Official Website and Collaborative event @ Latab Restaurant!

Hey everyone!

I've been working hard on building an official website and planning wildcrafting workshops and an intensive wildcrafting weekend in May. Stay tuned for details and have a peek at the website if it piques your interest :-)

MuseumEats is also collaborating with Latab Natural Wine Bar on the third Monday of every month for an evening event to feature some local food talent and wild products. You can learn more about it here. It's a casual affair with not-so-casual products and ideas. Limited reservations available - if you're interested please do come check it out, and bring your thinking cap because we would like to be discussing the direction of the Canadian Food Identity.

That's all for now! Just a little hello and update. I hope your New Year's resolutions are working out (I didn't really make any, except to get shit done - seems like I've been doing it.)

XO Cam

Workshop Update: the Upcoming 2016 Wildcrafting Season

Hi Folks!

We have been receiving lots of friendly emails and PMs on instagram about our Wildcrafting Workshops so wanted to give everyone an idea of the pay structure, curriculum, and sneak peek at our plans for the upcoming 2016 spring season. 


MUSEUMEATS 2016 SPRING WILDCRAFTING WORKSHOPS

Who: Camille Flanjak, director of MuseumEats Food Collections (@agaricusaugustus) is the wild foods consultant for the Acorn Restaurant and supplier to many more. She has certifications in theory, permaculture, wine, and wildcrafting. To learn more about her, check out her profile, listed under "Contributors" in the right hand scroll bar.

In 2016 we will be linking up with several other teachers so that we can expand our focus beyond wild food collection. We've got some truly inspiring and enthusiastic chefs, herbalists, permaculturists, weavers, and plant medicine-makers on board. Stay tuned for their bios and workshop dates.

What: Hands-on, all-day wildcraft training and forest stewardship workshops that happen rain or shine.* These workshops are especially tuned into foodies and service industry professionals who want the ultimate experience of local terroir: to see how native foods express the character of the land and how we can gain food security by learning about natural systems.

Where: Public workshops meet and drop off in East Van in the Safeway parking lot at Broadway Station unless otherwise scheduled.

When: Meet at 9:30 AM to carpool to our spots (driving time may be up to 90 mins). Potluck-style lunch around 1:30 with snacks in between. We aim to arrive back in East Van by 6pm.**

Cost: Wildcrafting Workshops are $50 per person. 

MuseumEats does have a NOTAFLOF policy, so if cost is an issue, you can apply for our mentorship program by emailing Camille at museumeats@gmail.com. We are also hoping to host pay-what-you-can classes that are supported by grants. 

For private/group bookings, enquire at museumeats@gmail.com. 


Registration is only complete upon payment: this is to ensure that we can fill each of the seats available with committed people. For this reason we also cannot offer refunds. If you're registered and not able to attend, please contact us as soon as you know and we will try and fill your seat with folks on the waitlist and get you booked for another date. Because payments include a membership to MuseumEats, your place in a workshop will be valid for one full year until from the date of purchase.

Curriculum: Varies with the type of workshop. For service industry folks, training is geared toward the local food movement and 'terroir,' as well as sustainable harvest, integration of forest food systems in the consideration of menu planning, and how to process wild products into safe, edible foods. 

Every workshop you'll be going home with wild knowledge, medicine, and/or food. Some days we'll provide a pocket knife and booklet, others we'll make tinctures on-site. There's always a surprise goodie or two that Mama Gaia throws in.

Payment options: Once workshop dates are released you may pay via EMT to Camille at museumeats@gmail.com or through paypal. 

As always, stay tuned to our blog for updates on workshop schedules, themes, and special events like our Annual Mushroom Dinner and secret brunches.

*Please come appropriately dressed- gumboots and parkas are encouraged on rainy days, and sunscreen is important on sunny days.
**If you aren't able to bring anything to share for the potluck don't worry. Also, we welcome all kinds of food so if you have any allergies please share this information with facilitators ahead of time.
***IF THERE IS A WAIT LIST for the workshop you'd like to join: In this day and age people do cancel, so the admin at ME will contact you if a space comes available and we promise to be honest and forthright if the list is excessively long or if we think you have a good shot of getting in.

MuseumEats Events, Fall 2015

Here is a list of this season's MuseumEats events as well as the links to their individual pages for details and to make reservations.

This list will be updated regularly with new events, so feel free to check back often. 

For enquiries about private workshops and dinners, please email us at museumeats@gmail.com

September

26 Mushroom ID and Conscientious Collection Workshop

27 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop

28 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (full- service industry folks)

October

4 Growing Chefs Fundraiser

10 Mushroom ID and Conscientious Collection Workshop (full)

11 Mushroom ID and CC in ASL (full)

15 Forager's Feast Potluck (full)

18 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (one spot left)

19 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (full-service industry folks)
25 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (full)

27 Mushroom ID and CC Workshop

November

1  Corpse Reviver Brunch (SOLD OUT)

6  6-Course Mushroom Dinner at the Juice Truck (cancelled)

7  Mushroom ID and CC Workshop (4 spots left)

8  LAST public Mushroom ID and CC workshop of the fall! (FULL)
26 6-course Foraged Slow Food Dinner @ Latab call for reservations: 604-428-7004

Corpse Reviver Brunch @ the Smallflower, November 1st

This is a 100% gluten-free and vegan-friendly brunch put on in collaboration with chef Heather Dosman, MuseumEats' Camille Flanjak, and the Smallflower Cafe & Bakeshop. 

