Rene Redzepi launches foraging app
The chef unveiled Vild Mad, which is Danish for ‘wild food’, at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 15th anniversary celebrations in Barcelona this week.
The app, which is available for free in both Danish and English, teaches users how to find, harvest and cook wild produce from waterways, forests and cities.
It is part of a wider programme, launching in August, which includes a curriculum to teach Danish children about foraging, and free guided workshops across Denmark led by 50 nature rangers.
Foraging was key to Noma’s menu and helped the Copenhagen site top the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list three times from 2010-14.
Dishes famously used ingredients sourced from nearby forests and shores, including live ants.
Vild Mad is something of a passion project for Redzepi, who has been working on the app alongside his non-profit organisation MAD for the past four years.
“It is an amazing feeling to distill 14 years of knowledge and energy in to something that is open to the public,” says Redzepi.
“Imagine if our kids were able to stroll through the wild and pluck things like we do off supermarket shelves?
“If our kids are enriched by nature, if they see how much we depend upon it, and if they grow up loving it, then they will fight to take care of it."
Though the curriculum and workshops will initially only be available in Denmark, Redzepi hopes they will serve as inspiration for other countries.
Vild Mad is currently available for free in the App Store and Google Play.
