This little ditty came to us  via Facebook! It brought a smile. And also –  the thought of how appropriate it is, in these times. Foraging is so popular these days,  that the world and his grandmother are out trawling forests and woodlands, pastures and fields,  looking for wild garlic, nettles and other free  ingredients. It seems we are hungry for foods with meaning – if you’ll parden our pun! Which is no bad thing – to get back to our roots in food terms. Nettles have been long sought after for everything from the cooking pot to medicinal uses. The same with dock and dandelion leaves, gorse and hawthorn,  and many other common plants in our gardens and countryside. These were the foods our ancestors used as cure-alls for many ailments,  and homeopathic practitioners still place high store upon. But as in this amusing little paragraph, where do we cross the line between foraging for the joy of reintroducing these foods to the diet in small amounts, and being in danger of wiping out naturally occuring wild stocks, just because we need every ingredient to tell a story. It is not too hard to imagine that time, when every chef wants to put something new and unusual on the menu which will bring the wow factor to his restaurant. It has got to a point where experienced mushroom hunters will not reveal their locations for fear others will get there first, and samphire gatherers keep their cards very close to their chests, to name a few examples. Foraging is a way of making the most of nature’s bounty, of adding something extremely special to our cooking.  Done correctly, it leaves enough resources behind to feed  wildlife,  and to replenish stocks for the next growing term. The Wild Foragers and Preservers and Wild About are Good Food Ireland members who have got this down to a tee – using their own lands to gather wild produce and making sure they have enough leftover to feed the animal residents and maintain their stocks for another year. This brings seasonality to their ranges of products and respects the natural cycle of wild plant and animal life. If we are not conscientious in our foraging, we will be doing as much damage to the natural  environment as overfishing the oceans or using mass intensive farming methods on the land. Fishing, farming, hunting and foraging have always been essential to maintain a healthy and diverse food supply chain. But when we become driven by greed or unawareness or just the very need to be on trend in what we eat or serve, we are in danger of reducing yet another vaulable food source to the edge of its limits. So there is much to be said for this little paragraph. Are we becoming too wild for wild foods? Food for thought indeed…