Foraging with Andrea and Jonas
This week we talk to Andrea Marseglia and Jonas Kempeneers about their Neighbourhood Foraging project that specifically focuses on foraging and cocktails.
Andrea doing a foraging masterclass in Auckland, New Zealand.
My interview with Andrea and Jonas
Where do you work now?
Jonas Kempeneers: Will be taking on the job as beverage director for Entre Deux when the bars reopen.
Andrea Marseglia: At the moment I am a part time bar manager and part time consultant for bars and brands.
How did the two of you meet?
JK: My first real job as a cocktail bartender was for the bar ‘Loch&Key’ in Melbourne, Australia. Andrea was already working there and sort of took me under his wing. While learning the ropes behind the bar there, I was able to learn a lot from Andrea, from basics such as syrups and bar techniques up to learning how to perfectly dilute and balance a drink and learning what it means to offer excellent service.
Andrea, you are from Italy: how did you end up in New Zealand?
AM: I started my career in Italy as a bartender in my home town; Sperlonga (near Rome). Soon after, I moved to London and then spent 5 years in Australia between Sydney and Melbourne. After my Australian visa ran out, I moved with my partner to New Zealand.
Jonas in a hole in the Atabasca Glacier in Jasper.
Jonas, you are based in Montreal, Quebec: have you done any foraging internationally?
JK: When I was a boy in Belgium, my father would take me to ‘nature classes’ organized for kids on Wednesday afternoons. We would learn about local flora and fauna there in a fun and educational way. So I guess I’ve always been intrigued by what growing around us. My real foraging started while I was living in Nepal, where a local family thought me how to look for medicinal and edible herbs in the Himalayas. With my eyes opened and the beautiful nature Canada has to offer, I decided to dive in to the deep end and really learn about foraging in the moderate and boreal climates of the big North. My father’s interest in horticulture and flora definitely gave me a push in the right direction, but the never-ending hunt for new flavours and techniques within the realm of bartending and cooking is probably my biggest motivator. There’s no better experience than to taste or smell something completely new.
AM: I got my interest in foraging definitely from my nonna and my father. During summer we would go for walks and she would explain all about wild herbs or plants and then how to use or cook them. My dad and I used to go foraging for wild asparagus and take trips to forage wild porcini.
Why is foraging in cocktails important to you?
JK: Sustainability is definitely a very big part of it for me. When Andrea and I started talking about potentially starting the project, I think we both saw this as a way to educate younger bartenders on the possibilities to use local and sustainable ways to experiment with flavour. It takes a bit of heavy reading and community networking to be able to do this properly, but I’ve noticed by introducing people and bartenders to foraging, they start taking ownership of what’s around them. When you know what nature has to offer, it’s easier to get involved in helping out the environment and spreading the ideas and education that we can all benefit from.
Andrea foraging for seaweed, samphire, sea banana, and sea spinach.
How can people be safe when they are foraging for ingredients?
JK: Do your homework! That’s probably the best advice we can give someone. There’s some great basic botanicals/herbs/flowers that are super easy to identify and very low risk, even for beginning foragers, but it’s important to know your limits, to ask for help from your local foraging community and most of all, to read books and double check everything. The same goes for other things related to cooking or bartending. It’s important you know your stuff and be aware of potential dangers/allergies related to the product you are using. The rule of thumb for us is definitely: “If you are not 100% sure, do not pick/forage!”
What is the most surprising foraged item you have used in a cocktail?
JK: I’m definitely intrigued by the different fungi that grow within Canada’s forests. Some fungi or mushrooms I found are so far away from any idea I had about mushrooms in the past. And some look like you should be touching them with a ten foot pole, but then they end up being some of the most interesting ingredients I’ve found to date, with flavours that you would have never linked to a mushroom. Chicken of the Woods mushroom, ‘Laetiporus’, is definitely one of these fungi, with bright yellow/orange colours. Instinct would tell you to stay away, but the flavours are amazing, think citrussy-watermelon…
AM: The most surprising ingredients I used would probably be acorns, and I make coffee from them . The whole process from foraging, sorting, boiling, roasting and grinding the nuts to finally make a coffee takes around 8 hrs but its flavour is so incredible! By extracting it through a coffee machine, its taste is nutty, with notes of golden syrup and raspberry, amazing!
