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Connor Field, known on social media as @fedbyfield, is passionate about both the outdoors and cooking—and he’s found a way to seamlessly blend these two loves into his everyday life. Wanting to share that experience with others, he launched @field.blends, a brand created to bring people together and make outdoor cooking more accessible for everyone. Our team has tried the seasonings before and loved them, so we were thrilled to have the chance to chat with one of the creative minds behind the brand! Read on to discover more about Connor’s inspirations, interests, and the journey that led him to where he is today.
I am Connor Field, a designer, outdoor cook, gardener, serial hobbyist and all round lover of the outdoors. I have spent the majority of my life living in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside, surrounded by some of the most incredible landscapes that the UK has to offer, which has naturally brought out a deep connection with the natural world around me.
When you couple this passion with the need to fuel my rugby career growing up, I’d often find myself out in the garden centred around the bbq with friends, family and team mates, that laid the foundations for a love affair with outdoor cooking.
Since my playing career ended, this love for food has further blossomed and taken me to regions of the world such as South America, that have open fire cooking at the core of their culture, in a mission to learn more about the traditions and practices that make this method of cooking so enticing.
I now combine my passion for outdoor food and my creative background in architecture to create content that I hope inspires others to embrace a more considered lifestyle, as a means to reconnect with the outdoors, loved ones and the food that we consume.
Field Blends is all about breaking down barriers to enable more people to get outside cooking around the campfire, without the hassle of having to take the whole spice rack away with you to cook up a banging plate of food.
Sam, Ryan and I are a small team, with a shared love of cooking, camping and making a difference to the way others experience the outdoors. It has been amazing to see where our tins of seasoning have ended up and the memorable moments they have aided in creating for our audience so far, so I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
I’ve always had a love for creativity and aesthetics that led me down the path of architecture. I think architecture has the power to create seemless connection between people and the outdoors when designed correctly, which is why we currently see the movement towards off-grid and remote cabin stays proving so popular. Food can have the same impact on people. When you design a dish around capturing the essence of smoke, fire and quality produce, you have the ability to transport the consumer to a wild and wonderful place.
Plus, insta is all about making your plate look pretty right? So a bit of careful presentation never goes a miss which many years of architecture school always helps with!
Outdoor cooking is often massively overcomplicated by individuals or organisations telling you that you need a tonne of expensive equipment, loads of time and space, and overly complex recipes. While I, like many people, can get carried away with the odd gadget here and there (god forbid a man has hobbies), this method of cooking is inherently primal. When stripped back to its purest form, you can cook amazing food using just good-quality ingredients and a bit of know-how to harness the key elements: fire, smoke, and some quality time outside.
Obviously, it goes without saying that the UK’s favourite topic of weather can present the odd challenge from time to time, but I guess that is all just part of the fun!
Being an outdoor creator and running an outdoor brand isn’t always long weekends sat in an postcard setting disconnected and living a slow, calming lifestyle. I think I probably spend a lot less time doing that now than I maybe used to prior to starting these ventures. However, I am driven by the mission to inspire others to do so, which comes with a lot of time doing behind the scenes work, often in front of the laptop (where I find myself now) or producing tins at our unit. However, I love it and it is that that gets you through the hard yards at times and make the cold beer by the fire extra special when I do get the chance.
Maple Chilli Salt, Cast Iron Pan, Milk Bun Rolls that just so happen to be pre-sliced and layered with ketchup. Maple Chilli Bacon Sandwiches are life to me on a camp trip.
I definitely think over the past few years especially as I have left uni and started to find my feet in the real world, I have been increasingly more focussed on trying to make more informed choices where possible. Whilst, I like many, often succumb to the convenience of modern living, I feel very strongly around trying to make an active difference to the way I am as a consumer day to day and as a producer at Field Blends. Whether that be my efforts to grow more of my own food, supporting small British seasonal producers or opting for re-usable and plastic free packaging in our products, little changes and educating myself on the impacts this can make definitely helps me make more conscious choices and I will continue to further this.
My wife Laura and I were incredibly blessed with the opportunity to travel South America for six months after we got married, which created so many lasting and meaningful memories. We both adored the Latin-American and Andean cultures, people and landscapes and can’t wait to return some day! I couldn’t recommend this region of the world more.
We were lucky enough to stay and work with families and friends who taught us so much and made us so welcome, many of which we are still regularly in contact with today. Much of what I do outdoors from cooking, brewing coffee, growing food and even the way in which I experience the world around me has been inspired by this trip. Travel is so eye-opening in many ways and South-America is definitely a top location for food and outdoor enthusiasts.
We have recently launched a new flavour Smokey Peach & Jalapeño which has gone down a treat for Summer cooking and kept us very busy. This definitely caught some attention and has opened up a few very exciting discussions that we hope to share more on shortly.
Without giving too much away, there are a couple more flavours in the test kitchen for this year and growing our operation to spread our message further and into more stores is front and centre on the agenda.
We have been discussing a few dates for some community events in collaboration with some other brands and people doing amazing work in the outdoor space, so I guess keep an eye out for those over on our social channels @field.blends and you will be the first to know!
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