#BookReview: The Wilderness Cure by Mo Wilde @monicawilde @simonschusterUK #TheWildernessCure #MoWilde #Foraging #Memoir

Book Synopsis:

A captivating and lyrical journey into our ancestral past, through what and how we eat.

Mo Wilde made a quiet but radical pledge: to live only off free, foraged food for an entire year. In a world disconnected from its roots, eating wild food is both culinary and healing, social and political. Ultimately, it is an act of love and community. Using her expert knowledge of botany and mycology, Mo follows the seasons to find nutritious food from hundreds of species of plants, fungi and seaweeds, and in the process learns not just how to survive, but how to thrive. Nourishing her body and mind deepens her connection with the earth – a connection that we have become estranged from but which we all, deep down, hunger for.

This hunger is about much more than food. It is about accepting and understanding our place in a natural network that is both staggeringly complex and beautifully simple. THE WILDERNESS CURE is a diary of a wild experiment; a timely and inspiring memoir which explores a deeper relationship between humans and nature, and reminds us of the important lost lessons from our past.
 

My Review:

The Wilderness Cure is a fascinating and thought provoking read about a subject I knew little about before reading this book.

Firstly I have always loved the idea of foraging but had no idea of the vast amount of edible plants and fungi there were in this country. A life time of being told to be careful of touching things I didn’t know in the woods made me a bit fearful of attempting foraging at first, though I soon discovered it was very enjoyable. The children and I had fun trying to find ingredients in our local woods which we made into a very decent soup. It was amazing to see what we had available in our local woods and how plants I had walked past on countless occasions were actually edible.

The author includes a bit of history about the food our ancestors in the stone age ate which I found very interesting. It was fascinating to discover the different foods they ate then and how we eat a much smaller variety now then they did back then. I enjoyed learning about when foods I take for granted as being available year round, are actually in season and discovering what food originated in the UK.

This is a book that is probably better to dip in and out of rather then trying to read in one go as there is a lot of information to absorb. I do wish there had been some pictures of some of the plants the author was discussing as I did spend a lot of time trying to Google them on my phone to check I was picking the right things. The author is an expert in her field which made for very interesting reading but I wonder how easy it would be for a normal person without her knowledge to do this experiment.

Overall I did enjoy this book and will be recommending it to others as it has taught me a lot. I often discover edible plants on my walks now that I previously wouldn’t have recognised and my kids are keen to try and make more things out of food they have collected from our woods.

Huge thanks to The Tandem Collective for letting me join in the read-along with my own copy of this book.

About The Author:

Monica ‘Mo’ Wilde is the author of The Wilderness Cure: Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World. Winner of The John Avery Award for “original and adventurous writing” in the 2022 André Simon Food and Drink Book Awards. Mo is a forager, research herbalist, author and ethnobotanist. She has been teaching foraging since 2005 but has had a lifelong passion for plants.

Mo has a Masters degree in herbal medicine, is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a member of the Association of Foragers, a member of the British Mycological Society and a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS). Monica Wilde lives in Scotland in a self-built eco house, encouraging medicinal and foraging species to thrive in a wild, teaching garden. She also teaches and lectures on wild foods, plants, fungi and algae.