Tasting Lab – week 3
Foraged foods, and dishes with local eggs

The food presented to the class had four different components. We had a salad that included many foraged greens. Brown rice, our staple food that we usually have.  Crepes made with a local neighbor’s cage free eggs. Tea included with the meal was made out of chocolate mint and licorice fern, harvested off of mossy trees. And Quiche, made with careful foraging and considerations.
Katherine was very kind to be able to share all of these delicious dishes with the class.
For more specifics the food, ingredients are listed below:
Quiche: Yard eggs, wild carrot, morel mushrooms, wild onion, garden kale, garden rosemary, garden oregano, butter
Crepes: Yard eggs, salt, butter, milk, baking soda
Family Sauce: (To eat with crepes) Rhubarb from the garden, local honey
Salad: Kale from garden, wild carrots, wild onions, chives, oregano, rosemary, dead-nettles, dandelion greens,
Salad Dressing: Cousin-honey, amino-acids, apple-cider vinegar, wild carrots, oregano.

The question that was presented to us was to consider having a meal from wild crafting vs. buying food from the store. Why would people automatically trust buying similar products from a store than foraging for the food themselves?
Without consciously realizing it, people will rely on grocery stores and trust they are buying a quality product without paying much attention to where it comes from. Yet similarly, one may have concerns about putting trust into someone in regards to wild foraging. When foraging, one has to trust their own or someone else’s knowledge that the food they will be eating is not something that will make them sick. The example here, was that wild carrot and poison hemlock look very similar. Yet one will make a person sick, and the other can be added to a meal for a delicious taste and nutritional value. By consciously paying attention to the foods being harvested and taking time and consideration when foraging, you can learn to correctly identify the actual foods, and learn the details between a real and “fake” of that plant.
After the meal, the class was able to go on a walk and see some more of these greens such as the purple dead nettle and miner’s lettuce which grows abundantly throughout campus, including the Evergreen woods, the farm trail, on the organic farm and also on the Community Gardens, as well as Demeter’s Garden.