Ep. 044: The Quiet Revolution of Growing Your Own with Gaz Oakley

·58 min·3 clips

Gaz says Covid made him realize he was disconnected from where his food came from.

1. Wilder Podcast episode 44 centers on Gaz Oakley and his move from chef life to growing food in Wales. 2. Gaz Oakley is the guest, and Tom and Chloe host the conversation as founders of the Grange Project and Wilder Podcast. 3. The episode asks how a chef with 1.8 million YouTube followers ended up calling his home a “homestead” and changing how he eats. 4. Gaz says he left school at 16, became a full-time chef, and later worked a normal sales job before returning to food online. 5. He says Instagram started with him sharing meals for friends and family, then grew to about 7,000 followers before he quit his job. 6. Gaz says moving from London to the countryside during Covid came after feeling “so reliant on all the systems around me” and worried about food supply. 7. He describes buying strawberries in plastic in winter and seeing empty supermarket shelves as part of that shift in thinking. 8. Gaz says his childhood food experience was shaped by a father who cooked every evening at home and by trips to French food markets. 9. He says he had “no connection” to nature as a child beyond beaches, gardens, and the smell of mud after rugby. 10. He says a fully plant-based diet gave him energy and purpose after a period of working 80-hour weeks in kitchens. 11. Gaz says growing and foraging food changed his cooking by making him show “so much more respect for the ingredients.” 12. He says seasonality matters because “everything tastes better when it’s in season” and foraged food is “nature’s gift.” 13. He links cooking at home to wellbeing, saying making food yourself means “you end up cooking with more love.” 14. Gaz calls his earlier symptoms anxiety, stress, and depression, then says those symptoms faded after reconnecting with nature. 15. He says hearing birds while gardening is a luxury now and describes modern city life as leaving him feeling disconnected. 16. Gaz says reconnecting with nature has changed his music taste toward acoustic folk, handpan, African guitar, Ethiopian piano, and Celtic flute. 17. He describes the interview as relaxed and reflective, with the hosts repeatedly connecting his story to their own work at the Grange Project. 18. The format moves from biography to food, health, music, social media, and practical growing advice without a formal segment break. 19. People interested in food growing, plant-based cooking, and nature-based living will get a lot from this episode. 20. People looking for fast-paced food chat without wellness or land-based themes may skip it.

As heard by us

A calm conversation about food, land, and personal change.

Gaz Oakley is framed as a chef who has moved into homesteading, and the conversation follows that shift toward growing food, paying closer attention to ingredients, and finding a steadier sense of well-being.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For when you want a food story that becomes a life story.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Wilder Podcast