Foodie vacationers looking for a different kind of experience in the UK might want to look at Food Safari, a Suffolk-based business that specializes in creating "Field to Fork" days with some of East Anglia's best food and drink producers. Outings range from catch and cook deep sea fishing excursions and oyster harvests to wild food foraging and pork butchery lessons. And they almost always finish with a first class meal at a gastropub.
For Polly Robinson who, together with publisher husband Tim, runs Food Safari, picky appetites were countered with, "Eat up. Do you have any idea how much work went into putting that food on the table?" Polly's aunt and uncle were among the first organic farmers in North Wales, more than thirty years ago. From them she developed a respect for the food we eat and where it comes from.
"Over the years of going to market, " she says, "I got to know the farmers, how hard they worked. I saw where and how different foods are produced." Reasoning that more and more vacationers enjoy cooking schools, she came up with the idea of telling the "field to fork story - going back several stages from cookery" to the hands on experiences of rearing, gathering and preparing the ingredients.
Read more, see pictures and try recipes.
During the summer and autumn of 2009, other programs included:
Do You Know Where Your Dinner Came From?
Maybe you remember being encouraged to clean your plate with a firm, "Eat up, children in Russia/Africa/Asia (pick whichever matches the decade of your childhood)are starving." I always wondered how eating my scrambled eggs would help.For Polly Robinson who, together with publisher husband Tim, runs Food Safari, picky appetites were countered with, "Eat up. Do you have any idea how much work went into putting that food on the table?" Polly's aunt and uncle were among the first organic farmers in North Wales, more than thirty years ago. From them she developed a respect for the food we eat and where it comes from.
"Over the years of going to market, " she says, "I got to know the farmers, how hard they worked. I saw where and how different foods are produced." Reasoning that more and more vacationers enjoy cooking schools, she came up with the idea of telling the "field to fork story - going back several stages from cookery" to the hands on experiences of rearing, gathering and preparing the ingredients.
What's Involved
The Food Safari program is continually developing. Currently, programs are being offered in Suffolk in the East of England, Programs may be offered in Norfolk and Cornwall in the West Country in the future. The days involve:- A learning experience - a demonstration about wild edible plants, for example, a guided tour of a vineyard or a walk around a pig farm.
- A hands-on experience - helping with winery tasks in season, safely picking stinging nettles, learning how to butcher a side of pork or inventing a sausage recipe and making sausages from scratch.
- A feast at a pub, a seafood restaurant or other suitable place.
Read more, see pictures and try recipes.
During the summer and autumn of 2009, other programs included:
- Seafood in a Day - finding oysters, crabs and seafish, visiting oysterbeds and a smokehouse and a meal at a well known seafood restaurant in Orford.
- Hands-on Vineyard Tour
- Catch and Cook - including a day of North Sea fishing for bass, cod, brill or turbot, learning how to clean the fish and cooking lunch on board.
- Wild Meat in a Day - plucking, preparing, cooking and eating wild birds and game.
- Free Range Pork in a Day - a tour of a pig farm, then a butchery demonstration and sausage making.
- Mushroom and Hedgerow forays, flour and breakmaking days and brewing days were planned for the autumn.
Food Safari Essentials
- Where: Food Safari, 26 Double Street, Framlingham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13 9BN
- Telephone: +44 (0)1728 621 380
+44 (0)1728 621 380 - Website
- Email:polly@foodsafari.co.uk
- Prices: In 2009 from £75 to £150 per person depending upon the event. Couples discounts available for some programs.
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