Joel Gazdar - Wild: Plant-based Recipes to Nourish your Wild Essence

Plant-based Recipes to Nourish your Wild Essence

JOEL GAZDAR & AISTE GAZDAR
Founders of Wild Food Caf

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Vermilion, an imprint of Ebury Publishing,
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Vermilion is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

Text Copyright Wild Food Caf Un Limited 2019
Photography Wild Food Caf Un Limited 2019

Joel Gazdar and Aiste Gazdar have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This edition first published by Vermilion in 2019

www.penguin.co.uk

Design: Two Associates
Project editor: Samantha Crisp

The information in this book has been compiled by way of general guidance in relation to the specific subjects addressed, but it is not a substitute and not to be relied on for medical, healthcare, pharmaceutical or other professional advice on specific circumstances and in specific locations. Please consult your GP before changing your diet. So far as the authors are aware the information given is correct and up to date as at May 2019. Practice, laws and regulations all change, and the reader should obtain up to date professional advice on any such issue. The author and the publishers disclaim, as far as the law allows, any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use, or misuse, of the information contained in this book.

ISBN: 9781473564244

Take a moment to remember the call of birdsong. The smell of fresh blades of grass. The sensation of walking through an enchanting forest. Touching dew drops with your fingertips. Inhaling fresh mountain air deep into your lungs. Soaking your feet in the ocean, your body basking in sunshine. Feeling the spaciousness of your being. Feeling connected. It is inside you. It is your wild essence. Allow it to guide you.

It no longer makes sense to live out of tune with nature. We hear its call; it is inviting us to eat with the seasons, to connect with the wild, to feel the cosmos, to remember, to tune in to the rhythmic wave of life. This call is an invitation to our innate natural state of being and thriving. By recognising that we are part of a bigger whole, we start learning to tune in to it, to navigate it with mastery, and through this process we get to know ourselves deeper and awaken our intuition.

The time we are living in is calling for new ideas, solutions and possibilities to be brought into fruition in an innovative, holistic approach: both nutritionally and environmentally. Acknowledging and celebrating the wild is our way of connecting with the spirit of the Earth that timeless wisdom that is at the very centre of this book, our food and our work.

The closer we are to nature, by eating fresh, seasonal, raw, wholesome, organic, wild, biodiverse food, the more we reconnect ourselves to the ecosystem and the more responsive and receptive we become. Its a no-brainer.

The wild inspires us to be dynamic, more natural, to keep learning and to get to know ourselves and our environment beyond what weve ever experienced before, diving deeper into lifes unfolding evolution and enjoying the journey. The wild calls us regardless of our urban or rural upbringing, our cultural, social or personal aversion to or fondness for nature and the outdoors. Whether it is a gentle whisper we can barely hear, or a powerful roar that we cannot ignore, it is here. It is a part of us, it is the core of our individual and collective thriving.

Being wild is many things. Simply put, it is living life connected to our essence and to our environment. Wild is the wisdom of a biology of which we are all made. By observing and appreciating all aspects of how magnificently nature works; how inner and outer nourishment affects our bodies, minds and feelings in unique ways, we can learn to harness and reconnect to the wisdom of our wild essence and embody more qualities of it in our lives.

This book is an ode to our devotion and immersion into plant food deliciousness, environments and lifestyle practices for full-spectrum nourishment. We trust it will inspire you in your own holistic journey of playful culinary exploration, investigation and wellbeing. We want to help you to open new and familiar doors of inner and outer discovery, using this book as a compass, a map and an inspiring companion.

Everything we talk about in this book describes a dynamic flow of the elements through ingredients, recipes, rituals and seasonal environments. Allow yourself to be inspired, but dont take it (or yourself) too seriously. Inner thriving wont be found through following rigid rules imposed by someone else. It is about dusting off your inner compass and allowing your wild essence to guide you. Be your own guide but be open to signs and feedback in all forms.

See the practices and recipes that are in this book as doorways into more creativity, deliciousness and thriving. When you feel drawn to a particular practice or recipe, explore and research it further; individualise it to suit you or switch up the ingredients.

The practices and rituals listed in this book are extremely simple, but dont be fooled by their simplicity. Our lives were not meant to be overly complicated. Returning to the simplicity of being, both with food and with our lifestyle, will feel similar to decluttering a wardrobe or tidying up a house. It resets and rebalances our inner and outer environment to the natural rhythms of the wild. We and the wild will start sharing the same breath again.

In this modern age we have lost the ability to look at the world around us in a holistic way, and this applies to the way we think about nutrition too, often focusing too heavily on certain ingredients or studying nutrition by stripping everything down to isolated nutrients. Our approach and commitment is to bring holistic understanding back into the study and application of nourishment, and to celebrate it as the art, craft and science of ourselves, our relationships and our environment.

Between the two of us, we have over 30 years of personal experience in integral practices of wellbeing, including raw food, herbalism, nutrition, astrology, yoga and other holistic movement and personal development practices. We both benefited immensely from switching to a plant-based way of eating in our late teens.

We have been fortunate enough to travel in all four directions and have been apprenticed to many traditional peoples of knowledge from different cultures of the world, from Ayurveda in India, Tibetan and traditional Chinese medicine, European herbalism, African herbalism and the global shamanic cornucopia and plant medicines of South and North America.