Alan Bergo

Alan Bergo is a James Beard Award-winning chef, author, show host, and forager recognized as an authority on wild food and the culinary uses of mushrooms and plants. A veteran of the restaurant industry, Bergo spent nearly two decades as a professional chef specializing in local and wild foods at St. Paul's Heartland Restaurant, The Salt Cellar, and Lucia's Restaurant in Minneapolis. He worked for a decade under chefs from Italy, including the former personal chef to the princess of Monaco, and served as sous chef to Chef Lenny Russo at St. Paul's six-time James Beard-nominated Heartland.

During his formative years in professional kitchens, Bergo first encountered wild ingredients as fine dining staples, a discovery that would ultimately define his career in foraging and wild food cuisine. After contracting Lyme disease, which progressed to Bell's palsy and caused significant physical challenges, Bergo began writing about his experiences with foraging and cooking wild plants and mushrooms. This practice served as a therapeutic outlet and shaped his approach to food, emphasizing the accessibility and value of wild ingredients.

Bergo is known for his expertise in foraging and cooking wild mushrooms and plants through his website Forager | Chef, which serves as a major resource on wild mushroom cookery and attracts millions of visitors annually. His book, "The Forager Chef's Book of Flora," published by Chelsea Green Publishing, explores wild plants, herbs, garden vegetables, nuts, and starches. The book features 180 recipes and 230 of Bergo's own photographs and is the first in a planned three-part series including Funghi and Fauna. Bergo's culinary style is characterized by a holistic approach, utilizing all parts of the plant and focusing on both wild and cultivated ingredients.

Bergo received the James Beard Award for Instructional Visual Media for his online show, "The Wild Harvest." The show, produced with filmmaker Jesse Roesler, also earned two Taste Awards. He is the winner of Season 1 of Hulu's "Chefs vs. Wild" and is the creator and star of the TV series "The Wild Harvest: Field, Forest, Feast." Bergo's work has been featured in a variety of media, including REI Co-op, The Today Show, FOX, The Daily Beast, Heirloom Gardener, Experience Life Magazine, and Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine.

Bergo's presentations are relevant for audiences interested in sustainable agriculture, foraging, and culinary innovation. He explores the potential of overlooked wild foods and examines the need to diversify food sources in response to the challenges of conventional agriculture. Bergo has spoken at events such as the American Culinary Federation's National Convention in Las Vegas, where his presentations have been noted for their depth of knowledge and engaging visual content. Whether in the field, the kitchen, or on stage, Bergo encourages audiences to view the natural world as an edible landscape with untapped possibilities.