A STINGING Nettle Forage and Feast Workshop in Lymm, run by Jim Parums has been selected by ticketing and event platform Eventbrite as a finalist in its Most Curious & Colourful Events competition.
The winning event, to be announced in November, will receive a £2,500 cash prize and £2,500 of Eventbrite fee credits to help it grow and bring even more people together
The Stinging Nettle Forage and Feast Workshop was commended for its ability to bring people together in nature and acknowledge how precious it is, while educating them on foraging and cooking skills with the humble nettle. Eventbrite also noted that it helped people to forage safely, especially those learning the skill for the first time to help combat the cost of living crisis.
Throughout and following the pandemic, organisers have worked tirelessly to keep people connected through events and Eventbrite’s Most Curious and Colourful Events competition was created to celebrate the wide diversity of events that can be found on Eventbrite, and especially those that could be described as unusual, unique, alternative – and maybe a little bit ‘out there’.
Eventbrite hosted over a million events in the UK last year, so selecting only 12 finalists was no mean feat. Other events that made the top 12 include workshops in Japanese paper marbling, underwater photo shoots, puppet making, children’s circus skills, moss art, tea leaf reading and scarecrow making.
Forager Jim, from Altrincham, whose business Forage Box launched in January 2020, has hosted 169 events on Eventbrite to date. He got through the pandemic by providing subscription boxes of wild food and then taking groups of six on foraging trips when it was allowed. Since October 2020, Jim has averaged two or three events a week. Other events of his include wild cider workshops, introductions to Autumn foraging, foraging and walks in the Lake District and coastal foraging and cooking.
The Stinging Nettle Forage and Feast Workshop is part of a special focus series celebrating all things stinging nettle and helping attendees get to grips with this incredible native plant. Jim will show them how to handle and eat raw nettles without getting stung, cook with nettles, and educate them on how the nettle is used in textiles, medicine and nutrition before finishing with a nettle feast including nettle beers and nettle cocktails.
“I’ve been foraging my whole life thanks to my granny who was big on mushroom foraging,” explains Jim. “British culture doesn’t lend itself to foraging in the way that the rest of the world does so I enjoy bringing this new hobby and skill to people. Those that used to come to events were foodies wanting to find new ingredients and learn new cooking skills and while they do still attend, I’m finding that other people worried about the cost of living are coming to learn more as foraged foods are free and can supplement a diet. However, it’s important to know which plants to eat, how to pick them safely and get inspiration on how to cook the ingredients.”
Foraging workshop attendee Chloe Darke said: “My partner and I like the outdoors and enjoy the idea of cooking with wild edibles, so this workshop seemed right up our street. We did the two hour taster workshop in Lymm and we couldn’t recommend it enough. Jim was really engaging and we learnt so much from his vast knowledge of what you can eat and make.”
Eventbrite’s Sebastian Boppert said: “Among the wide variety of experiences on Eventbrite, the Stinging Nettle Forage and Feast Workshop stood out for many reasons on top of being delightfully different. Attendees get to socialise during a soul nourishing activity, connect with nature and learn new skills. The workshop definitely deserves to be a finalist in the Most Curious & Colourful Events competition, and it’s a huge accolade to Jim to stand out from the vast number of events of all shapes and sizes we host on our platform all over the UK.”
