Foraging for food in Cornwall and discovering wild food has been made more popular by the many celebrity chefs increasingly serving up their own foraged foods – and there’s plenty of wild food to be found in Cornwall if you’re looking for it. 
While foraging can be a great way to spend an afternoon, with a good wild food book, on the beaches and clifftops of Cornwall, you can also take a more structured approach and go on Wild Food Foraging walks with locals.
If you want to take the informed and structured route into learning what’s good to eat and where to find it, then a growing number of foraging courses can be found in Newquay and across Cornwall to teach you what to eat. Wild food walks will typically be half days or full days and include a meal of the foraged food. They are provided at irregular times throughout the season, so you need to keep an eye out for those.
Food Foraging on a Budget
If your budget doesn’t quite stretch to a course yet, or the dates don’t fit your schedule, why not go it alone and head out to the cliffs and seashores of Cornwall with a couple of good books (perhaps even on a Kindle or other e-reader) and discover your own culinary treats. You’ll also discover others doing the same and you can swap notes and tips. You’ll be a pro forager in no time!
Newquay Community Orchard will be providing occasional foraging events too. Based between Tretherras School and Newquay Sports Centre, the Orchard opened in 2016 to provide the community with green skills and a place to go.
Emma Gunn is one local forager and author, who has delivered foraging talks and food at the Newquay Community Orchard. The first Emma’s series of foraging books, covering the four seasons, is: Never Mind the Burdocks: A Year of Foraging in the British Isles – Spring Edition – March to May. Keep an eye out for more of Emma’s foraging events and cooking sessions in Newquay throughout the year.
Foraging for Food Books:
There are many foraging books to be bought these days, or borrowed from the library. Plenty can be found online, including second hand books, so you can pick up foraging books for pennies! This is a great frugal activity and you can start building your own library of wild food expertise: Foraging & Wild Food Books
There’s a lot of free food you can find around the county – from blackberries to herbs like rock samphire, or mussels from the rocks at low tide. All healthy, nutritious and free – plus a great activity adding an extra dimension to your coastal walks or beach days!
