The Most Important Food Lesson I'll Ever Teach My Kids Foraging is an essential skill—for cooking and for living life to the fullest.

food52 ^

[mylife]

I grew up in the middle of the city in Copenhagen, but I found peace in nature. From as early as I can remember, I spent time in the woods and ocean, visiting my grandmother and other relatives on the islands of Fyn, in the Southern part of Denmark. I’d pick herbs from her garden or fish with my uncle and grandfather, the sight and scent and sounds showing me the way.

As a kid, I struggled in school; the more traditional side of academia collided with my energetic, restless boyhood. But in the ever-changing forests or the icy waters of Denmark’s archipelago, I found another type of education. Less theoretical, more tactile. I swore that when I became a father, I would bring my kids into nature. I wanted to instill in them the same type of curiosity and reverence for the land that I was fortunate enough to experience.

As a chef, food plays an integral part in my family’s life. The corners and cupboards of our kitchen are usually filled with jars of preserved apple cores or pickled spruce tops. My kids have grown up seeing and tasting a bounty beyond the city’s commotion. Indeed, there’s a delicious thrill foraging for edible ingredients hidden along the forest carpet or beachside jetties. And through countless excursions, my kids have grown to know the taste of the seasons—spring brings sweet spruce, berries come in summer, mushrooms mark the arrival of fall. We see and savor these fleeting flavors.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I know that actor. Who’s the one on the right?

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Foraging is all well and good, but a small, carefully tended garden is far more efficient. Even apartment-dwellers can grow something.”

I grew up in Brooklyn. Foraging consisted of clamming, fishing, and snails.

[GingisK]

Me too. I brought home scraps of lumber, wire, and rebar from construction sites. Discarded road signs were a great source of sheet metal, particularly the ones made of aluminum. I have filed my through steel cables just to get a rusty old hook.

To this day I dumpster dive at machine shops.

[MayflowerMadam]

“Eat your worms”

Then have Ivermectin for dessert.