Our story
Forage Seattle, formerly Savor the Wild Tours, shows people the wild food Washington is known for, and feeds them while doing it.
Angela Shen, founder
I call myself a food evangelist. My dad was a chef, I grew up working in family restaurants, and food has been my thing for as long as I can remember.
After the Wharton School and brand management at Quaker Oats, I left corporate life for Seattle. Since 2007, fresh seafood, wild mushrooms and local wine have been my most trusted companions. I founded Savor Seattle Food Tours to show off the city’s best restaurants and artisans. Today I spend my time in Washington’s wild places and take people there through Forage Seattle.
Off the trail you will find me with my kids, travelling, or in a HIIT class. I also consult and speak on entrepreneurship, culinary tourism and leading as a minority woman, and I sit on the Visit Seattle board. I am forever team raw oysters, tacos, sushi, coffee and eggs. Keep the durian away.
A culinary compass
Think of us as the compass that points you at the freshest seafood, the wildest mushrooms and the meals you could not order anywhere. The ocean breeze while you eat an oyster you shucked a minute ago. The moment you spot a morel on a forest floor in the Pacific Northwest. And then a table laid with what the group gathered.
It is not only about the food. Whether you live here and want to see the state differently, or you are visiting and want the meal you will talk about at home, we want you to leave knowing a little more about what Washington has to offer.
How we run a day
The only fully licensed, insured and permitted foraging operator in Washington
Permits for the land, insurance for the group, and more than 20 years of running food experiences here. You are not trespassing and you are not guessing.
We scout the ground days before you arrive
Guides walk the location ahead of every date and take you where the mushrooms are fruiting that week. No aimless wandering.
No more than eight guests per guide
On the hunts the guide-to-guest ratio tops out at 1:8, so you can ask about every mushroom you pick up.
A 95% find rate, and nobody goes home empty-handed
Nature does not take bookings, so we promise no quantities. On the rare thin day you still leave with mushrooms to cook.
Taught for first-timers
We teach edible against not edible in plain words, with the lookalikes side by side. The Latin names can wait.
The food is part of the day
Chef-led classes end in a live cooking demo you join in, with mushrooms prepared four or five ways. On the beach you taste raw oysters from a local farm, then dig your own to take home.
Safety kit on every hunt
Every guest gets a high-visibility vest and a whistle, and the guide carries a Garmin inReach satellite communicator. Baskets, knives and gloves are provided too.
“A must-do on any foodie’s list.”
Also featured in
- The Seattle Times
- Seattle Refined
- Sunset
- Seattle Magazine
- GeekWire
- Entrepreneur
- Visit Seattle
Come out with us
The live calendar shows every open date this season.