Foraging Fortnight reveals the best of Scotland's wild food

Foraging Fortnight offers exciting opportunities to find out about Scotland’s natural larder.

Scotland’s festival of foraging has returned with a packed programme of mainly in-person events, along with a few online.

Foraging Fortnight, which takes place across the country from September 3-13, celebrates our rich natural larder and the variety of wild food available on our doorsteps.

From riverside foraging walks and fungi forays to wild food workshops and topical talks and demos, Foraging Fortnight will allow people to increase their knowledge of wild food and medicinal plants.

Led by NatureScot, Scotland's nature agency, in partnership with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), the festival programme has been designed to encourage people of all ages to participate safely and responsibly in different foraging activities.

The programme includes restaurants with foraging menus, screenings, and foraging walks for all ages, in compliance with Scotland’s Outdoor Access Code.

For businesses, SRUC workshops include building stories around foraged flavours and wild food ingredients, back garden edibles – such as foraging closer to home, increasing foraged flavours on your menu, as well as one-to-one surgeries to support the development of new products and services.

Pete Moore, NatureScot’s wildlife resource policy officer, said: “Foraging responsibly is a great way to spend time outdoors, engaging with and noticing nature.

"No matter where you live, you will not be far from tasty foraged food. We’re delighted to be hosting Foraging Fortnight this year, and welcoming so many interesting and innovative businesses and wild food experts to share their knowledge and skills.”

Ceri Ritchie, Head of Food and Enterprise at SAC Consulting (part of SRUC), added: "These events highlight the value foraging and wild food can bring to businesses, providing the opportunity to create something unique, tell an inspiring story and highlight product and service links to the natural environment, heritage, and sustainability.”

The festival aims to leave a legacy of increased public awareness and expertise of sustainable foraging along with a greater understanding of the health and well-being benefits of foraging in natural environments. The full programme is available on www.foragingfortnight.co.uk.