Leeds forager living on wild food for three months

Lisa Cutcliffe, 42, from Leeds, runs foraging courses, and often uses wild ingredients in the meals she makes

A woman from Leeds is attempting to live solely off foraged food for three months as part of a study looking at its impact on health.

Lisa Cutcliffe, 42, from Armley, runs foraging courses, and often uses wild ingredients in the meals she makes.

She is part of a study called the The Wildbiome Project, which involves 26 people living only on wild food.

It is the brainchild of Monica 'Mo' Wilde, who spent a year living off foraged food in Scotland.

Ms Cutcliffe said her interest in foraging began in her student days while watching a cookery programme.

She discovered that porcini mushrooms, which were too expensive for her to buy, grew in the UK, so decided to start looking for them.

This sparked her interest in seeing what else "nature's larder" had to offer.

Talking about the study, which has been running for four weeks, Ms Cutcliffe said: "I am absolutely loving it."

She said she and her fellow foragers already had some items gathered and preserved.

The test subjects, who include other members of the Association of Foragers, are also allowed to eat one jar of organic honey a month and free range organic eggs as neither can be gathered from the wild.

According to a fundraising page set up to raise money for blood tests, the group will be monitored against a control group of 26 people eating normal shop-bought food.

The study aims to assess the impact of a foraged diet on health.

Ms Cutcliffe said she believed there were health benefits to eating wild food and urged people to give it a go

Ms Cutcliffe said she believed there were benefits to eating wild food and urged people to give it a go.

"It just really makes me happy - my life would be much poorer without it," she said.

"Start with something you can be sure about," she said, such as nettles.

"They are a super food, they are so nutritious, they are full of minerals and vitamins, but most of all they have a lot of protein."

She also stressed that people should only take what they need, check they know what they are eating and ask permission if foraging on private land.