A Dyfi Valley bush crafter has committed to eating only wild foods foraged by hand for science.

Kara Moses, a regenerative forester, will be eating foods she has hunted, foraged and fished herself for one month this spring.

Kara will be one of 120 participants as part of the Wildbiome Project 2 looking into the effects a 100 per cent wild food diet may have on your health.

Her challenge will be part of a documentary and involve testing her gut microbiome, blood sugar, liver, kidneys, hormones, vitamins and mineral levels as well as blood, hair and poo samples for analysis.

Foraged meals - mussels (left) and drying seaweed (right)
Foraged meals - invasive Pacific oysters (left) and drying seaweed (right) (Kara Moses)

Kara, a bushcraft instructor, said: “I eat a lot of wild food and teach others how to.

“I love the vitality it brings to my body and the meaning and connection it brings to my food.

“I've often wondered whether it would be possible and how it would feel to live entirely on wild food from my immediate surroundings for a longer period.

“I've had about an 80 per cent wild diet for a few weeks before, but this is a step up.

“What I love about foraging is how liberating it is from harmful modern food systems - no unsustainable land use, no polluting transport, no plastic packaging and waste, no deadening supermarket consumption experience, no sense of separation from the food we eat - instead, a very real, meaningful and direct relationship with the plants, within a relationship of reciprocity, connection and respect.

“And then we feel our bodies responding to the nutrient-dense goodness of wild food, and in our spirits, as we connect to ancient lifeways we once all knew and shared.”

Wildbiome was started after foraging teacher Monica Wilde lived off wild foods for a whole year during the Covid-19 lockdown, finding the diet “had a profound impact on my gut microbiome and health”.

In 2023 she was joined by members of the Association of Foragers to start the first Wildbiome citizen's science study.

The 2023 study looked at the physical effects of eating exclusively wild food after either one or three months versus a control group eating shop-bought food.

The study, currently being peer-reviewed, found an impact on the gut microbiome, reduced weight, BMI and blood pressure, improved iron levels, as well as improved blood sugar levels in one diabetic participant.

Monica said: “This study is important as it will make a huge contribution to what we know about the indigenous western human gut microbiome and how significant the loss of wild foods might be for our diet.”

Kara will be starting her challenge this April, which will documented on Radio 4’s the Food Programme and a film documentary.

Due to last year's poor harvest for nuts, berries and mushrooms, she will also be taking donations of wild foods from other foragers to supplement her diet of greens, seaweed and wild meat - calling for donations of acorns, chestnuts, fat and berries.

To cover the scientific testing costs Kara is hoping to raise £450 - to donate go to her GoFundMe page.