Mushrooms are the specialty of Alan Muskat, a wild foods educator and "philosoforager" who gives forage-to-table tours of natural areas outside Asheville, North Carolina. On Muskat's tours, participants gather wild edible plants, then cook what they find.

"I would like to communicate through wild foods this feeling that the Garden of Eden is real, and it's a choice we've made, we make every day, to take what's freely given as a gift, or to struggle to do it ourselves to replace it with what we think is better," Muskat says.

Carla Seidl is a multidisciplinary artist who writes, produces radio documentaries and has released two albums of folk music. She profiles growers and ingredients from North Carolina on earthflavors.net.