Foraged Food: Gimmick or the height of chic?

We think: wild food rocks

This summer, acclaimed UK chef Simon Rogan opened Fera at Claridge’s, London. The premise – to ‘capture the true essence of nature through its textures, tastes and sense of perpetual evolution’. But what is wild or foraged food? Is it worth it? Or are we just paying hundreds of pounds for a weird mushroom?

There’s a jar on the table in front of me. Inside is lettuce, a lemon creme fraiche, and five or six ants. Yes, ants. This isn’t a case of a fly in the soup, these insects are supposed to be here. It is summer 2012 and this is foraged food at pop-up restaurant A Taste of Noma at Claridge’s.

The ants have in fact come all the way from Denmark, shipped in by world number one chef Rene Redzepi to add a lemongrass taste to the starter. I am less than convinced. They are moving…

Ok, so the ants are at the extreme of the foraged / wild food movement, but the philosophy itself has been attracting acclaim and criticism in equal measures. This summer Claridge’s embraced it again, permanently, with Simon Rogan’s Fera. 

So what is foraged food? It isn’t just a few weeds picked in a wood and slapped onto a plate. The philosophy stretches further than that. It is about local ingredients, farmed and wild, picked in their prime. It’s about exploring historic and underused foods to create new tastes and new experiences. And despite the foams and jellies that pop up now and again, it’s the antithesis of the fussy French cooking that blighted the nineties.

And right now, it is hot. Simon Rogan’s flagship restaurant, L’Enclume in Cartmel, Yorkshire, was voted Britain’s best restaurant in the Good Food Guide for the second year running. Fera claimed a Michelin star just four and a half months after opening. Noma is still number one on the San Pellegrino ‘World’s50 Best Restaurants’ list.

But is it worth it? A seven-course tasting menu at Fera will set you back £95 (without wine). Think: John Dory with leeks, crosnes, borage and rotor clams, or aerated rose hip mousse, anise hyssop, sweet potato and white chocolate… At Noma it’s about £170 for a lengthy tasting menu including cured egg yolk potato and elderflower or flatbread with wild roses. It’s hyper-local and foraged, but this isn’t your grandma’s hedgerow jam. We’re not just talking about an oddly shaped mushroom orb ancient berry, we are looking at carefully considered dishes, using some familiar and some unheard-of ingredients. Redzepi’s turbot is accompanied by nasturtium; Rogan pairs prawns from Gairloch with kale in hyssop cream and crispy pork. The ants at the Noma pop-up felt gimmicky, but the rest of the menus are wild ingredients beautifully integrated into Michelin-worthy dishes.

And yes, you could find them yourself. If you knew where to look. Rogan, Redzepi and the like aren’t just fishing about in their back yards and cooking the first thing they come across, they are reaching out to expert suppliers, relying on generations of knowledge that ensures they have the best ingredients at the best time. Exploring forgotten flavours and taking the time to investigate, test and innovative with these ancient ingredients. And taking the time to find local suppliers. A prawn might just be a prawn, but to these chefs, its provenance and proximity are essential to the final taste of the dish.

Saying that foraged food is just food that anyone can collect is like saying that Michelin-starred food just uses ingredients from the supermarket. Maybe it does. So why do we bother eating it - why go out for dinner at all except to save on the washing up?

It is the experience. The magic of new flavours, new combinations and textures. It makes you think about what you are eating and where it came from. The selection of those ingredients and the artistry that goes into their preparation and combination creates that magic. Wild food is more than just choosing the best of available ingredients and having the imagination to turn them into something mouth watering. It is research, passion; it demonstrates a real affinity for, and love of, the landscape around you. And it inspires this in other people.

The wonder of Fera, Noma etc isn't just the dishes, but it is thinking behind them. These dishes are made from things that grow outside - be that flora or fauna. It makes you wonder at the bounty of nature we have on our doorstep. And that is the real magic.

(In case you’re wondering. I didn’t eat the ants. But I am reliably informed they were delicious.)

Is foraged food a fad? Would you eat at Fera? How important are locally sourced ingredients to you? Let us know in the comments.