Eats Wild Episode 5: Foraging for flavor and for mental health

Published June 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM EDT

woman holding orange mushrooms in woods near a stream — Ever since the summer of 2020, Ileana Haberman goes to the same spot every year to look for chanterelles

“I am a human who yearns to remember that she is part of nature, in a way that I think our culture is trying to make me forget.”

This week on the second SUMMER episode of our Eats Wild series, we head out into the woods with two amateur mushroom hunters.

Woman in rain boots and shorts in the woods holding a basket. Orange mushrooms are visible in the forground. — Ileana only harvests the large mushrooms. She leaves the rest for others.

Artist Ileana Haberman shares her story of seeking solace gathering chanterelles in the woods during the worst of the pandemic.

rose and yellow colored mushrooms near the base of a tree with a light-skinned man mostly out of frame — Amateur mycologist Carl Pearson gathers what he suspects are bicolor bolete mushrooms. He'll examine the mushroom guides at home to determine if they are edible.

Carl Pearson walks us through the basics for positive identification of edible fungi—in this case, a bicolor bolete. He also shares a simple preparation of mushrooms in a light cream sauce, served over pasta.

bearded light-skinned man zesting a lemon over a small food processor. other ingredients are visible on the counter — Nick Detrich zests a lemon for the sauce he's making with wood sorrel and labneh (a soft cheese made from strained yogurt). Salt baked beets are aranged over the sauce and lightly dressed purslane (in the basket) is sprinkled on top, to finish the dish.

Then chef Nick Detrich, of Magdelena in Indianapolis, whips up an elegant salt-baked beet dish featuring wild purslane and wood sorrel from Kayte's backyard.

sliced beets on a light green sauce topped with grean leaves and spices — The sweetness of the beets contrasts nicely with tartness in the wood sorrel labneh sauce and the tangy purslane.