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Traveling into the wilderness, outdoor expert Les Stroud forages for wild edibles and chef Paul Rogalski turns them into culinary delights.
2022
Early spring in wine country presents challenges with regard to foraging.
Foraging some stinging nettle; combining newly foraged items with domestic ingredients.
Les Stroud comes across a large patch of spring beauty while hiking in a coniferous forest; secret ingredient.
Exploring harvesting opportunities while at a remote fishing lodge in the Pacific Northwest; rainbow trout and fiddleheads.
While still at the remote fishing lodge, Les tasks Paul to focus on one ingredient, which proves to be a good thing as the team finds themselves with interesting company both at the lodge and at Paul’s impromptu outdoor kitchen.
Les shares his sugar shack and syrup-making expertise with Paul while gifting him a familiar and favorite foraged ingredient. The sweet results are created with fire.
Legendary comedian Ron James joins the team in harvesting a key ingredient for Paul’s culinary challenge. Rest assured, nothing fishy was going on as Les gifts Paul a red-colored syrup that is simply delicious. Trout lily and sumac are on the counter. Paul listens to Ron’s thoughts on his creations.
RV camping has its pleasures. Les & Paul hike a familiar area close by and get dirty, gathering a Wild Harvest staple, and Les introduces a new tree flavor to the mix. Paul’s RV camp cookery provides an exciting twist on a classic soup and dessert.
Set in the area around Paul’s cousin’s cottage, Les and Paul focus on one indecent, at two different stages of growth. Paul reminisces about his past while cooking dinner. Les makes a cocktail. The team is surprised at the results of their experiments.
Les forages the ocean side with ethnobotanist Fiona Hamersley Chambers. The surprise they gathered, combined with items from Fiona’s farm, presents some colorful ingredients for Paul to work with.
Special guest Fiona Hamersley Chambers guides the group to tidal pools where they responsibly harvest flavors of the pacific. Later, The Wild Harvest team enjoys a beachside RV and campsite, including Paul’s experimentation kitchen.
While visiting Belize, Les & Paul lodge on an Aggressor live aboard dive boat & meet corporate Chef Ed Mendoza, Les capitalizes on the opportunity to do some freediving & beach exploration. Paul brings Ed into his culinary challenge. Ed brings Paul into his on-deck kitchen. The tandem surprises Les with their collaborative creations, including a cacao-based hot sauce.
Wild harvesting takes place in the sea and on land. Les does his part to cull the exploding lionfish population in the Caribbean Sea. A curveball ingredient from Les’s pantry and a kitchen on the beach get Chef Paul and guest chef Vanessa Matute’s creative thoughts flowing.
Behind an urban mall, Les discovers an abundance of delicious roots and flowers, which he shares with Paul. Using his restaurant's kitchen, Paul gets to work crafting a meal with the newly discovered local flavors.
2021
Les forages the beaches and tidewaters of the Oregon coast while Chef Paul sets up a kitchen on the beach. When Les reveals a bounty of wild mussels (and also surprises Chef Paul with a couple of ingredients he is unfamiliar with), Paul gets creative with his beach fire.
Les navigates a cliff to explore an unusual patch of Miner’s Lettuce. Chef Paul gets his hands dirty harvesting cattail rhizomes, and after a quick lesson on starch extraction, he sees the potential and presents Les with three gingery courses of wild harvested flavor.
Just a short drive from the city of Edmonton, Alberta expert forager Les Stroud and Chef Paul Rogalski find themselves experiencing the natural life cycles of horsetail, and fireweed right where they grow. Add to this the bounty of dandelion and cattail and you have the makings of a delicious wild harvest!
The milkweed plant is the natural life-sustaining domain of the monarch butterfly larvae who choose this wildflower as the only species to develop and grow upon. Sustainably harvested it also represents a wonderful broccoli like vegetable for Chef Paul Rogalski to experiment with. A short walk from expert forager Les Stroud’s own cottage, on the edge of the local gravel pit a prolific bounty awaits for our wild harvesters.
Les finds himself immersed in a plethora of in season wild edibles when he paddles and explores the swamps and forests surrounding his cabin in the woods in Temagami, Ontario. Chef Paul is energized with so many ingredients to play with, including a Small Mouth Bass.
Just ahead of the winter snows Les and Paul find themselves enjoying the fresh cool winds and grey skies over the Athabasca River. Expert forager Les Stroud challenges Chef Paul Rogalski to his delight with the harvest of a ruffed grouse, rose hips, sweet clover and willow branches.
