He’s the man who introduced Noma’s René Redzepi to native Australian ingredients – the hunting, fishing, foraging dynamo who sourced Noma Australia’s wild-grown produce throughout the pop-up’s 10-week lifespan.

Now Elijah Holland – or EJ, as he’s also known – is teaming up with executive chef Drew Bolton at Vine in Sydney’s Double Bay for a very special one-off dinner later this month.

“It’s going to be a good night,” Holland said. “I’ve been spending a lot of time going up to the mountains, hunting and foraging and getting stuff together up there. We’ve been pickling, preserving and fermenting ingredients, I’ve got a couple of goats I shot dry-aging, and I’ll be going up again closer to the date to fish for trout and freshwater crays.”

The five-course menu – part of Vine’s Origins Dinner Series, which will see Bolton collaborate with some of Sydney’s top chefs over the coming months – will be served at Vine on Wednesday, August 24. Holland and Bolton are also making their own cheese for the dinner, as well as enlisting the services of local brewer to create a bespoke craft beer specifically for the evening.

In addition to Noma Australia, Holland has previously worked at Barrenjoey House, Aria and Jonah’s Restaurant, and was head chef of The Powder Keg in Potts Point, sourcing about 40 per cent of the produce himself. In 2015, he started his own foraging business, which supplies more than 20 restaurants with native, wild-grown produce.

While he grew up exposed to horticulture and permaculture through the influence of his parents and grandparents, his expertise has really come into its own over the last four years, he said.

“That’s when I really started researching and studying and trying to learn everything there is to know about local produce.”

This research often sounds a bit like a Bear Grylls expedition.

“When I go hunting and camping, I don’t take any food with me and live off the land instead,” he said. “It’s kind of second nature to me. I get to do it for fun as well as work, which is kind of cool.”

Holland said Noma Australia’s emphasis on native ingredients had resulted in an explosion of interest in them.

“There was a little bit of interest before, but not too much, to be honest,” he said. “Noma helped a lot and showed that there greater things out there than cabbage and carrots.”

“The stuff we have out in the wild in Australia is just incredible. The variety kind of endless.”

He said the growing popularity of such produce required chefs and foragers to think sustainably.

“Especially with what I’m trying to do, you have to be really aware of your surroundings,” he said. “You don’t want to damage the eco system, in other words. I never go and just rip things out without thinking about it. Even if I have to go to ten different areas to get the amount of something I need without upsetting the balance, I will. You have to be really careful.”

Holland and Bolton’s Origins dinner takes place on Wednesday, August 24 at 6pm. Tickets are $75 for five-courses and snacks, or $120 with matching beverages, and are available through the Vine website.