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| Ali Stevenson and students sample a selection of wild food recipes. |
Graphic
Design, Conservation Ecology and Environmental Management students have been
trying-out a range of wild and ‘foraged’ foods put on as a lighthearted ‘sign
off’ to a design brief on the Children’s Book Design module.
Children’s Book Design lecturer
Ali Stevenson and students have been tucking-in to some home-made pastries,
soups and desserts in a ‘wild foods’ taste-test on the University’s allotment.
The move comes towards the end of the final-year Children’s Book Design module
in the Digital Arts Centre. The module’s brief asked students to research and
evolve a set of colour page spreads and book cover which aim to introduce
families and children to edible plants and fruits that grow in the wild
throughout the UK.
Mature design student Kashka Neri
was also at the tasting and kindly supplied a delicious fresh sorrel soup to
the mix of foods on offer. Kashka adds: “Eating
wild foods and foraging is something I’ve done naturally for years. Since I
remember, my family and I often went into woods or meadows in search for wild
foods such as mushrooms, berries or herbs. Even now during my holidays in my
homeland in Poland, the tradition of foraging - particularly for mushrooms, is
very much alive and well and I’m keen to pass on these experiences and
knowledge to my own children. Foraging for what can be gourmet food is such a
wholesome experience too which is also healthy, fun and best of all - free! I
feel that in UK the notion of gathering wild foods and their consumption has
been forgotten for far too long now, a situation that hasn’t been helped by the
spread of convenience foods and the large superstore chains. In contrast, many
Eastern European countries still nurture this idea of wild food - adding value
and importance to our everyday lives. Ali’s wild food taster session was such a
refreshing occasion to take part in and I was delighted to be there –
especially so with a variety of lovely food to try!”
The module has been growing in
popularity with design students over the last few years and has made use of
visiting lectures from the BBC’s Wild Food specialist Andy Hamilton as well as
Ali’s own background as a Senior Designer at Ladybird Books. The publishing
industry has traditionally been a large employer of graduate designers and the
University’s Graphic Design course has been evolving into this area and related
as the industry’s outputs spread out into both e-books and interactive content too.
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| Student Sami Dore's cover designs for her book on wild foods for families and children. |
Ali instigated the module a few
years back now and has been growing it’s involvement in the Graphics course at
the University. Of the wild foods brief she adds: “this is a subject area that’s been growing in prominence over the last
few years in both the media and TV. Combine this interest with the increasing
awareness that we need to ensure that our children have access and
opportunities to undertake outdoor activities to help counter the growing ‘computer
screen culture’ (such as the National Trust’s recent ’50 Things to do Before You’re
11 1/2’) and you’ve got the genesis of this module’s brief.”
The wild food taste test also had
some very favourable feedback from the students who took part. The wild cherry
clafoutis dessert supplied by helper Lon Teo, sorrel and nettle soups and
spinach, feta and comfrey filo pastries seemed to be the hot favourites. These
were closely followed-up by a surprise outsider in the form of Ali’s lecturer
husband Andy’s roasted dandelion root coffee. It’s now hoped that this event
might be repeated at a larger scale event at the University in the summer.
Contact:
Alison Stevenson
alistevo@thebumblebee.co.uk
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