Invisible Food

Ceri Buck
February 2008 - May 2009

For forthcoming Invisible Food walks please see the Lambeth Band of Solidarity blog

"There are thousands of plants out there and I have no idea what they are, what their purpose is, how long they’ve been around, what relationships they have with other plant, insect and animal life. Now I’ve opened my eyes to the plants, I feel like I’m in a different land. Brixton is teeming with plant life." (Walk participant)

Invisible Food was created by writer and artist Ceri Buck who picked nettles with her neighbours on the Loughborough Estate, Brixton, beginning a diverse investigation into the edible plants which grow wild in the neighbourhood. She taught the roadside Caribbean cafe how to make elderflower fritters and in conversation with those she met developed and toured the Invisible Food Cafe.

Invisible Food developed through a series of walks with local residents in the green spaces around the Estate. After walking the participants made or cooked something such as tea, jam, cordials, quiches, soup or cakes with the herbs, flowers and berries they found. Invisible food is a tool to learn about wild plants and it offers another way of perceiving London; a walk of discovery, Invisible Food lives in the conversations held during the walks and invites participation beyond the bounds of the project through a broadly distributed map and selection of plant identification cards and recipes, printed and distributed to the 1,200 homes on the Loughborough Estate.

The Invisible Food Cafe - a roaming cafe of wild herb teas, jams, cakes and cordials, drawings, recipes and books - visited the Loughborough Primary School summer fair, Bonkersfest, Lambeth Country show, Peckham Green Fair, Transition Town Brixton Unleashing and Peoples’ Republic of Southwark fair in 2008.