Fiona Houston

Fiona Houston is a journalist based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she lives with her husband and two children.

The co-author of "Seaweed and Eat it", Fiona Houston began writing about foraging in order to combine her love of the food and the outdoors with her chosen profession of journalism.

Fiona returned to Scotland with her family a few years ago from Washington DC, USA where she lived for 12 years, near the Potomac River.

While in America she worked for The New York Times, and The Scotsman, and also wrote for The Washington Post, Woman’s Day, The New York Post, & The Daily Record, and was nominated for the US National Magazine Award by Men’s Health magazine for a feature article on education. She ghost-wrote "Peace, Justice and Power" with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide about the politics and governance of Haiti leading up to and immediately following the US military intervention in Haiti in 1994.

During her time in Washington, she also raised a young family, served as President of the local cooperative nursery school and on the committee of the local Friends of the Park, and acted as a consultant to the US Government authoring oversight reports on programs run by the Department of Energy and Department of State.

Since returning to Scotland, she has worked for Fast Track 100, Richard Branson's UK venture capital index, published in conjunction with Sunday Times Business, to track and promote the fastest growing private companies in Britain, and co-written the Daily Telegraph's Forage Rangers column with her co-author Xa Milne.

Fiona is also actively involved in her community in Scotland. As well as journalism and writing "Seaweed and Eat It" she also recently stood as a candidate for Edinburgh Central in the Scottish parliamentary elections. She is on the executive of the local Friends of the Park group, and also serves on the local community council, and on the board of directors of her son's school. She recently stood as a candidate for Edinburgh Central in the Scottish parliamentary elections.

Born in Dumfries, Scotland, Fiona grew up in Gretna Green, where her family still owns and runs Gretna House Farm and a tourist business, Gretna Green Group, which includes the Old Blacksmith’s Shop.

She was educated in Scotland and at Oxford University (St. Edmund Hall) where she gained a BA Hons in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, (PPE) and an MSc in Management. Upon graduation, she worked as a project executive for Scottish Enterprise in Glasgow.

She is passionate about the Scottish countryside, and when she's not foraging, writing or campaigning, she spends her free time hill walking, canoeing, camping and exploring. She also enjoys dancing and Celtic and World music.