Amid the lush forests and mountains of Alaska’s rugged frontier lies Tutka Bay Lodge, a wilderness retreat boasting a culinary program with menus forged from local abundance. Tucked between a rainforest and the Pacific Ocean, the landscape defines every dish that’s served.
Mandy Dixon, chef and part of the mother-daughter duo that owns and manages the lodge, grew up picking blueberries along Alaska’s rivers. Her mother used to tell her they “ate like bears,” and she found an early joy in foraging for berries and catching wild salmon. “My childhood deepened an intentional practice of stewardship, taking only what we need from the land,” Dixon says. “It instilled in me curiosity and joy of sharing with others respectfully. For Alaskans, foraging is a way of life. It’s a food culture.”
From seaweed, herbs, and shoots in the spring to berries and wildflowers in the summer to mushrooms and cranberries in the fall, timing is everything when it comes to foraging. If Dixon pulls a Devil’s Club shoot too late in the season, it becomes bitter. Menus are carefully concocted based on this intimate knowledge of the land; these spiky shoots are pulled, fermented, and battered during a specific week in the spring.
Because the lodge is nestled inside a spruce forest, chefs harvest spruce tips in the spring while they’re bright green and use them to make sugars, salts, and dishes like cured halibut—a fresh and citrusy blend of flavors inspired by Alaska’s foodways.
Partnerships with local fishermen and farmers aren’t just an amenity—they’re essential for survival, especially in Alaska’s extreme climate. Storms and fluctuating weather can wipe out parts of the food chain. While the lodge’s menu changes daily, the kitchen pantry is always stocked and ready to pivot.
“Being so far removed from the Lower 48, if our food chain gets disrupted, we are at a real risk of running out of food,” Dixon says. “Our partnerships are a top priority. Those relationships are key to having clean and wild food readily available to complement our foraging.”
The lodge is always exploring new techniques to tell the cultural story of Alaska through food. Dixon, with permission from Indigenous groups, visited a native village to learn how they cure and preserve fish with seaweed and salt from the beaches. Foraging is an ongoing cycle—an ode to the land.
“I learned how to make soups and ferment and cure fish in ways I never thought about. We’re constantly staying curious with our foraging and finding new methods of preparing these ingredients,” Dixon says. “We’re also keeping old traditions alive … these recipes were thousands of years old, but still part of today’s culinary fabric.”
In the second-most agriculturally diverse state in the nation, chef Joseph VanWagner is presenting his love letter to Michigan with Echelon Kitchen & Bar. The hyper-seasonal menu changes nearly daily based on ingredient availability, most of which are sourced within a 50-mile radius from local farmers, purveyors, artisans, and brewers. “Foraged items are highly prized and unique for us to present what is growing in Michigan right now,” VanWagner says. “They have very limited availability, but their personalities are exciting for us to give guests a taste of wild Michigan.”
Most notable among the foraged items is the pawpaw fruit, a native Michigan delicacy known for its blend of banana, mango, and pineapple flavors. Typically in season from late August to late November, these are among the chef’s most favored ingredients.
VanWagner has been leaning into wood-fired cooking, which he describes as an ethos as much as a technique. He uses it alongside foraged ingredients to create dishes like the Wood-Fired Pita and Dips, Charred Cauliflower, and Wood-Roasted Cod, which is dressed with spring pea and mustards, caper relish, lemon emulsion, pimenton, and smoked trout roe.
“Wood fire is the most primal form of cooking, so when you take these wild ingredients and introduce them with smoke and char, you’re bringing out their inherent qualities to an extreme level,” VanWagner says. “It’s a special way to present the best in an ingredient in its purest form.”
To extend Michigan’s growing season as long as possible, VanWagner makes ample use of preserving and fermenting ingredients, allowing them to last through multiple seasons. Like Tutka Bay Lodge, preservation and collaboration with local producers are crucial for stocking the pantry during Michigan’s harsh winters.
“Relying on the experts—people who were raised to forage and grow and preserve—is an immense resource. We are extremely plugged in because they continue to educate us as we build our menus,” VanWagner says. “Michigan’s seasons are continuously evolving, and so are we.”
In the Pacific Northwest, Sabine Café opened in the Seattle area with the mission to create a community gathering space featuring a menu powered by local farms, foragers, and producers. While the offerings celebrate the bounty of the region, executive chef Jacob Dunkelberger adds a global twist to local ingredients.
“I work with foragers throughout the region to see what’s in season and where I can have the most flexibility for creativity,” Dunkelberger says. “If we have an abundance of wild mushrooms gathered locally, I’ll introduce Middle Eastern ingredient profiles like manchego to create a unique blend.”
A single foraged ingredient can serve both the daytime café menu and the dinner service. The Morel Mushroom Hummus features foraged mushrooms infused with vinegar, paired with cured egg yolk, za’atar, Turkish olive oil, and house-made pita. Alternatively, the Mushroom Toast also highlights these mushrooms, paired with Aleppo pepper, za’atar butter, caramelized onion aioli, manchego, and rye bread. The mushrooms even find their way into halibut dishes, featuring fish caught off the coast of Puget Sound. Nothing goes to waste.
Even as a second Sabine Café location is slated to open in Washington in early 2026, the commitment to sustainable, locally sourced, and foraged ingredients remains strong. As the team seeks to further elevate its dinnertime menu, the rustic elegance of the Pacific Northwest will continue to weave through every dish.
“We try to use the food in our backyard. Sustainability is who we are—it’s not a choice. We’re using what the Pacific Northwest has to offer, no matter the season, no matter the land or sea,” Dunkelberger says. “The wild ingredients are melded into areas where I’d normally use cultivated ingredients. It’s a constantly changing balance.”
