A few years ago my wife, Janet and I were at the farmer’s market on Biscayne when a young woman walked up to me and asked if I was Norman Van Aken. I nodded yes. She said, ‘Good. Can you wait a minute? I want to give you a book I helped write”. She returned with a small, paperback book titled, “Forager: A Subjective Guide to Miami’s Edible Plants”. She co-wrote the book with George Echevarria and Nick Vagnoni. Her name is Tiffany Noe. I took the book home and soon was inspired to learn what these spirited young, urban foragers were doing. Taking a cue from others around the world who realize the fragile nature of our Mother Earth’s resources is not something we should take for granted and see as infinite. I was touched by their quest to find what is hyper local and hyper seasonal. We know this activity has been part of the extraordinary interest the groundbreaking restaurant “Noma” in Copenhagen has engendered. The website, “The World’s Best 50 Restaurants” put it this way. “The original Noma was, undoubtedly, one of the most important restaurants of its generation, with his food Chef René Redzepi developed a new genre of cuisine. New Nordic, (as it is termed) looks back to look ahead; digging deeper than seasonality to explore unsung foraged products.
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Now it’s time to hit the ‘Listen on WLRN’ button at the top to hear the remainder of my show. ‘A Word On Food’ airs on WLRN every Saturday around 8:30 a.m. at 91.3 and also 91.5 on the radio. I want to thank so many of you who tell me in person how much you are enjoying the show! Please check out my Instagram photos and my new IG TV cooking videos @normanvanaken