Customer Reviews

The Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As someone who is committed to eating seasonally and locally, I was thrilled to come across this cookbook. I thought this was the culinary answer to my farmers market finds. I loved the descriptions and drooled over the photos, until I realized that none of the recipes were practical to make for dinner. Each is extremely labor intensive, requiring a minimum of one hour prep time. I'll keep this book around in case I find time in the kitchen but for the time being it will sit on my counter.

This is a wonderful cookbook (and several recipes too) based on NW foods often available at local farmers markets. The recipes are elegant yet easy and utterly delicious. Some of the ingredients are expensive (for instance walnut oil), but the food is amazing. If you are from the Pacific NW you will love the use of local ingredients, like Rogue River Blue Cheese wrapped in brandied grape leaves, Oregon hazelnuts, local plump cherries, garlicy wild ramps, local tangy chevre, golden beets that are the color of a sunset, a variety of heirloom tomatoes, nice cuts of lamb and beef, the romantically named Cinderella squash (for a risotto recipe) and extravagant truffles. In addition, the book reads well, with a little info about the local ingredients and some of the recipes from the author and local chefs. The hand cut angel hair pasta with truffles is so sublime. The black cod in clear tomato water is delicate yet flavorful. Cherry almond muffins. Soooo good. Chocolate raspberry truffle cake. Decadent, intense and silky. There are a few Asian based recipes too, which makes sense for this area. The book is set up seasonally, which works well. Another plus, there are a lot of recipes and I would estimate that 98% of them are ones I wanted to make and turned out fantastic. The other 2% I just was not interested in.

I wish there were photos for each recipe (a pet peeve of mine) and use of some more local ingredients, like golden raspberries, squash blossoms and local pate along with more use of veal stock rather than chicken or beef given it's ability to add more depth of flavor. Other than that, this book is utterly wonderful to read and sublime to cook and bake from year round.

This is such a wonderful book! My husband and I have attended some of Chef Ivy's cooking classes in the past and her recipes always turn out so well. The book really expresses that same style she has in her classes, with great tips and beautiful recipes. She also does a great job showcasing other local chefs and demystifying ingredients you might find in a farmer's market that you might not have known how to prepare. Love the grilled vegetable gallete and the shortcake recipes, easy and delicious.

I have seldom just read a cookbook - but I have done so with this one. Lots of interesting background and tips on buying and cooking. Since I am vegetarian, I especially liked the many recipes using local veggies. Great book; I am buying more for gifts.

I've really enjoyed Ivy's Farm to Table Cookbook - I loved to shop at the Farmer's Markets in the San Francisco Bay Area, and since moving to central California, I've joined a farm cooperative. The organization of the book into chapters for each season really helps to bring inspiration to the local produce from the market, and encourages me to try produce that I wouldn't normally cook. I've had this book only a few weeks (and its winter) and already I've made 3 different recipes from the book, all with great success. Tonight I'm making maple glazed turnips and carrots - previously I wouldn't know what to to with turnips. So support your local agriculture, enjoy seasonal produce and enjoy cooking it with the Farm to Table cookbok.

I bought this as I had started buying via a CSA and going to my local farmer's market on a weekly basis. I have not used one reciepe out of it in over a year. I'd say if your starting to eat locally - pass on this book until you have a bit more time under your belt and have gotten use to trying to figure exactly what does one do with kolrabi or tan cheese & cooking with all fresh ingredients feels like it has its own rythmn for you....it is a beautiful book to look at though. It will definitely enter into my cooking trials in the upcoming year.

I put this cookbook on my wish list after seeing an article about it and then I received it as a gift. I'm pretty sure that at the time I put it on my list there must not have been a preview available or I'm certain I would not have put this one on my list. I was expecting a more practical approach of using local produce and other locals foods for everyday cooking, not special occasion cooking. I was very disappointed in the content when I saw that the recipes were a bit more high end and labor intense than I expected. If you're a gourmet cook you might like this one, but as a southerner we prefer our day to day foods to be pretty simple. This cookbook isn't practical for me and after looking through it, I knew it just wasn't the kind of cookbook I would ever buy or enjoy. To be honest I have several hundred cookbooks and more than a couple that I purchased through the mail ended up being like this one - ones that I simply don't ever turn to - so I exchanged this one for one a bit more realistic for my needs and one that I knew for sure I would use.