Ray Mears’ Wild Food

Synopsis

In this series of television programmes Ray Mears journeys back in time to find out what our Stone Age ancestors would have eaten.Ray and archaeo-botanist Professor Gordon Hillman show us how our ancestors found, prepared and cooked their food and we learn about the amazingly rich natural larder that still surrounds us. The individual programmes are:
AUSTRALIA - Ray hears from Australian Aboriginals about what food means to a hunter-gatherer and the role it plays in their culture as well as their society. Along with many other discoveries, the trip sees Ray sample that most iconic of ‘bush tucker’: the witchetty grub, a huge maggot that lives in the roots of the witchetty bush.
COAST - Ray Mears finds out just what Britain’s coast had to offer our ancestors. The coastline of Stone Age Britain was rather different than it is today, as Britain was yet to become an island.
WETLANDS - Ray and Professor Gordon Hillman look at the marshes and waterways which our ancestors used for travelling and as an abundant source of food. Along the way, Ray explains how to take the sting out of nettles and how to use water lily seeds as a source of carbohydrate. He then travels to the spectacular Ardeche Gorge, in France, where he gains special permission to take to his canoe and demonstrate spear fishing.
SUMMER HARVEST - This programme shows that our ancestors would have had access to a wide variety of plant foods, but meat would have been the staple in their diet. Ray demonstrates how they would have cooked a deer in a huge pit and then preserved the meat by smoking it.
WOODLAND - For our ancestors, autumn would have been the last chance to gather food before winter stole much of it away. Nuts are an obvious source of stored energy. Ray travels to the island of Colonsay in Scotland to investigate the remains of thousands of charred hazelnuts which date back to the Stone Age.

Also included on the DVD are 45 minutes of extra footage especially filmed for this DVD: Introduction to cooking with a pot; Simple pot hanger; Tripod for single pot; Height adjustable hook; Multiple pots - soft ground; Multiple pots - hard ground; Baking Bread; Ramsons; Bush coconut; Witchetty grub - the crew

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Year of release

2007

Year of production

2007

Subjects

Archaeology; Biology

Keywords

botany; food; plants; Stone Age; plants - edible

Credits

Writer

Ray Mears

Contributor

Gordon Hillman; Ray Mears

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 0

Price

£24.99

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

345 minutes

Year

2007

Distributor

 

Available from retail outlets

Name

Woodlore

Contact

Ray Mears

Email

info@raymears.com

Web

http://www.raymears.com/index.cfm External site opens in new window

Phone

01580 819668

Fax

01580 819668

Address

PO Box 3
Etchingham
East Sussex
TN19 7ZE