Eco-Friendly Foraging - Plants Walk / Wild Food Tasting & Drinks

Eco-Friendly Foraging - Plants Walk / Wild Food Tasting & Drinks

Learn local edible and medicinal plants and we'll enjoy a wild feast and drinks after the plants identification hike.

By Pascal Baudar

Date and time

Saturday, May 4 · 10am - 1:30pm PDT

Location

Reptacular Ranch

8828 Gold Creek Road Sylmar, CA 91342

Refund Policy

Contact the organizer to request a refund.
Eventbrite's fee is nonrefundable.

About this event

Want to learn about edible plants and help the environment in the process? Did you know what we are surrounded by wild edible plants and most of them are non-native to Los Angeles and often invasive?

Very often the same plants are crops in some other countries and yet, locally, the solution is to spray them with chemicals or waste this incredible food resource by uprooting and throwing it away. So sad when you realize that a recent study from the University of California Berkeley identified 52 edible weeds growing in abundance in the poorest neighborhoods of San Francisco. At least six of them were found to be more nutritious than kale, according to that study. Guess what, we'll find most of those nutritious plants during our walk. So let's look at an option that will help the environment, reduce the use of chemicals in nature and nourish us in the process.

In this class, you'll learn about the countless local plants that you can use for food, many of them can be found in your backyard and are considered weed. .

We will walk in the local forest (private property in the Angeles Forest), identify and talk about the culinary and medical uses of those plants. The walk is around 1 1/2 hours, very slow with lots of stops to talk about and collect the plants. We'll also talk about native plants, their uses and which ones you could plant at home.

Wild food is gourmet food! After the class you will be served delicious snacks and drinks featuring the plants we saw during our walk. A true wild cuisine!

Long pants is a good idea - We have poison oak in the area.

The walk will occur rain or shine (We love rain!). Don’t forget to bring water if it’s hot that day.

Location:

We meet in front of a place called Reptacular

8828 Gold Creek Rd, Sylmar, CA 91342

Don’t enter the main gate, keep driving on the road for 25 yards and you’ll see me (old guy with white hair).

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Biography

 

Pascal Baudar is a writer, naturalist and a self-styled “culinary alchemist” based in Los Angeles.  His passion is to study wild edibles and research new culinary uses through ancient and traditional methods of food preservation as well as contemporary cooking techniques.  He also did the Master Food Preserving / Food Safety Advisor program at the University of California in 2011.

 

From 2011 to 2014, his truly unique preserves, drinks and various wildcrafted condiments made their way into the kitchens of such star chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Josiah Citrin, Ari Taymor, Michael Voltaggio, Chris Jacobson, Matthew Biancaniello (Eat Your Drinks) and Niki Nakayama (N/Naka restaurant)

 

He has served as a wild food consultant for several TV shows including MasterChef and Top Chef Duels. He has been featured in numerous TV shows and publications, including Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, and the New York Times.

 

In 2014, he was named one of the 25 most influential tastemakers in L.A. by Los Angeles magazine and in 2017 as offering one of the most innovative culinary classes.

 

He is the author of 4 bestselling books - The New Wildcrafted Cuisine (2016) , The Wildcrafting Brewer (2018), Wildcrafted Fermentation (2020) and Wildcrafted Vinegars (2022). He is presently working on a new book related to edible wild seeds and grains.

 

His next project is related to using wildcrafting and art as tools to explore environmental issues by focusing on invasive and noxious plants with the concept of making food part of the solutions being offered - Not just herbicides or throwing away the resources (food waste).

 

 

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