Profile
For everything you ever wanted to know about seaweed! Experienced professional forager & chef Jayson Byles is based in the East Neuk of Fife where he runs exceptional seaweed foraging experiences and teaches chefs and foodies how to sustainably and safely harvest sea vegetables from the crystal clear waters and the shores around Fife and beyond. His energy is infectious and his knowledge comprehensive. I hosted some lovely Slow Food professors from BIbao and we spent a memorable, fascinating and wonderful afternoon and evening in Jayson’s company on the beach, where we walked, talked, listened, tasted and learnt, ending in the flavours of the sea cooked expertly al fresco by Jayson.
More experiences go up on his website to book, as the tides allow. The workshops page always has the latest. Workshops include:
- On the Rocks (four hours, forage the low tide, then a five-course wild menu cooked over fire on the beach)
- The Seaweed Taster (90 minutes, all ages)
- New for this autumn, The Coastal Dram, an indoor seaweed and Kingsbarns single malt masterclass at our new Bowhouse classroom.
Jayson has re-launched his website and offerings… here best described in his own press release…
The new eastneukseaweed.com is live, with recipes and everything about the workshops in one place, plus three short films if you’d rather watch than read. It’s a work in progress and it will keep growing: more seaweed knowledge, a journal of notes from the shore, guides to what grows here, free tools that anyone on this coast can use, and the memorable moments we share on the rocks, passing on the wonders of seaweed in food and this special stretch of Fife’s East Neuk coast. We’ve been lucky in the company we keep: The Guardian, The New York Times, BBC Scotland’s Landward, The Scotsman and Fife Today have all told the seaweed story. The cuttings are on the press page.
Two free tide tools, for everyone on this coast
They’re built for foraging, but they’re just as handy if you walk, swim or paddle here. The East Neuk Tide Planner shows the next spring-tide windows on our shore and which seaweeds each one uncovers. And the Elie Chain Walk page has a live tide chart and this week’s safe windows for Fife’s famous cliff-foot scramble, so nobody starts it on a rising tide.
The Coastal Dram, with Kingsbarns Distillery
Five wild seaweeds paired with five Kingsbarns single malts, indoors, year-round, no wellies required. Fife Today has the story of the partnership; the Coastal Dram page has the detail. Register your interest there and you’ll be first to hear when dates open.
There is also a link to read in the National Geographic featuring Jayson
Jayson can be booked for experiences and festivals in Fife and elsewhere and is certainly the go-to for this niche knowledge of the superfoods! There are also gift vouchers available online.
About Jayson: Founder Jayson Byles is a forager, trained chef, permaculturist and former commercial seaweed-harvest manager, originally from New Zealand and of Māori Pacific heritage. The business’s ethos is Tihei Mauri Ora, a commitment to protecting the living life-force of the coast: seaweeds are cut, never pulled, and only in quantities the ecosystem readily regrows. Workshops hold a 5.0 rating on Tripadvisor, and the seaweed story has been told by The New York Times, National Geographic, the BBC, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung and the South China Morning Post, on BBC Scotland’s Landward, and in two independent films.
