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A Welsh man who loves foraging and eating free food from the sea is now teaching people from all over the world how to take up coastal foraging with the support of his loyal ‘business partner’ – his dog.
Craig Evans, 62, of Ammanford, South West Wales, is always accompanied by his golden retriever, Llew, six, when he goes on a foraging mission by the sea and the pair often find delicacies such as scallops, lobsters, crabs, seaweed , mussels and razor clams.
But the father of four, aged 22 to 38, who is married to bank employee Liz Evans, 56, warns anyone tempted to hunt for free gourmet foods that there are serious dangers involved, especially for beginners.
Craig Evans, 62, of Ammanford, South West Wales, who loves foraging and eating free food from the sea, is now teaching people from all over the world how to take up coastal foraging with the support of his loyal ‘ business partner’ – his dog
Craig, a former aircraft weapons engineer and later bank employee, began learning to forage as a 5-year-old and explored the rock pools while growing up in Carmarthenshire.
He said: ‘People need to learn how to do this safely, otherwise a lot can go wrong – not just for their own safety, but also from an environmental point of view, if they take too much.
“Part of the physical danger is that people can be cut off by the tide after landing on a sandbar and getting trapped there.
“Another serious danger is falling from cliffs. I always tell people to stay away from the cliffs, because a number of people have already died in cliff collapses.”
Craig often finds delicacies such as scallops, lobsters, crabs, seaweeds, clams, and razor clams (pictured, a jar of seafood from his foraging area)
His passion for foraging on the coast turned into his full-time job five years ago when Craig set up his courses, which usually last six to seven days in a row, depending on the tide, followed by a week off
He added: ‘There are also fish with sharp fins, such as the weever, whose sting injects a neurotoxin that can be extremely painful and deadly, so I urge people on my courses to wear appropriate footwear.’
To make good finds that are edible and can result in tasty one-pot meals at the end of a foraging day, several factors need to be kept in mind, he said.
‘It really depends on what kind of environment you’re in, whether you get good finds. We have rocky shores, muddy sand – there is a difference.’
He added: “You get the better finds when the tides are at their lowest, which are called spring tides. Usually you only get about 15 a year.’
While Craig now mostly goes foraging while teaching courses, he also likes to go out alone with Llew – and protecting the environment by collecting food sustainably is his number one priority.
“I’m not just going to forage to find food, but also to be in the environment and research how everything interacts,” he said.
He added: “When something is taken from nature, it creates a void. It’s all about finding the perfect balance.
“Things like pollution or human activity create imbalances, which is why I teach people on my courses to take only as much as they need and nothing more.”
By keeping everything in balance, nature can recover, according to the foraging expert.
His passion for coastal foraging turned into his full-time job five years ago when Craig set up his courses, which typically last six to seven days in a row, depending on the tide, followed by a week off.
He said: ‘Actually, foraging on the coast is something that has been going on since time immemorial, as people have always lived along the coast and ate off the coast.
“In the end it was much more convenient and nutritious to gather food from the shore than to go into the forest and be killed by bears or other animals.”
Craig passed on his passion to his own children and sometimes his two sons, Anthony Evans, 35, and Dafydd Evans, 22, help him with bigger courses or go foraging with him
Meanwhile, his dog Llew often joins Craig and his groups in search of the perfect coastal meal
He added: ‘I take groups of people, usually around 12, to teach them all about the tides, hazards and safety, as well as what to find and how it works.
“Local history and geology are an important part of the courses, as are the links between high and low tides.”
His own interest in foraging on the coast began when he took beach walks along the ‘extremely diverse’ coastline of South Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire with his father, Peter Evans, 85, and his two younger brothers Branden and Dean – although he was not interested in the find food to start with.
He said, ‘I would always take copper. My father would leave me and my brothers alone to have some fun in the rock pools.
Dad of five said foraging ‘really depends on what kind of environment’ you live in and that could affect ‘you’re going to get good finds’
“We would just find things and investigate what they were. We had no idea, but we chose
Craig passed on his passion to his own children and sometimes his two sons, Anthony Evans, 35, and Dafydd Evans, 22, help him with bigger courses or go foraging with him.
“It’s very interesting and very satisfying to pass on the knowledge, and also to my grandchildren, who are now six.”
At one point, Craig kept aquariums with sea anemones or jellyfish in his office at home to display the things he found on the coast.
He said that in order to make good finds that are edible and can result in tasty one-pot meals at the end of a foraging day, several factors need to be kept in mind.
And after a day of foraging, he shows his students how to turn their finds into delicious meals (left and right, razor clams, one of his favorite finds)
The father of five even cooks the food right in front of his students – and meals can range from mussels to octopus
He said: ‘There were different kinds of fish, corals, octopuses, crabs, shrimp – it was a rock pool at home.
“I stopped because the room was requisitioned by my sons for video games!”
Craig’s courses have attracted people from all over the world – from Hong Kong, India, Australia, South Africa, Norway and Germany.
The majority of his students are from England and he estimates that about 10 percent are from Wales.
“Last week someone flew in from the US just for the coastal foraging course,” Craig said.
Craig’s courses have attracted people from all over the world – from Hong Kong, India, Australia, South Africa, Norway and Germany
“It’s quite humbling that people come this far.
‘Most people take the course only once, but some come three or four times.’
And after a day of foraging, he shows his students how to turn their finds into delicious meals.
“It’s all cooked in front of them and you go through a step-by-step system,” he said.
“As part of the course, you’ll teach them all about food safety — for example, don’t eat anything that’s dead, so get mussels from under the sand instead of the one on top — and water quality, which determines what process the collected food has to go through.”