A Milwaukee chef is running a cooking school that tours its food's origins. The Braise Culinary School holds classes on farms and in forests during warm months. Most classes start with a farm tour — or recently, a walk in the woods — so students see how food grows before they learn to prepare it.

"The idea, basically, is to reconnect people to their food," chef and owner David Swanson said.

He came up with the idea while working on a business plan for a restaurant and attached cooking school.

"One question that I would think that would come up is: 'Where is this food coming from?' " Swanson said. From there, it was a short jump to offering classes — sometimes literally — in the field.

Swanson, 39, worked in restaurants in the Chicago area and Milwaukee for about 20 years before opening the cooking school in 2006. Since then, he has cooked in apple orchards, wheat fields and breweries.

This year's first class began with a mushroom hunt in the woods. Swanson partnered on the class with Britt Bunyard, a mycologist and editor of Fungi magazine. Bunyard led about two dozen people through woods and clearings he had scouted the day before.

"There's no need to run from spot to spot," Bunyard said: Dozens of morels were waiting to be picked.

Many of Swanson's classes are taught on community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms. The farmers sell shares of their crop in the spring, often for $500 or $600, and then deliver boxes of produce weekly during the growing season. Typically, about a third of Swanson's students are CSA members eager to learn how to prepare the food they're receiving. Others are foodies or just want a new experience.

He varies the menu to reflect the season. One class at Pinehold Gardens, just outside Milwaukee, featured garlic, greens and fingerling potatoes. A class there this August will focus on heirloom tomatoes.

For those more interested in eating than cooking, Swanson hosts Sunday dinners at farms. Guests receive quick tours of greenhouses or strawberry patches before settling down to meals that may include roast chicken, strawberry shortcake or grilled summer squash.

In all cases, he tries to keep the food simple so students or dinner guests can make similar meals at home.

DETAILS: Braise Culinary School, www.braiseculinaryschool.com/ or 414-241-9577; classes through September; cost, about $50, although all-day events may be more.