While we are NOT in Big Sur tomorrow, we are STILL HAVING HIKES IN MONTEREY TOMORROW

NEW LOCATION 

548–558 Aguajito Rd
Carmel, CA 93923
United States

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We are very disappointed to advise you that we have to cancel the Bug Sur hikes this year.   This week's rains were more intense than anticipated and our usual trails are either flooded or muddy and dangerous. 

State Parks and USFS have closed all trails to the public due to potential risk of injury due to falling rock, tree limbs, or actual trees themselves.

As an alternative, our hike leaders have identified some trails on the Monterey Peninsula that are loaded with multiple varieties of wonderful mushrooms.

Lisa Haas and her team will bring their famous mushroom display for your education and enjoyment prior to the hike.

Hoping to return to Big Sur next year.  Thank you for your support of our nonprofit Big Sur Health Center.

548–558 Aguajito Rd
Carmel, CA 93923
United States

View on Apple Maps

Big Sur Foragers Festival 2023 partners
with Acquire for intriguing at-home event Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
with renowned chef.
For those of you who love the outdoors, we are also offering two “Wild Foraging Walk and Talk” hikes
taking place Saturday morning,
Jan. 21, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. followed by an optional refuel foraged lunch including beer and wine
at the Big Sur River Inn.
See details below.
While wildfires, road closures and the pandemic have all impacted the annual Big Sur Foragers Festival in recent years, the philanthropic arm of the community’s nonprofit health center has always pivoted and persevered.
The 2023 event will take place on Jan. 21, again reshaped, this time into a virtual experience with participants receiving intriguing items shipped to prepare and enjoy at home. (as well as Two “Wild Foraging Walk and Talk” hikes taking place during the day on Saturday, January 21st. Arrival time 9:30 a.m. and start time 10:00 a.m.
The event has partnered with Acquire, a hospitality company founded by sommelier Haley Moore, who spent 15 years as a sommelier and wine director in San Francisco. Acquire curates virtual and in-person food and wine experiences.
The 2023 Foragers Festival will again benefit the Big Sur Health Center, providing high-quality, comprehensive, personalized services through holistic approaches that focus on patient needs.
The “foraging” this year will be done by chef Gavin Schmidt from The Morris in San Francisco, who will assemble kits for participants to enjoy — preparing a multicourse meal along with him in their own kitchens.
Moore will pair the menu with wines from Champagne Laurent Perrier, Chappellet Winery and Flywheel Wines. Acquire will build a cheese and charcuterie board to kick off the event and give guests a little something to snack on while they cook.
Participants can choose from among three packages:
  • The entire experience
  • Just the cheese and charcuterie board with Champagne
  • Wine only
Following is a roundup of each option:
 
All packages are for two people per package.
Order your package today!
All proceeds benefiting the health center.
WINE KIT
($90, plus $7.11 fee; sales end Jan. 8) 
  1. Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne (half bottle)
  2. Flywheel Wines bottle
  3. Chappellet Winery bottle 
VIRTUAL TASTING KIT
($150, plus $23.78 fee; sales end Jan. 13, will ship Jan. 18)
Cowgirl Creamery
Mt Tam Organic Cheese
Olympia Provisions Salami
Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne (half bottle)
  1. Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam organic cheese
  2. Q&A Co. seasonal jam
  3. Rustic crackers
  4. Olympia Provisions salami
  5. Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne (half bottle)
FULL FORAGERS KIT
($500, plus $32.07 fee; sales end on Jan. 10,
will ship overnight on Jan. 18)
  1. Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam organic cheese
  2. Q&A Co. seasonal jam
  3. Rustic crackers
  4. Olympia Provisions salami
  5. Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne (half bottle)
  6. Flywheel Wines bottle
  7. Chappellet Winery bottle
  8. Multicourse menu prepared by Chef Gavin Schmidt: (mushroom profiteroles with vadouvan; mushroom and yuba salad with kimchi black garlic vinaigrette; kabocha winter squash tortellini with black trumpet mushrooms in mushroom Parmesan broth)
Cowgirl Creamery
Mt Tam Organic Cheese
Olympia Provisions Salami
Laurent Perrier Brut Champagne
Wild Foraging Walk and Talk
With a Refuel Forager Lunch After with Wine and Beer at the
Big Sur River Inn & Restaurant
Big Sur Foragers Festival has two
“Wild Foraging Walk and Talk” hikes the morning of Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023. In addition to the hikes, we will also be offering an optional refuel forager lunch after the hikes with beer and wine at the
Big Sur River Inn & Restaurant.
Hike #1
Sat., Jan 21, 2023
Beginners Hike
Arrive: 9:30 a.m.
Start Time: 10:00 a.m.
End time: 11:30 a.m.
Only 30 spaces available.
Cost $75 per hiker
Hike #2
Sat., Jan 21, 2023
Intermediate Hike
Arrive: 9:30 a.m.
Start Time: 10:00 a.m.
End time: 11:30 a.m.
Only 30 spaces available.
Cost $75 per hiker
LUNCH. FORAGING. ALL ABOARD.
($60.00 per person)
To order a Big Sur Foragers Festival 2023 package through Eventbrite, click the link below:
The Foragers Festival has traditionally served as a fundraiser for the Big Sur Health Center.
The community's non-profit health center will receive the proceeds from the foraging events to continue to support the presence of local health care services in the Big Sur area.
Thank you for your support!
The presence of the Big Sur Health Center's facility on the
Santa Lucia Chapel and Campground property is made possible through the generosity of All Saints Episcopal Church,
Carmel-by-the-Sea.
2023/01/21 16:30:00

Partner with us!

