Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
We blogged about this new market back in October. Now there’s more details about the Asheville Wild Foods Market, which organizers are calling the first wild foods marketplace in the country.
From the website of local “forage to table” expert, Alan Muskat, who seems to be a driving force behind the effort:
This Spring, the first wild foods marketplace in North America is opening in Asheville, North Carolina. This foragers’ clearinghouse will carry wild produce, prepared foods, and preserved foods, just like a tailgate farmers market, but wilder.
The Asheville Wild Foods Market (AWFM) will carry over 75 local wild edibles, many not available anywhere else. AWFM will also stock over 25 wild medicines formulated by Red Moon Herbs, a twenty-year-old, FDA-compliant, Asheville-based company. Affiliated food truck vendors will offer wild mushroom pizza, day lily tamales, nettle quesadillas, black walnut ice cream, sassafras root beer, and more.
Like the mushroom markets of Europe, AWFM will be staffed by experts to ensure proper identification and quality control. Routine testing, courtesy of Bent Creek Institute, will screen for heavy metals and other contaminants. Shoppers may bring in UFOs (Unidentified Fungal Objects) for a free consultation. Introductory “table tours” will be given every half hour, and at 1 pm, there will be a free tour of nearby Carver Park, the first public edible forest garden in the country.
According to Carolina Epicurean, the market will be in the same building as Asheville Fungi at 16 Allen Street in West Asheville, near Small Terrain off of Haywood Road.
More here from Muskat’s website, No Taste Like Home: The Asheville Wild Foods Market
Muskat’s last appearance in Ashvegas was his mushroom-hunting expedition with Andrew Weil, when the famous M.D. visited Asheville last October.
sassafras root beer! YES!!!! Thank you