intuitive forager |inˈt(y)o͞oitiv| |ˈfôrij, ˈfär-|
noun: Someone who uses instinctive reasoning to source and deliver top quality-rarefied produce: Kerry Clasby, intuitively forages produce that is organic, locally sourced, and seasonally harvested for celebrity chefs and renowned farmers’ markets throughout California and Las Vegas.
Everyone remembers the incredible experience of tasting his or her first perfect peach – the sweetest raspberry - the juiciest tomato. These moments are what I try to recreate over and over again for the chef – the friend - the stranger with a smile.
For over a decade I have been an organic grower, distributor, and professional forager for Celebrity Chefs with world-renowned restaurants in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. As the cornerstone purveyor for Las Vegas’ awarding winning Farmers’ Markets, Mario Batali’s Bet on the Farm and Downtown 3rd, I am able to share the highest quality produce with the public as well.
I weave my way throughout the country to over 600 family farms and artisans tasting, smelling, using my foraging 6th sense, to uncover the ‘perfect peach,’ of heirloom vegetables, fruits, nuts and berries. There are always detours and I usually take them – it is the indirect – round about way – the unexpected invitation to visit a farm, ranch, orchard or artisan’s workshop that results in the magic of foraging. Even a detour into hillsides overgrown with poison oak is worth the ‘taste’ of wild raspberries.
It has been over 15 years since I grew my first crop of heirloom tomatoes. It was over a decade ago I ventured into the Los Padres back county to forage Wild Chanterelles. Even the memorable wild rose stand at the farmers’ markets has played a role in becoming the ‘Intuitive Forager.’
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