Early this week, Michelle Genest of Whitehorse, Y.T., was tucking into a dinner of chick-pea curry with a sauce of rosehips she picked and rhubarb she grew.

Arguably the region’s most prominent locavore, Genest will prepare a gourmet meal at the senior center Saturday using regional and wild foods.

It’s a a fundraiser for the Sheldon Museum with a menu featuring elk, wild mushrooms, locally grown cherries and root vegetables, and wine with courses.

Genest is author of “The Boreal Gourmet” and “The Boreal Feast,” cookbooks of dishes using northern foods. Her message isn’t about eating organic or saving the planet, though. It’s about eating well.

“Taste and deliciousness are my standards,” Genest said in an interview this week.

Years ago while living in Greece on little money, Genest found she could make a dinner from wild greens and mushrooms she picked and fish she caught. On moving North decades later, she discovered a similar food ethic.

“I discovered everyone here was doing that already. It was just part of life for First Nations people and a big part of newcomer culture,” Genest said. Besides being a great way to prepare food and supplement one’s diet, eating locally “is also a great way to connect us to the natural world that we live in,” she said.

Genest describes herself as a consummate forager. One of her motivations for bringing dinner to town – besides her passion for the local museum – is to hunt up some chanterelle mushrooms and harvest alpine blueberries in Chilkat Pass.

The body of knowledge of local foods is growing, she said. She recently came across a sharp-tasting mushroom called suillus tomentosus, while traveling on the Cassiar Highway.

But she’ll be using milder, more popular ones in her dinner’s pate, Genest said. “We’ll be really cautious with the mushrooms we’re using.”

Proceeds from the dinner will go toward the $100,000 the museum must raise annually that pays for electricity, heat and offerings such as Tlingit language class and after-school programs.

The museum also is installing a new research center to improve access to its world-class archives, which will be relocated, along with the museum gift shop and office, into the building’s lower level, making more room upstairs for exhibits and galleries.

Tickets are $100 ($80 for museum members) and available at the museum and at Babbling Book. Some discounts are available for event volunteers and for people donating local foods. Contact the museum, 766-2366.