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Evan Strusinski, a food forager, is supplying growing numbers of restaurants with whatever he finds in Maine’s forests, reports Sumathi Reddy in the Wall Street Journal (11/1/10). “I’m finding it in swamps, I’m finding it in bogs,” says Evan. “I’m finding it in rivers, on land, on trees in forests.” What he finds he sends by FedEx to “about a dozen restaurants in Maine,” as well as two in New York.
Typically, he brings back “cattails, pineapple weed, wood sorrel and other offbeat ingredients.” How about some Buffalo berries? On a recent trek he came across several pounds worth of “maitake mushroom at the base of a towering oak tree.” Evan is 38, “is self-trained, acting on instinct and experience.” Originally from Vermont, he says he grew up foraging. “It was like treasure hunting essentially,” he says.
While foraging is “more common in Europe, where the first mushrooms of the season bring families into the forest,” Evan is not without his competitors, either: “Usually I wouldn’t want to be seen strolling into the forest with a basket,” he says. His haul mostly consists of “mushrooms, herbs and sea grasses,” such as “matsutake mushrooms, which are highly prized for many Asian dishes.” Phillip Kirschen-Clark, chef of Vandaag in New York’s East Village, is among Evan’s enthusiasts: “I would kill to get his sea blythe and put it on as a garnish,” he says.
Source: reveries.com