedic collection of books to show the difference between plants as diverse as mosses, roses and annuals. His first book Wild Flowers of Britain was a huge success, selling 400,000 copies in the first year. He has since written 20 additional volumes (often with his co-author Martyn Rix) selling over 4.5million copies worldwide.