Forbes Wild Foods: Foraging for Flavour
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.28.06
While foraging for posts at the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, we came across Forbes Wild Foods and sampled some birch and cedar jelly; We were instantly transported north to the forest, the tastes were so strong, so evocative, so different. We learned that Forbes hires hundreds of "trained pickers who practice sustainable harvesting methods – sustainable for that particular plant species, but also sustainable for the pickers, whose livelihood is supported by a thriving source of wild foods, and sustainable for other wildlife. The pickers are usually residents of rural or remote communities who respect the lands that support them. They are Aboriginal people, women, youth, and farmers. Only those wild foods whose survival is not in danger are used." and remarkable stuff it is.
"By their very nature, all our wild foods are organic. The only additives we use to preserve them are other foods: cider vinegar, organic sugar, or fruit pectin. None of our wild foods are subject to artificial colours or preservatives, herbicides, pesticides, irradiation, or created as a result genetic engineering. They are products of nature alone."
Another amazing taste were the spruce tips- "made from the tender new shoots of the eastern white spruce." which we learn are also the essential ingredient in the Canadian martini. We sampled Birch syrup, which tasted more like soy sauce than anything else, but was really a whole new taste.
Everything we tasted here was new, different and extraordinary. The fact that it is local, natural and providing jobs for hundreds of indigenous people is wonderful. ::Forbes Wild Foods via ::One of a Kind
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