TAKE A SEAT AT THE WILD TABLE

TAKE A SEAT AT THE WILD TABLE

Phil Spahn from ‘The Wild Table’ introduces us to the concepts of living ‘wild and free’, the biological norm and the reality of achieving it.

You could call me many things, I am a hunter, an angler, a forager, a keen chef, a lover of the outdoors. We could go on for a while, however, first and foremost if you asked me, I would describe myself as a wild food enthusiast. I love WILD Food. And I mean truly wild food – hunted, gathered and fished from the places that remain true to their nature. Unadulterated, pristine, healthy eco systems. My passion for wild food lead me to create ‘The Wild Table’, a channel to share wild food experiences with the world, I run this with my partner Cheska.

The Wild Table - HuntingHQ - Ambassadors - Cheska - Phil

Phil & Cheska, the amazing team behind The Wild Table

I LOVE WILD FOOD

Why? I’m sure many people would love to ask me this. Some with curiosity, some with venom in their thoughts, others like my own brother with a simply but benign incomprehension. It is a very simple and yet very complex answer, and I’ll do my best to sum it up in a few key points.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

It is a simple but powerful concept. According to scientists your body produces 330 billion cells every day. That is 3.8 million cells every second of every day that you are alive. Your body is constantly replacing its structure with tiny new building blocks. And the raw materials for these building blocks come from the food you ingest.

Think about that for a minute. 3.8 million cells a second. Made from what? That snickers bar you just ate? Mass farmed peanut, sugar, chocolate, corn syrup etc. The burger you had earlier? Farm raised, corn fattened beef, days old lettuce, void of nutrition, saturated trans fats, and more sugar?

CHASING THE SUPER ATHLETE

What if you were made from the super athlete you hunted on the weekend? Yes. The SUPER athlete. I just took a red deer stag last weekend, and when I admired the animal in close range, I could only marvel at the health of it. The muscular body, able to make that 200 kg body move like a silent breeze or like a freight train on speed depending on the situation. The legs that could make a hill like a mere hurdle. The eyes and ears and nose that would out compete me every single time. Ok, you get it. A super athlete, at least in comparison to you or me.

BIOLOGICAL NORM – THE WAY NATURE INTENDED US TO LIVE

For me this is a driving factor. I do not want to be made from domesticated ingredients, laden with stuff that I can’t even pronounce. Chemicals, steroids, anti-biotics, overly processed grains and other simple carbohydrates. No, I want my body to be made from wild ingredient as much as possible. And I also want to know that the animals I consume have led free, healthy lives true to the biological norm. Just like I wish for myself to live such a life.

“Wild food does not come to you by command.”

And of course, there is more to this equation. When I said that I wish to live a life close to my biological norm (the way nature intended for us to live), the procurement of wild food is a key part of my strategy. Wild food does not come to you by command. It does not reside in pens or warehouses where you need but to press a button or open a gate to have them loaded up on a truck for “the works” – no, they hide, they flee, they outsmart and outwit you more often than not. Even wild plants and mushrooms aren’t easily found, identified and harvested.

The Wild Table - HuntingHQ - Ambassadors - Cheska

Cheska enjoying the views during a hunt at Blue Mountains HuntingHQ hunting block in the BOP.

LEARN THE NATURE OF WHAT YOU WANT TO HARVEST

First you must know your quarry. You must learn their ways, their habits, their ecological niche, their nature. No hunter was ever born and knew all this. They learnt to see nature with eyes that understand and comprehend. And just like the billions of ancestors that came before you, if you choose to replace your cells with biologically sound building blocks, so too must you learn the nature of the very thing you intend to harvest.

“You must learn their ways, their habits, their ecological niche, their nature.”

And from what I have learnt, that part is what most experienced hunters really appreciate. The intimate knowledge of wild places and wild animals. The little habits, that mark their target species.

Knowing that deer make the smallest noises and slightest movements, unlike the Kereru that makes the biggest racket in the Puriri Tree. Feeling the change of light that marks the start of the active times, during which the animal you seek might just blunder across your path is search of food, or come out onto the clearing so you may have your opportunity. Some small examples of a greater understanding of nature, but it is all these small things that add up to a true appreciation for nature.

WILD AND FREE LIKE OUR ANCESTORS

One of the things about life on planet earth today that I find most perplexing is that we have stopped moving. How could we, a species so able bodied by design, stop moving? And what’s more, how many diseases stem from this? I can only shake my head when I observe the rate of obesity amongst our people on an unwilling trip to the mall. Not because I judge, but because it baffles me how we got here, and how we seem determined to remain here.

But here is the thing, you will never encounter this level of gross physical neglect deep in the forest. No sir. Out there, not even that far out there, things remind you that this fragile illusion of a world that suit our needs is a dream.

“I cherish the memories of carrying out deer, that nearly cost me every ounce of willpower.”

Nature, which in the end will always claim her superiority, has a way of swiftly proving this. And I like it. I like that in order to chase that deer, some days I must walk all day and maybe all night. I cherish the memories of carrying out deer, that nearly cost me every ounce of willpower. They will be some of the last to fade from me and they are some of the greatest accomplishments I can proclaim. Movement is vital. Going after your food is vital. It’s human and it’s good.

So, to sum it up, I want to move closer to the way my ancestors lived. I want to be wild and free, healthy and strong, and these are some of the simple reasons why I think going after my own meat, fish and wild foraged plants is the best way to do this.

NOT EVERYONE CAN LIVE WILD AND FREE

Ok, let’s get back to reality. Having outlined all of the above I don’t want to make it seem that I wish to live in a cave and eat raw meat. I don’t deny that certain aspects of modern life are fantastic. I like living in a house. I love knowing that I can buy fishing hooks and bullets. I love that If I get ill, I can seek medical aid.

“I don’t want to live in a cave and eat raw meat.”

I acknowledge and respect that not everyone can live a wild and free life, not anymore, and perhaps never again. Life has changed. We are busy, we have families to provide for and even in this blessed little country with such an abundance of wild places and wildlife at our doorstep, not everyone can connect to it to such a degree.

Even myself. I create content around hunting, fishing, foraging and cooking, and paradoxically that very things has made me so busy that I can’t do some of the wild hunting trips that I would like to do. Or at least not as often.

The reality of procuring wild food, it’s not easy, actually a real challenge; but isn’t that more of a reason to do it?