Wineries, Chefs, Restaurants and other Vendors are invited to partner with the Foragers Festival! Please click below and fill our partnership form.

THANK YOU!

The Festival was last held Jan. 16-19, 2020, at various locations on the Central Coast, just weeks before the pandemic hit. The Festival will observe all CDC guidelines for health and safety for the 2022 event. Activities will be announced over the next couple of months.

The Foragers Festival weekend is finally a wrap and there are so many people to thank for their participation in making the festival such a success. Everyone played an important role but there are a few special acknowledgements we’d like to recognize here:

Big Sur River Inn, our Face-off Host

Big Sur Food and Wine for supplies

Big Sur Guides for organizing and leading our foraging hikes

Hike leaders, mycologists//chefs Todd Spanier and Chad Hyatt, who also produced Sunday night’s dinner

Big Sur Roadhouse

Marci Bracco and her team from Chatterbox Public Relations

Matt Glazer of Glazer Hospitality

Lisa Haas and her team from Lisa Haas Design and Paint

Hal Latta for too many tasks to innumerate here

Knights of the Vine, particularly Richard Kehoe and Wendy Brodie of Art of Food

Jim Pinckney, Photographer

Il Grillo Restaurant, Carmel

Lugano’s Swiss Bistro, Carmel

Ventana Big Sur Smokehouse

Sven van Rooij and Vee-R Creative Ventures

Kendra Morgenrath, health center board member, and her team of community volunteers

– and, of course –

All of you who Attended and contributed at our various venues

And the 2020 winners are…

Winners of Big Sur Foragers Festival’s Fungus Face-Off, Major Fundraiser for the Nonprofit Big Sur Health Center, Announced

Chef Nick Balla of Coast Big Sur took top honors with his curried squash soup at the Big Sur Foragers Festival’s popular “Fungus Face-Off,” which was held Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020, at the Big Sur River Inn.

Balla was awarded the Judges’ Choice Best of Show for a curried squash soup with wild herb za’atar and matsutake mushroom oil. The soup was made with curried butternut and kabocha squash, Japanese sweet potato. The base is vegan, made with burnt arbol chili, coconut milk and oat milk and kombu dashi stock. The soup is finished with turmeric, ginger and burnt arbol chili.

The soup is garnished with a wild herb za’atar made with wild bay laurel, sage, lemon balm, fennel flowers and sumac with almonds and sesame seeds. The soup was topped with mushroom oil containing matsutake mushrooms, bay laurel and grapeseed oil.

The Face-Off at the River Inn, set under the oaks overlooking the Big Sur River, is a highly competitive event that featured several local chefs stretching their creative culinary muscles to come up with the best dish using a variety of mushrooms foraged from the Central Coast.

Taking home the People’s Choice Award was Chef Eric Piacentine of Big Sur Bakery for his savory mushroom custard, made with mushroom-crab broth with local chanterelles and black trumpet mushrooms.

Winning Best Use of Foraged Ingredients was Sierra Mar Post Ranch Inn’s Chef Jonny Black. His three dishes included:
>Shiitake mushroom, toasted, rice, ginger and yuzu tea.
>Candycap and porcini mushroom biscotti.
>Big Sur Cheese from Stepladder Creamery on a rye cracker with a mushroom butterscotch topped with á la grecque mushrooms

Most Imaginative Dish went to Chef Eduardo Coronel of Rio Grill for his wild mushroom taco with quinoa, smoked avocado foam, lime and cilantro, in a truffle corn tortilla. Sharen Carey of the Big Sur Health Center, beneficiary of the Foragers Festival, called the dish, “Delicious and innovative.”

Wines were also honored, with “Le Souvenir” 2017 Chardonnay by Paul Lato Wines taking home the top honor for white wines. The grapes came from the Sierra Madre Vineyard in Santa Maria, 4 acres of hand-selected grapes from 300 acres. It was aged in 75% new French oak and 25% neutral French oak. The grapes were harvested at 23 brix and ABV is 14.1%. Paul Lato said he used “yeast from the sky” or all-natural yeast.

“The color was bright with beautiful clarity. It was well-balanced with excellent acidity. The nose was consistent with the experience in the mouth and had a lovely creamy texture,” wrote members of the Knights of the Vine, who served as judges.

The winning red was Ian Brand from I Brand and Family, a 2016 Grenache, Drossean vineyard, Chalone Appelation.

“The epitome of a Rhone wine in the style of Gigoudes – complex, smoky with Mediterranean fruit,” the judges said.

The Big Sur Foragers Festival was held Jan. 16-19, 2020, at various locations on the Central Coast.

History

The event has traditionally served as a fundraiser for the Big Sur Health Center. The community’s non-profit health center will receive the proceeds from the foraging events to continue to support the presence of local health care services in the Big Sur area.

The four-day festival affords Big Sur area restaurants the opportunity to host the culinary expertise of notable chefs who will be preparing unique fare ranging from rustic to elegant, paired alongside the central coast region’s amazing selection of wine and beer.

Join Us

January 20 – 23, 2022
at Big Sur Foragers Festival
46896 Highway One
Big Sur, CA 93920

Thank You!

To all of our sponsors, donors and volunteers who make this even possible!