7 Questions for Seaweed Expert Lucia Stuart

The tutor of our new online course on the wonder of seaweed and finding a pearl in an oyster

Lucia Stuart is an artist, cook, forager and author. Her business, The Wild Kitchen, is a roving restaurant that combines gourmet feasts in coastal Kent with foraging adventures. She’s also the tutor behind the latest Idler online course, Seaweed Foraging, released on 4 October, which will tell you all need to know about identifying, harvesting and cooking seaweed. To have immediate access to the course, join the Idler Academy by clicking here.

Tell us about your new Idler online course, Seaweed Foraging, in a few words.

LUCIA STUART: Seaweed is a 21st century food. I believe we must turn to the sea to expand our diet for nutritional and sustainable reasons. The key to eating seaweed is in the cooking of it. Like all food it can taste awful or delicious – it all just depends on how you forage and prepare it. And it is inexplicably ignored as a source of food in the British Isles. We have so much fertile coastline in the UK, which contains six per cent of the world’s seaweed species, yet we eat very little from the surrounding sea. This is a pioneering course that can help idlers take the first step towards bringing seaweed into the kitchen, or at least having fun trying to while exploring our wondrous seabeds.

What are you most excited for idlers to learn on the course?

LS: Unknown facts about, and exclusive recipes with, seaweed. Plus, I hope they have a laugh at my fashion choices at least; I dressed to match the different coloured seaweeds!

The Wild Kitchen is your most recent venture. What inspires your work there?

LS: Nature is so extraordinary and beautiful. We don’t realise the extent of her gifts. Wild food is a great way to start. Acorns, for example, are a major natural carbohydrate food source in the UK. When did you last eat one? I’m passionate about showing the British what wild food there is and how much sense it makes to eat it. We have a broken food system with obesity a major health issue. Free, natural seasonal food foraged from close to home is one small solution.

This summer was pretty disastrous for the English coast, with news of sewage leaks and the neglect of water companies dominating headlines. Is there any significance in the online course being released now?

LS: Love of the land over love of money! The government and corporations will do nothing as long as money is a priority, and the large-scale pollution and dredging of the sea is despicable and incomprehensible to me. As with all foraging everywhere you have to be very careful and informed and intelligent as you can be. It’s a personal decision.

The dishes you put together are visually and artistically very striking. Is this a consideration that actively informs your recipes and work?

LS: I have a Fine Art degree, which has been essential for my work as a forager; all the senses are employed. Aesthetics are paramount. You need sharp eyes to detect colour shade, an active nose for fragrances and even touch; some plants feel very different to how they look. These skills develop as you forage; senses heighten along with general health. I’m so grateful for the creativity and eccentricity of modern Britain. This is inherent in my cooking and the “production” of our ambitious foraging adventures/experiences at The Wild Kitchen.

Favourite plant to forage in the sea?

LS: A major highlight was when a wild pearl slipped out from between the folds of a wild oyster. The tiny pearl was tear shaped and as iridescent as the East Kent pearly skies. A glorious treat.

And in the field?

LS: Orange citrusy sea buckthorn is a potent superberry with an extraordinary story. Perhaps that could be our next online course?

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