Back in March I wrote a blog ‘wild food Sami style’ about a new book and film about Sami chef and food ambassador Greta Huuva. Now Greta, her daughter Linn and her husband Anders will be visiting Scotland next week and meeting with Scottish foragers, chefs and food producers in a lightening tour of the Highlands, Edinburgh and West Lothian.
There has been a huge amount of interest from the food community in the visit which has been jointly organised with Scotland’s Natural Larder, a consortium dedicated to promoting Scotland’s wildfoods. It is expected that our own food harvesters, producers and outlets will have a lot to learn from Greta and her family business Viddernas – a Sami cafe and deli in Jokkmokk.
On her tour will be joining walks with Scottish foragers in Nethy Bridge, Applecross and Muiravonside Country Park. She will also be in conversation with members of Slow Food Edinburgh, students from Queen Margaret University and people from the Scottish fishing industry. You can obtain a full itinerary of Greta’s tour from me at i.edwards@rbge.org.uk .
What is really fascinating is how indigenous people in Scotland and the Far North of Sweden have used some of the same plant species for different purposes. It is also interesting to learn how many of the wildfood plants are preserved to maintain their vital health benefits for use in the long northern winter.
Greta’s family will be accompanied by the Italian husband and wife team, Veronica Bernacchioni and Andrea Barghi, who are responsible for the book Nature is my Kitchen. They hope to make a short film of the visit which we will share through this blog site and our youtube channel.