RICHARD'S RAMBLINGS: On diet, agriculture and its sources, microbes, cultures and wild food

I find that there are many paths that you can go down these days. Most diets can work with the right planning and careful consideration, though what I have come to understand through my journey into wild food is that this particular angle can enrich any form of diet you choose to have. Our current food system is defined by intensive agriculture whether it is sprayed with chemicals or totally organic, the sad truth is that we are raping the planet of natural diversity, microbes, bacteria and fungi as well as the homes of many of its creatures that keeps the landscape in true harmony and balance. Mono-culture is the real killer and when you eat a tiny diversity of products our guts and our bodies are limited to that small spectrum of what we eat, rather than a diverse spectrum of genetics, nutrition and environments. I like to think that we cultivate our body to the environment we wish to live in and that includes diet, thoughts/mindfulness, taking walks outside of the city and generally changing our daily routines one by one to reduce our reliance on our current destructive industries.

I personally, through experience have never felt better on a seasonal wilder diet that is mostly raw (apart from warm carbs for winter etc, or the odd food experiment to teach on courses). I have also come to understand that whether it is plant, insect, fungi, fish, or animal that one chooses to eat, it is the habitat, the environment and the source of any of these food types that counts. Although superficially they might look the same, they are fundamentally different at their heart, in their nutritional make up and biodiversity of microbes/organisms that contribute to a healthy gut and consequently a healthy mind.

Choose the path that feels right for you, but including wild food along that journey through my personal experience and many others around me, has opened up the doorway into a health and mental clarity like no other.