If you’re able to get a fire going in your garden or courtyard, you’ll have to think in a different way and learn the same basic science. You’ll make the emotional connections with nature and enjoy really delicious food. It’s clear we’re happier if we can be outside, but the planet seems happier if we’re not. It’s an uncomfortable thought, but one we can learn so much from.
By connecting with our immediate environment in a more conscious, sensitive, ancient way, we develop a deeper understanding of how fragile parts of it have become, and may discover new ways we can help to fix it.
I thought I’d found a new one. Something we hadn’t seen before, an undiscovered combination, a pattern in the stars. It turns out, though, I’m not the only astronomer staring up into the night sky, looking for inspiration. Pears and tahini is already a thing! But, I can’t imagine pears, tahini and chestnut honey is, so maybe I will get my badge after all.
Let the fire burn nice and hot for this one, so you can develop some distinct charring on the fruit. That slightly bitter edge works so beautifully with the sweetness of the flesh and the rich, woody honey.
This is an edited extract from the book Outside: Recipes for a Wilder Way of Eating by Gill Meller, with photographs by Andrew Montgomery, which is published by Quadrille, priced £30.