Part of what makes Feast BC in Tofino and Ucluelet so amazing are the many events that include food, but also have a learning component to them.  Surf lessons and sea kayaking are options, as was the foraging trip I took on Friday May 13 with J & C Salt, a local outdoors training company.

We met at the Pacific Sands Beach Resort Gazebo and enjoyed some Root Brew, a hot drink made with roasted dandelion root, yellow dock root, licorice root and rhizome, and some Forest Tea, a lung wort, usnea, Labrador, wild petals, licorice fer and thizome blend and waited for the group to come together.  I felt healthier already.

Leader Jae Lazar then took the group on a stunning hike through Cox Bay, while we gathered wild greens, seaweed and flowers for our lunch. What followed was a BBQ lunch with Chef Peter Zambri from Zambri’s Restaurant in Victoria, B.C. and Shelter Chef Rick Moore.

Amazing morning with food as fresh as it gets.  Stuffed to the gills I headed out for another walk and then checked into The Long Beach Lodge for a rest before more Feast BC that evening.  I’ll never pass up the opportunity to learn to forage for outdoor eats, and upon returning to Vancouver I have began to look for other opportunities.  Sooke Harbour House and Deerholme Farms are next on my list.  I’ll never look at seaweed the same way again.