Take Local Food to the Next Level

with a Forage-To-Table Wedding

forage to table adventure tourism

Green Bride Guide
October 3rd, 2014

 

Ready to go WILD? Twenty-year old, Asheville-based ecotour company, No Taste Like Home, takes you or your wedding guests “out to eat” — outside, that is. Participants are led by expert guides “off the eaten path.” They hunt and gather wild mushrooms, plants, and other extreme cuisine. Half of their “catch of the day” is prepared in the field for a wild tasting. The other half is transformed that evening by a local fine restaurant or catering company into fine dining.

No Taste Like Home is the only forage-to-table company in the country. They have been ranked one of the five best gift experiences by Southern Living and one of Fodor’s ten best food experiences in the world. For wild, wild weddings, the company takes fearless families foraging while one of several catering partners prepares wild-themed meals for the big day.

woman holding wild mushrooms

Forage-to-table dining could not be greener. “Being ultra-local, wild food saves transportation costs and cuts back on the pollution associated with growing food commercially,” founder Alan Muskat explained.

blue mushroom

The big surprise is that foraging is easy and appropriate for all ages and abilities. An intro e-book is included and all equipment is provided. Available year-round, seven days a week, it’s Survivor meets Iron Chef meets your wedding in what Travel+Leisure calls the “Quirkiest Town in America.” They have packages with several hotels, bed and breakfasts, and inns around Asheville, including Sourwood Inn, The Wright Inn, Laughing Frog Estate, Aloft, and starting this spring, Old Edwards Inn, one of the top two resorts in the country and one of the top 25 in the world.

Picking flowers for a local wedding

While forage to table is certainly not for every couple, even if you don’t want to forage for your wedding dinner, you might enjoy a foraging honeymoon package. This is one example of how an experiences registry can result in a one-in-a-lifetime memory. Harvey and Lena Levy went out for their honeymoon last fall. Afterward, they wrote: “Our day foraging was a highlight of our two-week honeymoon.”

bride and groom kiss behind a mushroom

These trips also make awesome bachelor party alternatives. As one groom said of his trip last year, “I figured we’d go strip — some bark.” Here is the bounty he, and his best friends found:

wild mushroom haul

So while you are thinking about local menus, why not think about what is available in your own backyard – it could be delicious!

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