Wild Food: A Complete Guide for Foragers

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Includes excellent sections on lichenised fungi, tree identification and common species of particular habitats (eg. Oak woodland, bogs etc) Phillips published books about trees and ferns and wild flowers before he got to mushrooms. He didn’t think the publisher at Pan would go for it. The British, he suggests, had always been funny about fungi. While across Europe and beyond natives would be out in fields and forests as if on pilgrimage in mushroom season, in the UK there was no tradition. “We were famous for herbs from medieval times, of course,” says Phillips. “But those books tend to refer to mushrooms as ‘the spit of Jesus’ or ‘the fruit of the devil’. Because they grew up from nowhere overnight they were associated with witchcraft.” He presented two six-part television series, 1994's The Quest for the Rose for BBC Television and, in 1995, The 3,000 Mile Garden for PBS. [2] [3]

I suggest that, like the hunter-gatherers, Phillips must see a different countryside to the rest of us when he goes for a walk in the woods; so much to eat for a start … Roger was an ad man before turning to photography, having worked as Creative Director at Ogilvy and Mather. According to Horticulture Week magazine, he deliberately set out to create a collection of books on plants as diverse as mosses, roses and annuals. His first book Wild Flowers of Britain was a huge success, selling 400,000 copies in the first year. Leaves only: legendary forager Roger Phillips’ nettle soup. All thumbnail images by Felicity Cloake.Some of the best fungi identification guidebooks aren’t especially interested in wild food – and some have no information on edibility at all. On the other hand, most fungi guides that are focussed on eating wild mushrooms tend to have limited coverage of very common, but inedible, species. Having only one such guide will result in some very frustrating forays! This may be a slight under-exaggeration, but at the time he made the book Roger was certainly no mycologist, and nor did he claim to be. He was a gifted and imaginative photographer. Most photographs show only the caps of mushrooms – this is a serious flaw, despite the accurate descriptions in the text Foraging is an entryway into deeper nature connection, but in terms of fungi I recommend you switch this around: learn about fungi in general, then finding and confidently identifying edible mushrooms will be a lot easier.

Phillips trained at Chelsea School of Art from where he entered a career in advertising culminating in the position of art director at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. He left O&M to start a career as a freelance photographer, winning many awards before turning his photographic talents to the world of natural history. Phillips accepts their compliments modestly while polishing off his stew – a dish I feel I could eat every winter lunchtime and never tire of. There is some discussion of the origin of the chanterelles – Portugal at this time of year – and we then wander to the edge of the market to get a glass of wine and sit and talk about the mulchy beginnings of his first love. Despite all the changes he has witnessed at first hand as a result of factory farming, he remains an optimist. He believes not only that we may see a necessary revival in sustainability, but that some of the more miraculous properties of fungi in particular might yet help us to fix the damage already done to the planet. “Fungi have been used to break down oil spills,” he says. “I think they will have a role to play in ridding the world of plastic.”Meanwhile, years of voluntary work in the communal garden in Eccleston Square, Pimlico, where he lived, led in 1980 to Phillips being asked to take on its management. Under his stewardship the garden, now part of the National Gardens Scheme, was transformed into a plantsman’s paradise, containing the National Collection of Ceanothus, in addition to some 200 different climbing roses and 120 different Camellias. He went on to write over 30 more books after that, including The Worldwide Forager in 2020, and became especially famous for his work on mushrooms. He could go into the woods at the Good Life festival and return with a huge array of brightly coloured and edible fungi – and a trail of adoring fans. An invaluable reference book to aid identification at home, but a little too big to be used in the field. Highly recommended, used in conjunction with “An Initial Guide to the Identification of Mushrooms and Toadstools” by Paul Nicol (see above) Phillips, Roger, and Jacqui Hurst. 1983. Wild food: [a unique photographic guide to finding, cooking and eating wild plants, mushrooms and seaweed]. London: Pan Books.

Roger Howard Phillips MBE (16 December 1932 – 15 November 2021) was a British photographer, botanist and writer. [1] Biography [ edit ] He was managing director of RogersRoses.com from 2001 and his books included Vegetables: The Definitive Guide for Gardenersand The Random House Book of Perennials(both with Martyn Rix), Wild Food, Mushrooms, and The Botanical Garden. His entry on the Death Cap, “the most deadly fungus known”, included the alarming information that, if ingested, an initial period of prolonged and violent vomiting and diarrhoea and severe abdominal pain is typically “followed by an apparent recovery, when the victim may ... think his ordeal over. Within a few days death results from kidney and liver failure.” This book will not tell you what species of mushroom you have found, but it is invaluable for placing your find into the correct family of mushrooms, which is always the first step towards identification. Once you know the family group of your mushroom, you can try to match it up visually by comparing it to photographs in full identification guides. You will go mad if you just try to look through guidebook photos for things that look a bit like your specimen! He did his national service with the RAF in Canada but resigned his commission on pacifist principles and returned to London, where he worked in a hospital and took a course at the Chelsea School of Art. “Roger was lively and gregarious,” remembers his contemporary Alan Gilchrist, “contributing regularly to theatrical events, and was the art editor of the school’s magazine Concetto.” A friend and fellow conspirator in cultural interventions was Brian Innes, whose band Roger booked for a school ball even before they became the Temperance Seven. Roger was a natural to present TV programmes about nature, and showed how to slow-cook a ham in compostPhillips was best known as an expert on roses and fungi.He was Honorary Garden Manager at Ecclestone Square in London and in the 2010 New Year's Honours Listwas awarded the MBE for services to London Garden Squares.

Great chapter on the science of fungi and introduction of specific genera (eg. Boletes, Amanitas etc)

Summary

He also served as chairman of the Society for the Protection of London Squares, helping to frustrate the incursions of developers, work for which he was appointed MBE in the 2010 New Year Honours.