A New Wildcrafted Cuisine

I've always been fascinated by traditional food preservation techniques. Over the years I've researched and experimented with most of them such as lacto fermentation, making  vinegars,  alcoholic fermentation and creating ancestral wines, beers, meads and similar boozy concoctions.  Most people are not aware of it but you have over 40 ancient food preservation techniques which are not commonly used in modern times but yet, from a modern food safety perspective, are valid methods and each one can create new interesting flavors. 

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I think what makes me different is the fact that, over the years, I've ended up creating a unique cuisine that is based on those food preservation techniques applied to wild edibles. I don't think of myself as a chef but as a food preserver. 

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One of my obsession is to study and research the flavors of an environment and thus create dishes, condiments and drinks that are a true reflection of the modern (wild) terroir.  

 

I'm also fascinated with the possibility to create a cuisine that is not only sustainable but actually beneficial to the environment. Most of those edible plants I use are often considered invasive and non-native.  To get rid of them, the solution is to spray chemicals or destroy them but yet, many of those plants are often crops in different countries. In the Los Angeles area, the biggest food waste is probably not utilizing those resources.