Youth was served at the sixth annual Local Wild Challenge last Sunday, as a group of Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School (MVPCS) foragers and chefs won the competition’s grand prize with an Island-grown Summer Bounty Salad that included homegrown crickets and grasshoppers. The group was rewarded with a day cruise to Nantucket catered by Local Wild Food Challenge and Soigne, a Krug & Ryan maple handcrafted chopping board, and a chef’s tasting menu at Detente in Edgartown.
The winning team is part of the Island Grown Schools Farm Project, led by Kelsey Head. In keeping with the spirit of the challenge, the MVPCS team produced a video of their foraging and gathering efforts across the Island. The video of the work they did preparing for the event is available to watch at bit.ly/LocalWildFoodWinners.
The Local Wild Food Challenge is a “culinary Adventure Competition” that requires participants to create a dish featuring at least one wild ingredient. The competition encourages the use of as many wild and locally grown ingredients as can be obtained, and as part of the judging and scoring rubric, entrants are required to submit a story chronicling their experience in finding, harvesting, and preparing the local ingredient(s). The four judging criteria are effort, ingredients, taste, and presentation.
Entrants create recipes using local food resources, which are sampled at the challenge event by the public and by a panel of judges who decide on the winning recipe.
The challenge is focused on drawing attention to natural food resources available in local communities, with a larger goal of promoting environmental awareness and protection of those resources. Part of the proceeds from the event go to the Island Grown Schools organization.
The Local Wild Food Challenge is the brainchild of seasonal Island resident Billy Manson, his wife Sarah, and their 11-year-old daughter Grace. The international competition was founded in 2008, and came to the Island in 2010. The Mansons will produce eight local wild food challenges in 2014–15 in across New Zealand (two), Martha’s Vineyard, Italy, France, and Finland.
Sixteen prizes are awarded (see list of Sunday’s winners below), with emphasis on effort and ingredients. “That produced a level playing field [between amateur and professional chefs],” Sarah Manson said on Sunday afternoon, while watching senior division judges Dan Athearn of Morning Glory Farm, Juli Vanderhoop of Orange Peel Bakery, and Albert Lattanzi of the Barn Bowl & Bistro noshing on entries.
Across the room, caterer Annie Foley and Craig Decker of Rockfish were sampling the junior-division entries, won by nine-year-old Brooke Ward with a heartwarming family recipe named “Breakfast in Bed.”
Eight-year-old chef Quinlan Slavin may have suspected he had a winning recipe, as he had last year when he earned runner-up in the kids’ division. If he did, he wasn’t saying so. The second-year entrant in the event was excited that people liked his dessert torte, made from Island fruit, nuts, and honey, nestled in a thin pastry shell. “It’s got six Island-grown ingredients in it,” the Chilmark native said. Sure enough, his apple berry crisp took home the Best Effort prize.
Quinlan, a third grader at the West Tisbury School, is fascinated with the magic that mixing food ingredients produces. “It’s more like a custard, really,” he said. His 2014 entry was a fried pork belly dish, which took second place in the contest’s junior division, so Master Slavin took a huge leap up the food chain this year.
His experience is one reason the Local Wild Food Challenge has been a roaring success here. The challenge allows entrants and eventgoers of any age a rare opportunity to experience local food.
“The Island is usually the largest event we have in terms of entries,” Mr. Manson said on Sunday. “I expect entries will be down this year because we have a new venue and a new date, and it’s a holiday weekend,” he said. (Last year’s contest took place at the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club in Edgartown on Columbus Day.) In fact, entries were down this year, but the fan base was solid. More than 200 foodies and their kids entered the doors in the first two hours. The event ran from 2 to 8 pm, featuring entertainment by Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, which began at 6 pm.
Lana and Robert Schaefer of Oak Bluffs used the event to teach their sons, Sawyer, 8, and Logan, 6, about new food tastes. “We’ve sampled about 10 dishes each, and the kids did too. They loved the wild boar chili,” Ms. Schaefer said. “That’s our rule with food. You have to try it,” Mr. Schaefer said.
The popularity of the event and its mission have attracted more than 50 sponsors on the Island, including Dennis Redican of Tabor Tree and Land, a first-time sponsor. Mr. Redican had his first Challenge experience, and the event was a gustatory bonus for him. “I’m mostly a vegetarian — I eat chicken and fish — but I avoid the ingredients in a lot of processed foods, so this is a treat, to have so many healthy choices,” he said.
2015 Local Wild Food Challenge WinnersAdult division
Grand Prize: Kelsey Head, Astrid Tilton, Lily Tilton, Zale Narkiewicz, and Clancy Conlin of the MVPCS, in collaboration with Island Grown Schools, Summer Bounty Salad
First Runner-Up: Robert French, Surf Clam “Scallop” with Beach Plum Sauce and Wild Rabbit, Ragu with Chicken of the Woods Mushroom, Sorrel, Watercress, and Russian Olive Vinaigrette
Second Runner-Up: Kristina Hook, Locally Caught Conch Salad with Island-Grown Vegetables and Herbs
Best Effort: Gus Leaf and Nathan Gould of MV Smokehouse, Smoked Local Seafood
Wildest Ingredient: Doug Werther, Roasted Local Venison, Bay Scallop Purée and Crispy Norton Point Mole Crabs (Sand Fleas) Surf and Turf
Best from the Water: Nina Levin, Bay Scallop-Encrusted Mako Shark, Sea Rocket, Beach Rose and Purslane. Wild Apple and Chestnut Cake
Best from the Land: Mike Harmon, Braised Pork Osso Bucco with Acorn Soup, Feral Apple and Local Watercress
Best on the Wing: JP Catered Creations, Roasted Goose with Katama Bay Oyster Stuffing
Best Dessert: Michelle Manfredi, Windfall Feral Apple and Bayberry Leaf Napoleon
Best Use of Local Ingredient: Henry Jones, Deer Liver Pâte & Autumn Olive Jam with Sourdough Bread; Mermaid Farm Raspberries and Yogurt Mousse with Wood Sorrel
Hemingway Award for Best Story: Sarah Safford, Blewit Mushroom Frittata
Caroline Johnstone Award: Ben and Nicole Cabot, West Tisbury Venison with Wild Beach Plum Sauce, Local Carrots, and Watercress Salad. Wild Hazelnut Ice Cream, Beach Plum and Grape Sorbet
Junior division
Grand Prize: Brooke Ward, “Breakfast in Bed” with Wild Sausage, Local Eggs, Homegrown Potatoes, Salsa, and Her Own Baked Bread
Runner-Up: Madia Bellebuono and Violet Cabot, Braised Rabbit, Homemade Ricotta-Stuffed Ravioli; Roasted Butternut Squash and Wild Watercress with Beach Plum Dressing
Best Effort: Quinlan Slavin, Apple Berry Crisp
Wildest Ingredient: Clara Athearn, Hazelnut-Encrusted Venison Fillet, Lobster Salad with Wild Watercress, Wild Strawberries and Summer Huckleberries, Chilmark-Harvested Maple Syrup
Special mentions
Bear Gilpin: Chicory Ice Cream
Mattie Wolverton: Island Grain and Wild Hazelnut Crackers
Zeb Athearn: Smoked False Albacore
Sunny Wolverton: Island Grain Graham Crackers, Wild Fruit and Berry Jam