Edible engagement: Food Foraging Flagstaff caters culinary experiences for local youth

With Flagstaff’s population living above the nation’s average food insecurity rate, lower cost options are a necessity for many living in Coconino County. This ARTx program is a step toward addressing this inequality.

White has worked with local organizations for years, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Flagstaff (MOCAF), and said his focus has always been art-related. Lovers of live music may know him better as DJ Emmett. Lately, he said he has been wrangling people together to make this grant a reality.

White explained this year is the second time the foraging class has taken place, but last year, it was confined to the areas near downtown. The idea was originally born from an event with Square Root Foods, a Flagstaff-based catering company.

“When this opportunity came up this year, Julie Sokol, who is the organizer of ARTx, reached out soliciting proposals and expressed interest in what we called The Forager’s Dinner at the MOCAF warehouse,” White said.

Chef Brian Konefal & Jack Flaccus of Square Root Foods worked with White on this project. White said they all have a mutual interest in incorporating local foods, foraged and grown for free into people’s diets.

Food Foraging Flagstaff will take place during two sessions and is open to all high school students.

Participants in the foraging experience will first spend a few hours foraging for wild food, which they find growing in the local neighborhoods and nearby environments. Then, the workshop will be taken over by the guided cooking portion of the event.

Mike Dechter is the leader of the foraging aspect of the workshop until Brian Konefal takes over for the cooking portion, White said. Dechter has been foraging around the Southwest for decades and was president of the Arizona Mushroom Society. Konefal is a local business owner who has worked at Michelin star restaurants domestically and abroad.

Although Arizona’s desert reputation may preemptively place an assumption that wild food foraging is not common practice when, in actuality, Arizona has an abundance of options in everyone’s backyard.

“Most of the forging that I've [done] usually starts in like July at the earliest,” White said. “So I was surprised to learn that there was plenty of stuff that's supposed to be around at the end of May.”

Northern Arizona and Flagstaff are home to plenty of edible plants and with the right care, fruit trees, berries and vegetables can blossom across the state.

“Expanding people's breadth of knowledge and interest in their natural environment and the fact that there's food growing all around us,” White said. “We ought to be, for lots of different reasons and for different motivations, we ought to be taking food where we can find it and also eating locally.”

White said he has had a deep appreciation for local flavors found in the natural environment, but he is still learning every day. Encouraging the youth to strive for healthier options in their diet by giving them the basic tools is what White said he aims to do.

The demand for native and healthy food options on a lower price scale is in high demand. White said culinary programs are growing in popularity and schools such as Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy have a culinary club for students.

“You're inevitably gonna be healthier if you're getting out there and foraging your own food,” White said.

White said both the 10 a.m. session and the 3 p.m. session will last approximately four hours and will be located at the Indie Ella warehouse off of Butler Avenue. Interested parties can email emmettwhite@gmail.com.