Freegans and Friendship in Scandanavia

As a long-term budget traveller, I am quickly learning the skill of stretching the money we have. This has been especially important in Scandanavian Europe, where everything is more expensive than we are used to. For example, a regular coffee easily costs 5 Canadian dollars. Luckily, with the help of other like-minded folks, we've had some great meals that have cost us zero currency units.

In Denmark, we find out that our new Danish pal is a foodie of sorts. While he works on cooking us a huge pot of pasta with bacon and rose sauce for late-breakfast in his tiny kitchen, he pulls out a handful of green leaves from a bag. He explains that it is a culinary plant is known as "ramslog" (the 'o' has a line through it). It tastes peppery and onionish, is relatively uncommon and mostly obtained by wild foraging (which is where this bunch came from).

In Norway, we meet an American traveller who looks like a young, blonde, smaller version of Woody Harrelson. He comes up with the brilliant idea to quell our midnight hunger pangs by foraging for food in the FREE section of the hostel kitchen, where other travellers have left food they no longer wish to carry with them. We made a large pot of spaghetti by combining a family-sized portion of instant noodle soup, one packet of instant ramen noodles, a generous dash of cooking oil, and a handful of mysterious vegetable-type powder. The result is an intensely salty, gooey, and slightly off-tasting pot of noodles. It was both filling and amusing.

In Sweden, the famed Scandanavian cold and rainy spring weather finally caught up to us. We hid out in our hostel for too much time, I regret. We found that the hostel kitchen had an amazing selection of free food, including cocoa powder. This discovery awakened my longing desire to bake. We end up finding flour, margarine, salt, sugar cubes, and strawberry jam... the makings of chocolate thumbprint cookies. These freegan cookies were shared with all those lingering around the hostel after dinner. One nice Danish couple lovingly placed their cookies on their pink lunchbox so they look like a pair of eyes.

In Finland, we spend our week there couchsurfing with 3 different hosts. Our first host was an energetic, young hippie couple who was preparing for a raw food diet. Their indoor garden of exotic chili pepper varieties, among other edible plants, and knowledge of wild foraging was very impressive. We went on a foraging walk, where we tasted a variety of edible plants, and collected some leaves for one of the best salads I've had in a long time.

A huge thank you to all the travellers who share their food with others, instead of letting it go to waste. A big bear-sized hug to all of the gracious hosts, who welcome and feed travellers and vagabonds with food and tales. We continue to be blessed with the generosity, laughter and friendship of the people we meet.

Be Nice to Nettles

In celebration of "Be Nice To Nettles Week" (May 19-30, 2010), I thought I would treat you all to a rather lengthy (and belated) blog post on the miraculous properties of the Stinging Nettle plant.

Stinging Nettle is an edible plant that happily grows wild in Ontario. As a garden weed, it is notorious for its hair-like needles; even just lightly brushing against the plant will illicit an immediate skin rash reaction. My naturopathic doctor recommended nettle tea as a nutritive tonic, as it is high in iron, among other vitamins and minerals. But nettle tea can be used medicinally in many other ways: to relieve seasonal allergy symptoms, as a diuretic, for arthritis, etc. If you steep the tea for a few hours, it turns a gorgeous deep green colour.

But the coolest thing about this edible is that it grows wild in the city. It turns out that a coffee shop on my street has a very prolific nettle bush behind their patio.

Armed with a pair of scissors and gloves, I cut down a few stalks and stashed them in my bike basket. If you're planning on drying the leaves for long-term storage, harvest the leaves when it hasn't rained for a couple of days. This will help avoid mold from leaf moisture.

Stinging nettle is mostly commonly consumed as a tea (fresh or dried leaves), but the leaves can also be eaten cooked. In fact, if you pinch the fresh, raw leaves from the top (where there are no needles), you can fold the leaves and place them directly in your mouth for a tasty and daring snack.

Nettle should be harvested in early to mid spring. Once the weather heats up and nettles have flowered, they are inedible. However, you can still use it as a nutritive foliar fertilizer. Simply cut down the plant, place in a bucket and cover with water, steep for at least 24 hours, strain and spray directly on plant leaves.

So now you know there are other alternatives to ripping out that nettle plant from the earth. Nuture it, take only what you need, and you will be rewarded in kind.

