Harvest of Taste

Chefs and food connoisseurs the world over are dipping into foraging sojourns at home and aborad for a relishing back-to-nature experience
chef VICKY RATNANI
chef VICKY RATNANI

Next time you raise a toast to vodka with hints of elderflower, savour the special handpicked floral inclusion. Much like tender pickled pine shoots that bring in the tartish accent. Masterchefs and food lovers alike are gathering food in the wild to reconnect with nature.A taste of the earthy and the unexplored is what this brings to your plate. Chef Rohan D’souza recently uncovered a realm of exciting finds during his trip to Copenhagen. “In Scandinavian countries, certain fruits like the reindeer berry make an appearance for only a couple of weeks, owing to the extreme temperatures. Cloudberries were a golden find in the Nordic region: tastes like raspberry, visually a showstopper. They make for a fabulous inclusion in winter dessert recipes,” he says. 

“It was so simple: cooking with fresh, locally
available ingredients.” 
Chef Amninder Sandhu

Recently Chef Vicky Ratnani went to Nagaland, and to Goa as well to ferret out the relatively unknown for possible inclusions in his dishes. “I accompanied a group of bartenders to Goa and came away with pretty cool finds. They used the booty in mixology and I made use of the uncommon herbs in my dishes.”

What’s the most fascinating aspect about these serendipity-driven journeys? “The love of the unknown that you may chance upon something undiscovered is always thrilling,” confesses Chef Prateek Sadhu. Born in Kashmir, he goes on annual foraging treks in Ladakh. “Last year, we stumbled upon fresh lavender. This year, we came across cloudberries, that we thought were specific to the Nordic region. That is the beauty of foraging. A few years back we found sour plum. Kashmiri cuisine never had tomatoes as an ingredient so this was often used as a souring agent,” he adds.  

But isn’t the concept of foraging journeys a bit glamorised? Forget chancing upon meaty morels (read the wild prized guchchi from Kashmir) and selling them for a whopper to Michelin-starred restaurants, that easily. Haven’t all of us dipped into what was around us and readily available to cook up our own concoctions? Says Chef Amninder Sandhu. “Having been brought up in Jorhat in Assam, I remember going with my siblings and our uncle into the forests, plucking herbs, catching fish from the river, and then cooking it there on a makeshift bonfire. My uncle used to marinate the trout and shove it inside 
the bamboo we picked up there. It was so simple: cooking with fresh, locally available ingredients.”

Talking about the evolution of foraging Chef D’souza recalls, “These days foraging has been romanticised as a marketing concept. We would bank on the Mandovi river in Goa for fresh finds in oysters and clams during my childhood. Then there are vegetables specific to the Western Ghats that make for brilliant flavours. The kanntam is a fabulous berry that is foraged along the ribs of the Ghats from thorny bushes. It looks a lot like blueberry, and is black on the outside and white on the inside.” 

But Chef Rahul Akerkar is quick to point out, “Going into the countryside, the woods, charting unknown territory in search of edibles is foraging. You need to go out into the wild unmapped area a la Robinson Crusoe to come up with something. Going to smaller markets to pick up obscure finds is sourcing.” So, the next time you nibble on the karaunda (tart pinkish white taut berry) plucked from its thorny bush on the outskirts of Lucknow or scoop up slugs by the bucketfuls from your slushy backyard in London or relish the tartish chutney made from seasonal find kachri (wild cucumber) in Rajasthan, rejoice in your mini harvest. 

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