René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma and arguably the most well-known forager on the planet, is launching a mobile app called VILD MAD that will allow users to forage “delicious edibles” by using their phones.
The announcement was made during a talk that Redzepi gave during a World’s 50 Best Restaurants symposium in Barcelona, and it could change the way we source ingredients from our environment.
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Available in the App Store and Google Play, VILD MAD, Danish for “wild food,” is described as a “tool that will help you explore the wild, edible, Danish nature.” In addition to allowing users to navigate through landscapes and save personal foraging spots and notes, VILD MAD will offer recipes for how to prepare sometimes obscure ingredients.
According to a promotional video, the app is designed for both children and adults to be able to “stroll through the wild and pluck things like we do from the shelves of the supermarket.”
The larger VILD MAD initiative also includes a website, a curriculum for Danish schools, and foraging workshops offering naturvejledere, or rangers, across Denmark so that anyone can become a forager and access free local ingredients.
READ MORE: Climbing Cliffs and Picking Edibles with Noma Australia’s Shirtless Forager
Redzepi, of course, is no stranger to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants event where he made the announcement, as Noma has taken home the top prize three years in a row from 2010 to 2012, as well as a fourth time in 2014. But the app is an attempt to further democratize the approach that made his restaurant so famous and revered.
“Foraging helped shape the flavors and philosophy of noma’s [sic] kitchen,” Redzepi’s nonprofit MAD said in a statement introducing the app. “We believe it can be an incredible tool for people to get acquainted with their landscape; discover new flavors and ingredients; and improve our understanding of where food comes from.”
Think of it as Pokémon Go, but with lingonberries instead of Charmanders, and a tangible, edible reward at the end of your search. Hey, maybe Redzepi got the idea from the Pokémon Go-playing zombies who invaded Noma last year.
