Today’s show explores terroir — the flavor of place. Discovering the wild flavors of your local bioregion is a smart and ecologically interactive way to intimately engage with your place and add context to the story of your food. Pascal Baudar — wild food researcher and a self-styled “culinary alchemist” — joins us to share his unique and inspiring niche in the wild food world: wildcrafted terroir.

Based in southern California with access to many different ecosystems (mountain, desert, chaparral, and seashore) and 700+ different wildcrafted ingredients, Pascal is a brazen wild food experimenter who combines his knowledge of plants and his local landscape with the innovative techniques of a master food preserver and chef. Pascal was named one of the 25 most influential tastemakers in L.A. by Los Angeles magazine, and his locally sourced wild ingredients and unique preserves have made their way into the kitchens of such star chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Josiah Citrin, Ari Taymor, Michael Voltaggio, Chris Jacobson and Niki Nakayama. He is the author of The New Wildcrafted Cuisine, an incredible book of culinary concepts and ideas featuring recipes and preservation techniques using a local terroir.

Pascal is here to change how we think about wild food. He invites us to experiment with the wild ingredients in our own local bioregion and shares some examples of how he creatively crafts wild cuisine from the landscape he calls home. You’ll hear the wide variety of uses for wild sage, how he makes his own salt and how he uses insects in his wild ferments. Pascal’s work is rooted in love of place, and I hope he inspires you to infuse more local wild terroir into your own wild food plate.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

Show Introduction:
- Hunt +gather updates: Fishing, free diving and iguana hunting in the Florida Keys
- Q&A: Methods of organizing/recording/searching for your hunting/fishing/foraging spots to go back to in the future
- Teaser about upcoming show on ticks
Introducing Pascal Baudar
Pascal’s niche in the wild food world
What led Pascal to survivalism
Defining terroir
Pascal’s local bioregion and wild food unique to his area
How Pascal uses sage in his dishes
Reflecting on a career in commercial foraging
Insect cuisine
Relationship to stone
Adding context to your food
How to make your own salt
Wildcrafted fermentation
The work behind the wild food plate
Pascal’s educational journey
Making vinegar from fruit flies
Using acorns
Spiritual relationship to wild food
Pascal’s prognosis for the future of the human species

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America’s Indigenous Stimulant is Back! Did you know that Yerba Mate’ has a North American sibling? Yaupon (pronounced yo - pawn)––North America’s only native caffeine plant––was revered by the native peoples of the continent’s southern regions. Nearly forgotten, the “Black Drink” as it was called, has re-emerged amidst the movement toward sustainably-harvested local-food.

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Meet Pascal

Pascal Baudar is a wild food researcher and a self-styled “culinary alchemist” based in Los Angeles. His locally sourced wild ingredients and unique preserves have made their way into the kitchens of such star chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Josiah Citrin, Ari Taymor, Michael Voltaggio, Chris Jacobson and Niki Nakayama

He has served as a wild food consultant for several TV shows including MasterChef and Top Chef Duels. He has been featured in numerous TV shows and publications, including Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, and the New York Times.

In 2014, he was named one of the 25 most influential tastemakers in L.A. by Los Angeles magazine.

In 2015 he wrote the "The New Wildcrafted Cuisine", basically a book of culinary concepts and ideas featuring recipes and preservation techniques using a local terroir.

These days he is focusing on writing and education, exploring creative uses of wild yeast and bacteria for fermentation (lacto-fermentation, etc...), primitive and traditional brewing, old methods of food preservation and traveling to expand his knowledge of plants.