Let nature nourish

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall shares stories of who has inspired him, his favourite meal, and how to connect with what sustains you.

Spring is tapping on the door at River Cottage HQ in Devon and the team is busy planting and sowing. Nature is busy too. “It’s a super exciting time of year,” says Hugh. 

“In the garden, March and April are tricky months. Everything is growing but it’s taking its time. We call this the Hungry Gap - this glimpse of little shoots shivering in the March breeze.

“The garden doesn’t really take off until May but March is a really good foraging month. The hedgerow is full of nutritious greens - nettles, hogweed shoots, alexanders (horse parsley), sea spinach (sea beets). Good for soups and salads.”

For Hugh, food is the connection between us and nature - and connects people too. “My dad is a vegetable gardener. We take a walk around the vegetable patch and chat about potatoes and discuss whether we think it’s time to plant the broad beans. 

“He’s great at growing carrots and strawberries, which I’m not very good at. He definitely inspired me. He’s 90 this summer and we’re looking forward to the celebrations.”

Time to get muddy!

Hugh’s parents relocated to Gloucestershire from London when he was young. Similarly, he moved to the original River Cottage in 1999, at around the same time he became a parent himself. “The experience taught me how kids want to be involved with food. All we have to do is engage that curiosity. They understand more than we think.

“Put real food in front of them. Give them a carrot to play with. Cooking is important education for children - don’t get stressed out if they're in the way.

“The most important lesson we can teach children about food is that it comes from farms! It comes from the soil, the land, the earth, not the supermarket. Teaching children to grow is brilliant but schools don’t seem to do it very often. Maybe it’s time to get muddy! Any school with an outdoor space can have a gardening club. 

“There’s a disconnect if we’re not careful; if the children don’t see where food comes from. Food is fundamental for our survival so why are we so disconnected from how and where it grows?

“Farms, farm shops and farmers’ markets are brilliant for visits - they help kids connect with real food because a good proportion of their food comes from the local community. A trip to the local farm shop is more educational than a trip to the local supermarket - and more sustainable. You can point and say, ‘This was grown down the road’ and kids will understand that they are part of a food community, food is being grown nearby.”

Books, plants and leftovers

One of Hugh’s inspirations is 'The Vegetable Book' by Jane Grigson, which left such an impact that he chose the author as the person he’d most like to have round for dinner. 

“It’s an incredible book that I learned so much from. I’d invite her over here in the summer. We could get vegetables from the garden and have a plant-based meal, maybe a BBQ - vegetables are delicious on the BBQ!”

His own, most recent book, 'How to Eat 30 Plants a Week', is inspiring people along the same lines. “For your health and for the planet, eat more plants,” he says. 

“The menus at River Cottage HQ are plant led, with somelocal organic meat and sustainably sourced fish. Not every
plate needs to have meat or fish. Get some heft into your plant-based meals by using nuts, seeds and pulses - they really contribute to a satisfying plant based meal.”

Being creative helps people be more sustainable at home by cutting food waste. “Bagged salad is the worst! If the lettuce is wilting, put it in a soup - it’s only another vegetable. And a curry is great for using up leftover veggies and meat.”

In fact, leftovers are a firm favourite at River Cottage HQ: Hugh is a big fan of bubble and squeak. “I always cook enough to generate leftovers. I like to pull a few bits and pieces out of the fridge and work out what I can make from them. Into the frying pan, with a fried egg on top! Maybe some sauerkraut on the side."

The River Cottage HQ team are all keen on fermentation, which is another way to use up all the food you buy. All their chefs do it and there’s even a River Cottage fermentation handbook, though Hugh advises that it needs “commitment”. 

Hopes for the future

Climate change and awareness around food quality, animal welfare and public health are driving changes in how our food is grown. Farms that sell directly to their local communities are at the forefront of this.

“The big conversation is around regenerative agriculture,” says Hugh, who is Patron of the Farm Retail Association.
“We grow organic at River Cottage HQ but there are other ways of growing food at scale that’s not organic. 

“At the heart of it, we have to ask, are we able to nurture soil’s natural fertility and ability to renew itself? Can we support its incredible microbiology without chemicals? How do we tackle ploughing, which releases carbon and disrupts soil self-renewal?

“In the next decade, I have hope that we will get to a place where regenerative farming is attractive because it’s sustainable and economically sound. This will be a tipping point for regenerative agriculture that mirrors what has happened in the renewable energy sector, which is standing on its own feet now. 

“If I could pass down just one piece of advice to future generations about living in harmony with nature - it’s to spend time in nature. It’s so important to connect with nature and there’s no other way than to get out there. 

“Walk in the woods. Forage in the hedgerows. Engage all your senses - touch the bark, listen to the birdsong, watch the sunlight on the puddles. It will help you understand how nature nourishes us, body and soul.”