Mushroom, At Last

You know how people say that when you're not looking for a relationship, that's when you find one? Well, apparently the same can be said for oyster mushrooms.

I had just got back from a Mushroom Cultivation Workshop on Sunday (more details on that later), where I learned that oyster mushrooms are very aggressive and can outcompete other fungi due to its quick-growing character and because it is native to Ontario. Yeeeeah right... not more aggressive than the alien tree mushroom that invaded my grow-kit.

The next day, I went out to the balcony and pulled out the bag of straw I kept from the discarded grow-kit. I figured at least I could use the straw for mulch, if I dried it out and got rid of the mycelium (mushroomy pre-growth). It had been pulled apart and drying in the sun for a few weeks now.

Then... lo and behold, I discovered oyster mushrooms growing inside the bag. Thick, juicy oyster mushrooms, quietly living in secret. Apparently, ripping apart the straw and placing it in an unfriendly environment gave the sleeping oyster mushrooms enough of a reason to start blooming and spreading spores.

I felt quite happy and satisfied at this unexpected discovery, but it was probably not quite the same satisfaction I would have felt if I grew the mushrooms from scratch. But I'm not complaining... same end result. I love mushrooms again.

Mycophilia in Montreal

I was walking around in Montreal last month, when I came across a mushroom store called Mycoboutique. For those who don't know: I love mushrooms. And somehow I found myself in a mushroom store, in the presence of mushroom people, talking about mushrooms and surrounded by mushrooms. Does life GET any better?

Exaggeration aside: the store was just about to close, so there was no time to look around. But I did leave the shop with my very own oyster mushroom indoor grow-kit.

It's basically a block of damp straw, infused with mushroom spores and wrapped in clear plastic. You cut slits in the plastic (so the mushrooms can grow out), place indoors in indirect sunlight, and maintain humidity. The humidity part was a bit tricky, since Toronto winters are so dry. I set it up so that the mushroom block sits on top (but not touching) a basin of water, and enclose it inside a clear plastic garbage bag which is tied at the top to make it a "closed system". About once a day I spray water into the bag to make it extra humidi-tastic.

At first, it looked like only mould was growing. There seemed to be fuzzy white mould everywhere. My heart sank into my shoes.

But then this morning, I noticed that the "mould" was forming creepy alien-looking structures, about 1/2" long and poking out of the plastic bag. Could this be the beginning of mushroom colonies?

To be continued....

P.S. I'm not sure how sustainable this growing method is... probably just for sh-ts and giggles. For future mushroom adventures, I might join a foray group: the Mycological Society of Toronto

offers them in the spring and fall.

Urban Foraging

One brisk autumn evening, I was downtown with 2 friends, walking home after dinner and a couple of drinks, when a spontaneous foraging moment reared its head.

Me: "Hey --- look over there, by that office building.... it's KALE!"
Friend #1: "That green plant? Are you sure???"
Me: "Helllll yeah I'm sure. It's definitely kale."
Friend #1: "Ok, be cool". Looks left and right, waits for other pedestrians to walk past.
Friend #1: *pick pick pick pick.....*
Me: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? Are you crazy??!?!"
Friend #1: "Hey, it's just going to go to waste anyway. This office building is just using it for decoration."
Friend #2: "......."

Well, Friend #1 was right. We walked by the same spot a couple of weeks later, and the remaining unharvested kale plants were wilted and dried up, ready to accept their wintery death.

Urban foraging ---- ethical or not? Discuss amongst yourselves. I'm not letting this kale go to waste. So here's a make-shift recipe if you ever find yourself with questionable kale in-hand.


Stir-Fried Kale
Season: Summer to autumn

Ingredients:

Leaves of 1 kale plant
2 cloves garlic --- minced
soy sauce
oil for frying

Directions:

Rinse the heck outta that kale. Not knowing how the kale was grown (... pesticides? fertilizers?), or what it absorbed from its surroundings (... car exhaust? doggie poo?), each wash will ease your mind a little more. Roughly chop leaves and blanch in a large pot of boiling water (30 sec). Heat a frypan or wok on high, add a little oil and garlic. Add kale leaves, and stir fry for about 2-3 mins. Add soy sauce to taste.