How do local regulations come into play when you are using foraged products in a cocktail?
JK: Using foraged ingredients in cocktails at home and using them in a beverage program for a bar are two different worlds for sure. Even though I’m very confident foraging certain plants or botanicals, I would probably opt for buying foraged ingredients from licenced foragers or veterans within the community. The guest’s safety is always top priority! Apart from that I think it’s important to make sure the botanical or plants that you use have been foraged sustainably and in areas where it’s legally allowed to forage. You don’t want to buy or use rare or endangered species just for the sake of profit.
Jonas forgaged some spruce tips. They can be eaten raw, pickled or fermented, and he uses them in cocktails. Spruce beer is popular in Quebec.
Have you had any funny fails when trying to create a cocktail with foraged ingredients?
JK: Some ingredients definitely prove more difficult than others. Sometimes it can really be a trial and error kind of operation working with wild ingredients, since there’s not always information or recipes readily available online on how to extract flavours, specifically when it comes to cocktails. This can be hard, but it is also part of the fun, because it challenges you as a bartender to use different techniques and extraction methods. Having to try different ways to incorporate a flavour into a drink can be quite the process sometimes.
Andrea, do you see yourself moving back to Italy in the future?
AM: Unfortunately, no, I am almost a permanent resident here in New Zealand. I love this part of the world; Australasia has an incredible fauna and flora to explore. The pace of life is way different with a very humble lifestyle. I will be opening my own bar soon, so I will invite you over to visit!
Jonas, Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
JK: I feel that with Covid-19, this question has become even more uncertain than it already was for me. But the dream would be to start my own project. Something linked to nature, farming and foraging within the realm of mixology or wine. My own vermouth or winery, a farm to grow my own ecological and sustainable produce. Maybe even breathe some life into old and forgotten recipes while promoting local and native flora and fungi, like dandelion wine for example.
Are there future plans to take neighborhood foraging to the next level?
JK: I feel that both Andrea and I are coming to a point in our careers as bartenders that we will be able to start our own business or projects very soon. I feel that the foraging project was something we both learned a lot from and we like to see it continued, but maybe we can persuade other bartenders to turn this project into an open community, rather than it being focused on just the two of us. But I’m pretty sure we will carry the same mindset and creativity we learned from foraging over to our next projects.
Andrea doing a foraging masterclass in Auckland, New Zealand.
Five questions for Andrea and Jonas
Shaken or stirred?
JK: Stirred.
AM: Shaken.
Favorite foraged garnish?
JK: Morel Mushroom.
AM: Loquat Leather.
When I go out foraging, I am never without my……..?
JK: Dog.
AM: Foraging book.
If you had an unlimited budget and could open a bar anywhere in the world, where would it be?
JK: My backyard.
AM: Here in New Zealand (my dream is coming true but without the unlimited budget part ☺).
At the end of a shift, what do you drink?
JK: The blondest beer possible, preferably with the least amount of flavour. (Something to drink fast. My palate is usually over saturated after a shift anyway☺)
AM: Vermouth on ice.
Andrea’s signature cocktail:
Salvia fizz
Ingredients:
40ml National Distillery Hemp Gin
20ml Nardini Acqua di Cedro
15ml Citric Solution
15ml Pineapple Sage Cordial
top with Kefir Pineapple sage soda
Method:
All ingredients (apart from soda) are stirred down and then topped with kefir soda.
Garnished with a pineapple sage coin.
Jonas’ signature Cocktail:
King Bolete
King Bolete – Boletus Edulis
Comme Dans Les Grands Maisons
2oz Porcini-duck fat Hennessy VSOP
3/4oz Dillon’s Walnut Amaro
1/2oz Lustau Amontillado Los Arcos
Jonas says: “Back in the beginning of our project, we experimented with infusing mushrooms into cocktails by fat washing spirits. Following the same steps as back then, we infused Hennessy VSOP with porcini and shiitake duck fat.”
Where you can find Andrea and Jonas
Neighbourhood Foraging: @neighbourhoodforaging
Jonas’ instagram: @jnskmpcktl
Andrea’s instagram: @captainspaghetti92
Andrea’s website: marsmixing.com