René Redzepi and the team at MAD have released a foraging app, as part of their three-pronged Vild Mad initiative to teach the people of Denmark how to forage, a skill the Noma chef says is as important as maths, reading and writing.
Announcing the launch at yesterday’s special #50BestTalks event in Barcelona to mark the 15th anniversary of the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, Redzepi made light of his reputation as the foraging poster boy, but revealed how foraging had not only helped propel Noma to the top of said list on four separate occasions, but as an immigrant to Denmark from Macedonia, had helped him feel a "connection to place."
Vild Mad, meaning ‘Wild Food’ in English, has been in the pipeline for three years and is something we reported on in its early stages. The app part, which is available in both English and Danish, will instruct you on how and when to forage and which plants to look out for and avoid, “a resource for reading and understanding the [Danish] landscapes, how to find wild food, and an inspiration for using wild edibles in the kitchen,” they say.
This sits alongside a specially designed curriculum for Danish school children and a programme of workshops across Denmark staffed by “foraging rangers,’ to encourage everyone to get out there and start exploring. There will also be a special free Vild Mad foraging festival in Denmark in late August it's been announced. Redzepi hopes the initiative will serve as a model to others all over the world.
Recent Noma pop-up ventures have seen Redzepi exploring the indigenous ingredients of both Australia and Mexico, and the food world awaits to see what’s in store at Noma 2.0, slated to open in Copenhagen later this year. Here's what's happening at the old site.
Watch a video introducing Vild Mad below.
All images: Vil Mad
Introducing VILD MAD from madfeed.co on Vimeo.
