Muir Woods
San Francisco Bay Area, California
 |
| Sequoia Gigantium, Coast Redwoods |
 |
View of the Pacific Ocean, Top of
Dipsea Trail (Stinson Beach, CA) |
I just returned from a journey back to my second home where I'd lived until recently for 13 years, and fell in love all over again. The Bay Area, rampant with an amazing food culture built on international flavors, local and sustainable sourcing of food products, popup restaurants, and people focused on start ups, is inspired by its mediterranean climate and the beauty of the natural world, so visible and tangible at every corner. During my ten days there I enjoyed some gorgeous food in Oakland and San Francisco (see the Cibo Menu for food and places not to be missed) but it didn't stop there. I had two back-to-back days of long, magical hikes in the North Bay that were also marked with beautiful meals. My first day, a friend and I ventured on an 8 mile hike that wove us through ancient redwoods, meandering streams with little waterfall rivulets, rocky inclines, and a coastal view overlooking Stinson Beach, that ended in a lovely coast-inspired fish meal. The next day I ventured on a shorter 4 mile hike deep in the heart of the redwoods and outlying chapparal trails. This hike took a lot longer, because it was infused with some beautiful picnicking along the way, and this is where the idea of a
food forest twirled around in my thoughts.
Food Forest is a term prominently discussed in
permaculture, a design model focused on living and growing according to nature's design (one resource serving multiple uses, layering of vegetation like under a forest canopy, etc.) These hikes served to not only reinforce in my senses my love of the natural world that is always so tangible, but they also reminded me of how little we urbanites know about what is edible in the natural world around us.
 |
| Parasitic funghi |
Of course, what readily comes to mind when thinking of food found in forests is mushrooms. Encountering many different types along our path, I was reminded of one of my long-time aspirations to one day be able to follow a micologist into the woods and learn how to recognize and harvest edible mushrooms. As I was pointing out some random ones out there at the base of some of the ferns and redwoods, my friend told us how when she moved to San Francisco more than a decade ago she lived with friends who would harvest psychedelic mushrooms in Golden Gate Park... probably propagating themselves naturally from spores planted in the late 1960s when the psychedelic movement was born.
 |
| Lichen, lace of the Forest |
There are more subtle features in our declining forests that are equally as edible as mushrooms- such as one of my favorite natural specimens that I have set my eyes on- lichen. Closely related to its more popular counterpart, moss, lichen is the mysticism and sensuality of the forest come alive. Like the rhythmic movement of a woman's long hair flowing off her back as she moves on the dance floor, beckoning you to want to touch it, lichen drapes off of the most inconspicuous branch, concealing the identity of a tree from top to bottom with its mysterious yet gentle strands. Not only is lichen a great source for moisture in the forest, it can also be prepared and eaten much like kelp or algae from the ocean.
 |
Sicilian Cardaroon Cookies: Our own
woodland truffles. |
 |
| Picnic in the Redwoods |
Like most people who venture into the forest, we packed our own food supply. While we shared and ate under the redwood canopy and along the stream with lichen draped above us, we noticed how some of the food we brought was unintentionally inspired by our natural environment. We enjoyed fresh avocadoes and walnut bread (black walnuts trees being quite prominent in Bay Area backyards and woods), and gorgeous, creamy yet stinky La Tur cheese, a combination of sheep, cow, and goat milk from the mountains of Northern Italy. We then enjoyed two wonderful desserts that look like they were born out of the forest habitat that surrounded us- serpentine shaped Sicilian homemade pastry called "Cose Duche" or "sweet things", filled with nuts and dates, and another pastry to be saved midway into our hike on the forest floor next to soothing water, Sicilian 'Cardaroons'. As I ate these heavenly creations my friend Micaela made from her great-aunt's recipe, I couldn't help but notice how they reminded me of truffles, those highly sought-after specimens that are hunted by keen noses of wild pigs and dogs throughout the natural environments of culinary paradises such as France and Italy. And here I leave you, with the recipe Micaela has shared with me. These macaroons fared very well alongside a thermos of
Choice Tea Organic Japanese Twig tea, made from the branches of the tea plant- no sweeteners needed. Enjoy!
Sicilian Cardaroons:
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 egg white
1/2 a banana
1/4 cup sugar
1 teasp flour
1/4 tea sp baking powder
1/8 tea sp salt
1/2 tea sp vanilla
1/2 tea sp ground cardamon
optional
2 oz dark chocolate
1/2 tablespoon butter or veg oil of any type
DIRECTIONS
Mash banana in mixing bowl and add egg white and mix
Add sugar, salt, vanilla, and cardamon and mix
Add coconut, flour and baking powder and mix
Use a table spoon to scoop up and mold the mixture into mounds, press lightly with hand until it holds together but don't squeeze or they will become too dense
Bake at 350 deg for 15 min until the edges are medium brown
Cool on a plate or parchment paper
Melt the chocolate and oil together in a small pyrex or stainless steel bowl over heating water. Then dip each macaroon half way and place back on plate/paper to cool.
Makes about one dozen
(Thanks Micaela!)
