Roger Phillips

Champignon of the World

By The Bimbler

Coquus est in culina

The single Latin phrase I remember from school translates as ‘the cook is in the kitchen’

…not much use when strolling around Savernake Forest with leading Mushroom expert and World class Botanist Roger Phillips but fortunately he translated for me.

With over 40 books on plants and fungi published in as many years and millions of copies sold Worldwide it’s fair to say Roger has a truly encyclopedic knowledge so as we stopped to study each fungi he named the genus of each specimen in Latin followed by its common English name then finally anecdotal and historic facts to give context to what we were looking at.

We were joined by his Teacher wife Nicky Foy as well as their granddaughter and a flock of about 15 energetic class mates who had come for a mushroom walk.

With gloved hands and empty baskets the wildlings scuttled off and as they Freeranged Roger and I chatted about flora, fauna and in particular about subconsciously tuning into the environment which hones one’s senses and enhances any nature experience.

Roger’s attention to detail is inspiring.

In all honesty while on my way to our rendezvous I imagined strolling around the forest harvesting plate sized exotic mushrooms to feast on… but the reality was far more rewarding.Every few steps we stopped to look at new specimens… some so small they were barely visible among the autumn leaves. For my sake the identifying clues were referenced and in the process of looking closely at the fungi… ever more revealed themselves.

It’s great to look at the environment through inquisitive eyes. I highly recommend doing so regularly

Children do this naturally so the baskets filled quickly with a random assortment of ‘things’

… and a few fungi too!

with such wise company and a majestic backdrop the hours passed all too quickly

so with a cornucopia of fungi collected everyone headed back to review the bounty

Roger Phillips then proceeded to captivate everyone with a fascinating and far reaching talk about the fruits of the forest floor.

Eventually and with a beady eye on the edible specimens I was honoured to be invited to cook a medley of Amethyst Deceivers and Chanterelles for everyone to try.

Fortunately I had taken my trusty stove along as well as olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper so within a few minutes the contents of the pan were dished out onto Ale crackers and gone in 60 seconds.

I’ve been referencing the informative books ‘Mushrooms’ and ‘Wild Food’ since the 1980s and can heartily recommend them to any budding forager. Find these and a selection of other reference books on the Roger Philips website here