The Wild Kitchen:

The Wild Kitchen is probably the most gastronomic of UK foraging courses. It opened in 2012 by foraging expert and innovative chef, Lucia Stuart. She directly links the landscape to the table, hosting foraging adventures on the Kent coast. You can shuck oysters on the beach you find them or step out of your culinary comfort zone with delicious snacks made from acorns, algae and seabuckthorn.

Lucia champions ecological connection via wild food; especially coastal, in particular seaweeds; "the definitive 21st century food". She has featured on British, French and German TV and gives 'Talk & Taste' lectures.

Background to The Wild Kitchen:

Stuart owned a French cafe/restaurant, in Montolieu SW France throughout the nineties. It was frequented by a botanist & war veteran named 'Juju' who came to the cafe with his arms full of plants for the menu. Food from 'Le terroir' rekindled Lucia's interest in the freshest and most seasonal ingredients possible. Her art degree and techincal cooking skills facilitated a unique creativity with wild plants; little seen on menus at the time. Success followed and The Restaurant Cafe du Livre,  featured in The New York Times. This decade in France became the foundation of The Wild Kitchen today.

In 2011 Lucia published Eating Flowers, an illustrated foraging cook book for children to encourage a reconnection with nature, good food and basic cookery. She is working on her next book & will talk at The Idler Festival, Fenton House, London in July 2022.