Forage for Your Food

US. News Travel
July 19th, 2017

An adventure awaits in the lush forests and Blue Ridge Mountains in the Asheville area. Alan Muskat offers what is known to be the country’s first forage-to-table experience and has been taking adventurous guests into the woods since 1995 to gather their own food for dinner. His company, No Taste Like Home, has been featured in many magazines and television shows, including a segment on “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” in 2009.

Muskat has seen a dramatic increase in business over recent years, especially since he’s partnered with several restaurants in Asheville, where guests can drop off their wild catches of the day and the chef will prepare a complimentary dish to start their evening’s meal. “The best way to get a real ‘taste’ of a place is to eat what’s truly local to it; that means what grows there wild,” Muskat says.

This concept has become so popular, acclaimed chef Katie Button of Heirloom Hospitality Group, has partnered with Muskat and is now hosting a monthly foraging and dinner series called “Gathering Asheville” at Nightbell where guests can forage earlier in the day or attend the evening’s dinner or sign up to experience both.