Earlier this September, chef Yoshihiro Narisawa of the Michelin-starred restaurant Les Creations de Narisawa, in the Aoyama district of Tokyo, joined 15 of the world's top chefs to make dinner in Levi, Lapland, 170 km above the Arctic Circle.
Wandering ankle-deep in a plush carpet of lichen, Narisawa collected wild mushrooms, picked berries and plucked herbs from the Lapland forest. Some of his colleagues hauled in nets of fresh-water fish, while others peeled away the inner layer of bark from birch trees and snipped the roots from the ends of muddy river reeds. Everything would be eaten.
The chefs had convened in northern Finland to take part in a unique culinary conference called Cook it Raw. At typical culinary conferences, chefs usually give presentations that demonstrate the techniques used in their restaurants. Cook it Raw, however, attempts to address larger concerns. The event aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and local-food culture. Instead of a trip to the supermarket, the chefs are given the chance to forage, hunt and fish for the ingredients that they then use in their dishes.