Omnivores do not fret- if you don't have dietary restrictions, there will be omnivore-friendly add-on options!

There will also be cocktails and coffee to revive your corpses from the creepiest of previous evenings. 

Email us at museumeats@gmail.com to reserve your table. Please provide us with the following information when booking:
-how many people
-your contact information including phone number
-any allergies or dietary restrictions
-you choice of mains.
Seating is limited to jump on this one fast :-)

Seatings: 
10 AM
11:30 AM (4 seats left)
1 PM

Menu
$15 plates all vegan and 100% gluten free

Starter: Bloody Fingers

Mains:
Stuffed cauliflower Brains
Bull's Blood Beet
Tempeh, Mushroom and Kale Entrails

Dessert: Finally! You get breakfast dessert with this brunch!

A Few Add-ons:
Pork Belly (this is the real thing) $4
One Egg $3

Join us on the events page on Facebook for menu updates.

Fall Workshop Update

This September MuseumEats Food Collections has been gently harvesting greens, roots, medicine plants and mushrooms and it has already been a generous season. We've also got a couple of Wild Dinners in the works in collaboration with some gifted social activists, chefs, bartenders, restaurateurs, and sommeliers- one is free, another will be coursed and paired with wines, while still others may be held in restaurants, featuring a plethora of mushrooms similar to the Mushroom Masquerade we conducted last year.

We have already hosted around 85 people in this year's Workshop Series and are working to build co-mentorships and community through our facebook page.

If you are interested in what we are doing and love mushrooms and wild herbs, there are some public spots available in our Wildcraft Workshops for October 10, 18, and 19, and open availability for deaf folks and signing allies for October 11th. Please note that the October 11 date will be taught in ASL without interpreters.

To register, either EMT your payment from the sliding scale of $30-60 to museumeats@gmail.com or use the pay pal button below. We do have a No-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds (NOTAFLOF) policy, so if you are keen but money is a barrier, email us and we can work it out.

Sliding Scale Menu

Beneficiary Membership $60.00 CAD Foundation Membership $45.00 CAD At-Cost Membership $30.00 CAD

Workshop Date

Oct 18 Oct 27 Nov 7 Nov 8

None of this amazing, creative, and inspiring stuff would be possible without the people who share our passion. Thank-you so much to everyone who comes with open hearts and minds to build that connection between source and stomach with us.

Camille
MuseumEats
meelsmeals.blogspot.ca

Forager's Feast Potluck!

Looking for someone to share your wildcrafted goodies with? Wanting to learn more about how to cook wild food, build community, and harvest ethically? Want to do this all for FREE?

Here you go.

If you want to join us, make sure you register on eventbrite as soon as possible - seats are limited to 40 people.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/foragers-feast-tickets-18643231407

Sustaining Spirit (feat. Social Yoga and the Sunshine Coast Community Forest)

This weekend was amazing. Social Yoga invited me to lead a workshop on the Sunshine Coast the day before my 30th birthday and the forest had many gifts for us. 

Beautiful cluster of Lepiota Rachodes;
Very typically situated at the edge of the forest in sunflecks

After doing some research, I led the group into the Sunshine Coast Community Forest (SCCF) to discuss stewardship and holistic observation, and to explain why going into the Community Forest is a important thing to do consciously.

Adolescent Deer Skull;
consumed either by bear, coyotes, or mountain lion?

 Not only is this space supposed to be stewarded and sustainably harvested by timber companies, it is also utilized and looked after by the shishalh people for food, medicine, ceremony, and traditions that date back to since forever. Nature bros buzz around on ATVs, coyotes stalk prey in packs, mountain cats leap onto cedar posts from high ground and drag their nails down the length of them, and wildcrafters stumble in awe and amazement into bear dens. 

Smelling Sparassis Crispa before we gratefully harvested it

Without fail, whenever I decide to end a foray, whether with a group or just a friend, and take 'stock' of what we have harvested, something magical appears like the cherry on a sundae. I say this with utmost confidence and wonder. We could actually smell this cauliflower fungus when we first walked into this patch of forest from 25 metres away. It weighed close to 3 pounds.

Camille, probably describing the flavour palette of this fungus
like a mushroom sommelier

Forests are host to many things beyond what the mainstream culture classifies as "nature" and by recognizing this, we may start to understand their value beyond timber. 

Our group of social yogis and our bounty

We stopped along the way home to observe the Culturally Modified Trees in the cedar groves and discussed forest conservation, touching lightly on the Dakota Bowl Bear Sanctuary, which is being occupied by folks concerned about how the SCCF is being managed. 

Amazed at our humongous gift! 

Back at the incredible lodge, we revelled in our finds and practiced doing mushroom spore prints and making tinctures out of oregon grape, turkey tail, and usnea. 

The rest of the weekend was filled with other awesome workshops such as calligraphy, yoga, sourdough bread-making, and DIY self-care. If this kind of retreat is something that interests you, say hello@thesocialyoga.com and Anita will let you know what other fun things she's got planned. 

If you're interested in MuseumEats wildcrafting (what I call "sustainable foraging") workshops, email us at museumeats@gmail.com. 

Waving from beneath boughs of cedar,

Camille
Instagram: @agaricusaugustus
Blog: meelsmeals.blogspot.ca