Alan Muskat, philosoforager, stand-up mycomedian, and epicure of the obscure, has been taking people “out to eat” for over twenty years. He founded the first and only forage-to-table company in the country and the first wild foods public education program in the world.
Author of Wild Mushrooms: A Taste of Enchantment, Muskat has popped up on Bizarre Foods, The History Channel, PBS, and in Southern Living, Fodor’s, The Washington Post, and other major media, ardently urging the masses to sample rather than trample the toadstools. “What do you have to lose?” asks Muskat. “Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you famous.”
Alan really knows how to pick ’em. For close to two decades, he sold hundreds of pounds of wild foods a year to over fifty restaurants and hotels, including The Biltmore Estate, Lantern, and The Grove Park Inn. On the thirteen anniversary of 9/11, he spoke at The United States Botanical Garden (next to the Capitol) on home/land security. The creator of GMO OMG is filming his next documentary about his work.
Muskat has taught self-catering to The James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour; The 2014 James Beard Best Chef of the Southeast; Dr. Andrew Weil (twice on the cover of Time); Christie Hefner, former CEO of Playboy; VPs of Shell, Amoco, Aon, Motorola, Cracker Barrel, and The American Heart Association; the head of The American Bar Association; the owner of The Biltmore Estate; Jackie Siegel, the “Queen of Versailles,” and a number of other notables and executives. He has led thousands “off the eaten path” and hasn’t lost a customer yet.
In 2007, Alan co-founded The REAL Center, a school for relationship skills and natural living. Author of The Haggadah Vita, Alan has led wild food Passover seder banquets for over twenty years. “Wild foods,” says Alan, “are a way of feeling at home in the world, i.e., that we are continually provided for and never alone.” Finally, his mother would like you to know that he graduated from Princeton.
With humor, warm-heartedness, and panache, “Woodsy Alan” awakens nature’s wayward offspring to the beauty and bounty of their bioregion. Ask anyone who knows The Mushroom Man: when it comes to bringing out the fun in fungi, he’s the champignon.
For more information on Alan Muskat, his wild food tour and event company or his nonprofit educational program, visit: http://notastelikehome.org/