What better way to engage in local produce than by foraging? Have you too walked over a field and wondered whether the flower, herb or root growing wildly right under your nose is edible?
Well the Danes have, and their proposal is so simple it’s crazy nobody thought of it sooner. Last December Copenhagen’s City Council resolved to introduce free, city-wide munchies: public fruit trees. Planting local edibles from blackberry bushes to apple trees across the city’s greenery. The urban orchard initiative blossomed as a renewed interest in foraging spearheaded by non other than chef René Redze of famed Noma restaurant. The movement is today known as the New Nordic Cuisine, and it has cultivated a national appreciation for local produce.
“It’s the ultimate way to experience the nature they’re in: to taste it”—René Redzepi
Wild foods could be growing right under your nose, ready to be foraged. But our contemporary society has blinded us from this knowledge. Enter: Vild Mad app, the Danish app designed to identify local produce and offer alternative albeit local recipes to pair.
Are the Danes at the cusp of a natural consciousness? Industrial agriculture, mono-crops and supermarkets have alienated us from our natural surroundings. It is high time we woke up and created more natural ways of living: natural cities.
