30 November 2013

F is for FORAGE

Forage is the new black of the food world. Leading chefs around the planet were the first to alert us to the possibilities of finding food in the wild. They put all sorts of weird and wonderful things both familiar and unfamiliar on their menus.

So it was with great delight I accepted an invitation last week to judge the inaugural Whangaripo Valley Wild Food & Forage Festival. It was astonishing just what the locals, who came from the valleys and hills behind Matakana and Pakiri, found to make dishes for the competition.

There were few rules; just turn up with plates of your most wild imaginative food for tasting, put your fears aside and have fun. The official festival kicked off in the Whangaripo Valley Hall where tables were set up for the displays while outside families relaxed in the shade of marquees, listening to an all girl band, watching over the kids’ organized fun competitions and sipping local Leigh Sawmill beers and Lothlorien wines. Buffalo burgers and goat sausages were served from smoky barbecues.

As the official judge I ate my way through all manner of astonishingly tasty treats, and now know there’s plenty of food talent in them thar hills! Pukeko, peacock, wild rabbit, eel, wild boar, wild deer, freshly caught fish and more were fashioned into pies, sausages, pates and salamis. Wild plants from fennel, nasturtiums, berries, honeysuckle, wild roses and samphire found their way into some fantastic treats.

The winners included honeysuckle sorbet in a honeysuckle ice bowl, seedy oat crackers with pickled beetroot, smoked eel and nasturtium salsa, wild fennel scones with mulberry jam and cream, wild boar balls(!) and nasturtium ice cream on seedy shortbread. I wish I could have awarded more prizes as every single item was so imaginative.

Well done to the clever organizers and roll on 2014.