As soon as Philip Manganaro gets out of his pickup truck, he starts rummaging through the bushes lining a gravel lot in Medford. Within a few minutes, he finds wineberries, wild grapes, and white and purple mulberries — a bounty of fruit hiding in plain sight. “These are four things so far that I can’t purchase,” he says, before moving on to the black raspberries. Manganaro is the chef and owner of Park Place Cafe & Restaurant in Merchantville, where he serves an ever-changing menu of wild ingredients
showcasing the region’s abundance. Before starting his foraging journey eight years ago, Manganaro purchased wild ingredients from commercial suppliers: chanterelles, porcini, ramps, everything. But he decided to source as much as he could on his own after learning about the irresponsible practices used, especially among large-scale commercial foragers. Read this article in Philadelphia Magazine. Photo: Wild Spanish sea bass with slow-roasted ramp bulbs, green lard, and ramp-greens dust from Park Place.