For almost a decade, farm-to-table has been ruling the menu at many restaurants and in social media FYPs also. But now it's time to detour and take a (fresher) step back. Some chefs are now moving closer to the wild side of food and stepping into forests to source them. This is the forest-to-table trend where mushrooms are hunted and not grown, herbs are picked from the hillsides and bamboo shoots can travel from a forest floor to a tasting menu. But there is an interesting catch here as well - a sense of the place. A dish that is made with something foraged from a particular landscape can tell the diners where they are eating without needing a postcard stuck to the wall. This is how the forest, quiet literally, becomes a part of the menu. And this philosophy is increasingly visible in fine dining, where chefs are embracing this idea and turning seasonal and locally available wild ingredients into highly considered dishes. In India, chefs have been incorporating everything from wild greens and mushrooms to bamboo shoots and forest produce into contemporary menus. And this is where the forest-to-table story gets particularly interesting in our country's context. Forest ingredients to luxury menus (Credits: iStock) Across the nation, communities have always been relying on food from local forests, hills, fields and lakes. A 2024 study of traditional food knowledge in Kashmir also documented 108 edible plant and fungal species. This included wild leaves, vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Researchers also noted that knowledge about these foods is at risk of declining as it becomes less consistently passed between generations. Then come the Western Ghats. Researchers have also been able to document the knowledge within local communities about the dozens of edible wild mushrooms. Bamboo shoots, meanwhile, remain an important part of food and livelihood resources in multiple parts of India. Although, some varieties require careful processing because of naturally occurring cyanogenic compounds. Now, some of these ingredients are finding a second life in modern restaurants. Mahua flowers, traditionally gathered by Adivasi communities, are appearing in contemporary food products and restaurant preparations. Bamboo shoots are being fermented, pickled and reworked into modern dishes. Wild greens that were once simply part of seasonal home cooking can suddenly become the most talked-about element on a carefully plated menu. Often, it isn't because the ingredient itself has changed. What changes is the story around it, its rarity, seasonality, provenance, the labour involved in collecting it and the culinary skill used to present it. But 'wild' doesn't automatically mean sustainable. Responsible foraging requires knowledge of species, seasons and habitats. Overharvesting can damage ecosystems, while confusing edible plants or mushrooms with toxic ones can have serious consequences. Perhaps that is why the most compelling version of forest-to-table isn't really about chefs going into the woods and bringing back exotic ingredients. It is about remembering what was already there. In an era of increasingly standardised food, the forest offers something supermarkets cannot easily package: seasonality, surprise and a taste that belongs unmistakably to a particular place. The next luxury ingredient may not come from a laboratory or an international food market. It may simply be growing under a tree in your nearest forest. Simran covers books that start conversations, beauty insights, fashion moods, and stories that make people feel something. Off duty? You’ll find her c... View More