Keep it simple and focus on the fire: how to cook and eat on a camping holiday

Harry Fisher’s fish wraps with oyster sauce and panko batter. The campfire cooking expert says too many people rely on tinned food and hiking meals, but nothing needs to be all that rugged. Photograph: Grace Picot

Harry Fisher has spent much of his life camping. As a child, his parents would take the family out to the bush, where his Zimbabwean dad would utilise his knowledge of Braai [a social custom similar to barbecuing that’s popular in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia] to start campfires for cooking.

“Dad had such a familiarity with fire because Braai in Africa is strictly cooked with wood,” he says. “Mum [who was a chef] would lean into that by making dishes that relied on fire and charcoal cooking, so we ate really well – Indonesian and Japanese and stir-fries and steaks.”