Combining the thrill of the hunt with the earthy pleasures of local free food, it’s no wonder the world’s trendsetting chefs, from René Redzepi at Noma in Copenhagen (noma.dk) to Antonin Bonnet at the Greenhouse in London, are using foragers to bring the local environment to your plate. Modish foraging courses combined with cookery classes are mushrooming, too.
‘Wildman’ Steve Brill (wildmanstevebrill.com) believes food foraging connects people to the environment. He runs food forages throughout New York for an £8 donation, and his free food finds include edible trees, herbs and berries.
On the outskirts of Copenhagen, chef-restaurateur Jan Friis-Mikkelsen, of Ting Garden Inn (tinggarden.dk), is an old hand at food foraging, and runs one-day courses that combine forest hunts and cookery lessons from £125.
Deep in the Auvergne, France, Harry Lester, who set up London’s Anchor & Hope gastropub, runs fungi foray and berry foraging culinary weekends at his idyllic small hotel, Auberge de Chassignolles (aubergedechassignolles.com). Doubles from £50 a night.
Self-styled Man of the Woods Raoul van den Broucke shows weekenders at the Foxhunter pub (thefoxhunter.com) in Monmouthshire, UK, how to sustainably harvest free food in the form of wild garlic, ceps and samphire on the banks of the Severn. Afterwards chef Matt Tebbutt cooks up a feast with the spoils. From £375.
Darina Allen of Ballymaloe House (ballymaloe.ie), a restaurant and country house close to Cork, Ireland, runs occasional classes rustling up nettle soup, elderberry jellies, damson jam, tasty salads from green and red orach, comfrey fritters and rosehip syrup. The next food foraging class is 26 September 2009 and costs £165.
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Find out how British Airways is going local with this season's inflight meals.
