WorldWild CIC was founded in 2018 as a vehicle for education and community development based around gathering and use of edible and medicinal wild plants, marine algae and fungi. It is our belief that reconnecting people to the places where they live through the restoration of culture around wild plants and mushrooms has the potential to bring multiple benefits in areas such as physical, mental and community health as well as increasing people’s care and stewardship of their local environment. Our work: Since 2018 we have produced over 50 episodes of a podcast speaking to foragers, chefs, food scientists, herbalists and community workers from around the world; a foraging zine Eat Wild and a qr code based foraging trail at an East Sussex retreat centre. We have hosted and run numerous foraging and wild food cooking courses and events; advised landowners and restaurants about the role of foraging in sustainable food systems and land management; taught foraging to hundreds of children of all year groups in Kent and Sussex and shared knowledge with numerous refugees from many different countries. The work with refugees started when we were invited to meet some of the Afghan men housed in Canterbury who had been airlifted from Kabul following the takeover by the Taliban. We went for a walk and as we did started asking the men if they had any knowledge of the wild plants we were passing. It turned out they were familiar with many of them and described many uses for them both culinary and medicinal. Shortly afterwards we began to volunteer at Napier Barracks near Folkestone, which houses many male refugees. Here were men from all over the world but our experience mirrored that with the Afghan men- every refugee we met knew something about what to do with wild plants for food and / or medicine. We started to take groups out for foraging walks regularly, culminating in a shared meal cooked using what we found. For the past two years we have hosted free community foraging sessions for the general public at weekends including sessions in Folkestone, Sandgate, Margate, Canterbury, Garlinge Green and Wye. Last year we delievered a multi media project https://www.whoelseliveshere.com for the Crown Estate in London.
