Kevin Cossowan isn't going to the supermarket to find ingredients for dinner.
Instead, he searches for wild animals in his community, about 100 kilometers north of Edmonton, and in the woodlands he owns in the Tawatineau River valley north of Rochester.
“I truly believe that the way we connect people to nature is through our mouths,” says the wild food guide and filmmaker.
Kossowan says her Edmonton home incorporates “a ton of foraged wild foods.”
“Any mushrooms we eat at home are going to be ones I've grown. We have way too many wild mushrooms in our pantry. And any fruit we eat is either fruit that's grown in our yard or fruit that's grown here (on our Rochester property),” he told CTV News Edmonton.
“Our food system is heavily influenced by this.”
Cossowan offers cooking classes in a wild atmosphere for those who want to value natural ingredients.
“Typically, all ingredients can be used in either drinks, savory dishes, or desserts, so we usually brainstorm how birch can be used and can be used in all of those places. ” he said.
Cossowan is part of the documentary series From the Wild, which follows people learning about nature while discovering adventurous new flavors.
“I think people are generally surprised that there is so much to eat here,” he says.
This part of Alberta is home to foraging fiddler crabs, brown onions, hazelnuts, and roses.
People from all over Canada travel to the region to learn from Cotsowan and taste the different flavors of Alberta's different regions.
He says he feels “From the Wild” has “changed the way people look at wild foods nationally.”
“I think people understand that it's not new, it's the default and it's something that can express where you are,” Kosowan said.
“For example, when you're in the Rocky Mountains, you have a lot of different tree species and your gin is supposed to have juniper in it, but here there's no juniper, so the flavor of that drink could be more spruce-y or tamarack-y.” There is a sex…
“Each small region of the state has its own unique flavor profile, and I think we've been able to highlight that, and in my opinion, that's where the cuisine should go.”
Through each class and every ingredient discovered, he hopes foraging will connect people with food.
“As someone who gardens a lot, it's similar to the connection to food and attachment that you get when you create something of your own choosing and share it with the important people in your life,” Kosowan says. said.
“In nature, you can actually just walk around and pick out what nature is doing. And you don't have to be an expert in planting seeds, you can just go to a lottery and pick out seeds. Start to understand. Let's bring the fiddleheads home today…
“This is a really powerful thing to wrap your head around the fact that the Earth is constantly producing food, even though our understanding of what to do with it is quite limited. , once you understand it, you realize that there is a kind of food everywhere.”