After a lucky find of a wild turkey in pristine condition expert forager Les Stroud heads out with a local mycologist to gather one of the worlds most sought after mushrooms; Matsutake aka “Pine Mushrooms”. Returning with an armload of mushrooms Les sits back and lets Chef Paul Rogalski blow his culinary mind with a simple dish of mushrooms on toast followed by the best turkey Stroud has ever tasted.
Expert forager Les Stroud decides to challenge Chef Paul Rogalski with a harvest based solely on two trees; Oak and Madrone. With bark, berries, nuts, flour and even infused bourbon, Les leaves Paul and guest chef Joy Cyr with a tough culinary challenge.
Showing that you need never travel farther than your own driveway expert forager Les Stroud takes a short walk and comes back to Chef Paul Rogalski with a delicate selection of gentle greens. Dodging massive lightening storms, Les and Paul work together on Stroud’s own deck to create the perfect wild harvest to compliment barbecued rib eye steak.
After a quick paddle and a lakeside lunch, Les gathers Pond Lily Tubers while Chef Paul harvests cattails. Les challenges Paul to rethink the traditional preparation of Pond Lily Tuber, and he does so while showcasing the attributes and potential of his cattail harvest.
Chef Paul and Les visit a community farm jam-packed with harvesting options for expert forager Les, including honey from a large colony of bees. Paul is inspired by the spirit of the farm and creates brunch dishes with a combination of wild and domestic ingredients, designed to easily feed a community of helping hands.
Les and Paul enjoy a stay at Kevin’s “From The Wild” camp in the boreal forest in Northern Alberta. Les introduces Paul to techniques of harvesting wild black currants while secretly gathering some additional undisclosed foraged flavors. After the ingredient reveal Paul gets to work with a new twist on a classic mixed grill.
On the banks of the Bow River, just minutes from Chef Paul’s home, Les shows his foraging prowess. Paul utilizes his culinary garden and restaurant kitchen to prepare the final dishes of season one with some surprise ingredients from Les’ bounty.
2024
While hiking in a local forest, Les discovers a huge specimen of a well-known fungus. He brings it to Paul for some playful experimentation with this new type of chicken.
Using the Cunard Queen Elizabeth as home base, the tandem disembark in Sitka Alaska to meet local forger Mary Goddard to harvest sour dock and beach parsley. Later when back on the ship, Paul cooks with Executive Chef Roland while checking out the Hubbard glacier.
While hiking in the local forest, Les stumbled upon remnants of an old homestead, including some ancient crabapple trees. After trying the crabapples himself, Les decided to bring his friend Paul to the trees to harvest some for his own experimentation. With some old culinary concepts, Paul created new flavours.
Les and Paul disembark from the Queen Elizabeth to meet Mario Benassi, an expert forager. They remain vigilant for bears while gathering chocolate lily bulbs. After a brief lunch on the shore, they return to the ship to rendezvous with Marius Cochintu, the sous chef. Together, they experiment with the novel ingredient to create unique culinary dishes.
Behind an urban mall, Les discovers an abundance of delicious roots and flowers, which he shares with Paul. Using his restaurant’s kitchen, Paul gets to work crafting a meal with the newly discovered local flavours.
Les and Paul leave the Queen Elizabeth to connect with kelp forager Lia Heifetz. After harvesting some kelp, and an eventful and educational lunch, the tandem return to the ship to meet Sous Chef Karin for another special collaborative meal.
At Les’s cottage in Ontario, the delicious and dark blackberries are the main focus of the story. Paul finds savoury ways to use the flavourful fruit while Les heats up his forno the old-fashioned way… with fire.
During their stay in Sitka, Alaska, Les and Paul learned about different types of local flora. Les was introduced to the false lily of the valley by a young local named Ryker Goddard, while Paul learned about wild snapdragons. Upon returning to their ship, the Queen Elizabeth, Paul and Les collaborated with Chef Khem Singh, to create a special VIP dinner.
While in Oregon, Les and Paul connect with forager Adam Larue to harvest an unlikely bleeding mushroom with an off-putting name. Later this ingredient becomes the centre of some flavour experimentation where everything is not what it seems.
While Les and Paul are visiting Sri Lanka, Les discovers an interesting hard-shelled fruit both on the tree and on the forest floor. Paul cooks something black, and a European classic, Sri Lankan style.
While staying at Aggressor Safari Lodge in Sri Lanka, Les discovers a versatile blossom that is colourful and bountiful, but not as sweet as Paul would think. Embracing this culinary challenge, Paul creates three dishes using local culinary influences and flavours.
Les Stroud
