Blog
Darlene Murphy
October 8, 2026
Freshness is about more than how food looks when it reaches your table. It starts with how ingredients are handled and prepared. At Forage Kitchen, the focus is on fresh, made-from-scratch food that brings out the best in everyday ingredients.
Restaurants use scratch-made a lot, and it doesn't mean the same thing everywhere. Here's what it means at Forage Kitchen.
Scratch-made describes a preparation approach that emphasizes making food in the kitchen. For us, that means we make all of our dressings and sauces in house, along with our chicken, tofu, and falafel. Our vegetables are prepped and seasoned or roasted fresh every day, sometimes more than once/day! Grains like organic black rice and quinoa are cooked fresh, too. And for dessert, Forage Date Bars are made from scratch daily with just five ingredients.
Fresh preparation and local ingredients can shape how ingredients taste and work together.
In our Local Roots salad, roasted sweet potatoes bring a naturally sweet, caramelized flavor and pickled red onion adds brightness.
Our Power Bowl combines organic black rice, rosemary lentils, roasted sweet potatoes, poblano cabbage slaw, guacamole, green onion, and avocado green goddess dressing. The sweet potatoes are roasted fresh each day, and the dressing is made right in our kitchen from avocado, parsley, cilantro, green onion,garlic, lemon, apple cider vinegar and oil.
Check the Forage Kitchen menu for current ingredients and options.
Preservatives are ingredients used in foods to help slow spoilage or maintain quality over time. At Forage Kitchen, we don't add preservatives to the ingredients in our recipes.
Forage Kitchen emphasizes fresh food and scratch-made preparation. If you're avoiding a specific ingredient, ask your local kitchen. The team can tell you what's in your bowl
The idea of fresh ingredients daily is easiest to understand through the food itself. Forage Kitchen's menu brings together greens, grains, legumes, roasted vegetables, proteins, and sauces. Thoughtful sourcing, proper handling, and preparation all matter.
When possible, we source ingredients locally, with seasonal availability shaping the menu. Flynn Creek Farm in Verona, WI, grows much of our produce.
Freshness doesn't mean every ingredient is grown nearby or harvested that morning. and the seasons change what's on the menu. But you'll still notice the crunch of the slaw, the roasted broccoli, and the way a dressing brings a bowl together.
Want to know what's in your meal? Here's where to look:
The goal isn't to worry about every component. It's to have useful information and feel comfortable with the meal you choose.
If you're visiting Forage Kitchen in Middleton or Monona, check the current menu before choosing your meal.
We don't add preservatives to the ingredients in our recipes. Scratch-made describes how food is prepared, so if you're avoiding a specific ingredient, ask the team in-store..
It means we prepare food in our own kitchens instead of relying on ready-made products. We make all of our dressings, sauces, chicken, tofu, and falafel in house, and we prep, season and roast our vegetables fresh every day.
Start with the Forage Kitchen menu, which lists the main ingredients in each dish. For questions about a particular ingredient, contact your local kitchen from our locations page.
Scratch-made restaurant food is about preparing components, bringing flavors together, and making ingredients part of a satisfying meal. All fresh. All from scratch. All flavor.
Visit Forage Kitchen to find a bowl, salad, or wrap that sounds good, and contact your local kitchen with specific ingredient questions. to find a bowl, salad, or wrap that sounds good.
Darlene Murphy is Vice President of Brand Development at Forage Kitchen. A veteran of both restaurant and retail marketing, she makes sure everyone knows and loves the Forage Kitchen vibe and is focused on strengthening the brand, menu innovation and creating a community for both existing and new guests.
