Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager [Hardcover]

Langdon Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2009

Foraging is not just a throwback to our hunter-gatherer past; it's a way to reconnect with the landscape. And Langdon Cook is not just your typical grocery cart-toting dad. For him, gourmet delicacies abound, free for the taking if we just open our eyes. As a result, he finds himself free-diving in icy Puget Sound in hopes of spearing a snaggletooth lingcod, armed with nothing more than a "Hawaiian sling." He bushwhacks through rugged mountain forests in search of edible mushrooms. He strings up a fly rod to chase after sea-run trout. He even pulls on the gardening gloves to collect stinging nettles. In wry, detailed prose, he traces his journey from wrangler of pre-packaged calories to connoisseur of coveted wild edibles. Structured around the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on a specific food type and concludes with a recipe featuring the author's hard-won bounty, a savory stop to each adventure-filled morsel.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Smart, funny, and hugely knowledgeable, Langdon Cook is a walking field guide and a gifted storyteller. Fat of the Land is a welcome kick in the pants to get outside and start foraging for our suppers.” —Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table

“Langdon Cook understands that the goal of hunting and foraging is not just to eat, but to eat well. Any city-eater can grab something at a supermarket, but to feel the thrill of grappling with lingcod or plucking dubious mushrooms gives the reader maximum pleasure—and zero pain. Provided you follow Cook’s recipes to satiate your whetted appetite. As a neophyte forager with a well-trained palate, Cook knows best.” —Betty Fussell, author of My Kitchen Wars and Raising Steaks: The Life & Times of American Beef

“Langdon Cook celebrates the bounty of the land and sea through the pleasure of foraging. It’s an inspiration and a reminder that eating your local foods connects you to the land you live on.” —Maria Hines, Chef/Owner, Tilth Restaurant

“In Fat of the Land, Lang Cook invites us to share in his enthusiastic, salubrious, wild food foraging quests. Get out of town, breathe in the fresh air, hear the quiet, exercise, feel good, connect with nature and the season—then return to the kitchen to delicious preparations of dandelion greens, squid, fiddleheads, or whatever the quarry. Lively, informative, soul-satisfying narrative.” —Jon Rowley, Contributing Editor, Gourmet

About the Author

Langdon Cook was a senior book editor at Amazon.com until he left the corporate world in 2004 to live in a cabin off the grid with his wife and son. Now a freelance writer and blogger, Lang has written for Gray's Sporting Journal, Outside, Fly Fisherman, The Stranger, Seattle Metropolitan, and numerous other publications. He is a graduate of the University of Washington's MFA program and a recipient of PEN Northwest's Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency. He lives in Seattle, WA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Skipstone Press (September 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594850070
• ISBN-13: 978-1594850073
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Langdon Cook was a senior book editor at Amazon.com until he left the corporate world in 2004 to live in a cabin off the grid with his wife and son. Now a freelance writer and blogger, he has written for Gray's Sporting Journal, Outside, Fly Fisherman, Northwest Palate, The Stranger, Seattle Metropolitan, and numerous other publications. He is a graduate of the University of Washington's MFA program and a recipient of PEN Northwest's Margery Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency. He lives in Seattle, WA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rises above the ho-hum how-to, September 4, 2009

By 

M. Silano (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager (Hardcover)

Perhaps a 5-star endorsement from the woman who plays the role of the wife in this book doesn't carry much weight. But consider this: I've been reading and re-reading the essays in Fat of the Land for the last several years, and they continue to engage and amaze me. When Cook refers to the American lawn as a "one-note symphony of righteousness," or to an oyster's shell as rife with "barnacle condominiums," my poet brain is thoroughly delighted. Cook has done his homework. He shares not only the biology of the critters he's going after, but also the extent to which their existences and/or habitats are at stake due to over-harvesting and environmental ruin. Despite all the doom of extinction and toxicity, FOTL manages to be one helluva of a fun read. You'd think by now I'd've stopped laughing at the funny parts, but nooooo--I still laugh my head off each time I get to the part where Ivar gets stuck in his wet suit . . . and again when Josh eyes the huge oyster presented to him by his future brother-in-law, and sucks the thing right down.

There are lots of good reasons to buy this book--its poetic prose, the laugh factor, the skinny on how to find, forage, and prepare wild foods for the table, the desire to learn more about the natural and Native American history of the places where Cook forages, to name a few. But most of all buy this book for the likes of Ivar, Dave, Beedle, Josh, Chris & Lori Cora, Steve, Warpo, and Margery--the quirky, endearing, lovable, one-of-a-kind enlistments who assist Cook with filling his bountiful basket. These folks are the driving force of this book. Without them, it's just another how-to with recipes. With them, it's a work of art.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expand your knowledge of the Northwest's natural boundaries, September 6, 2009

By 

Michael A. Smith "mikesmith329" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager (Hardcover)

Langdon Cook's 'Fat of the Land' is more than a foodie read. His exploration of our region's lesser-known and lesser-loved delicacies, and his travels far and wide in pursuit of them, will provide a sort of shad's-eye view of some of the weirder ways to spend your time in the Pacific Northwest.

Aside from the fascinating local lore--apparently, people 'squid jig' about a mile from my house--what I enjoyed most was Cook's sense of humor about himself. He doesn't pretend to be anything other than an urban male learning through trial and error about the natural world beyond (and often within) the city limits. There's no bluffing or jargon-spewing here: he's always ready to see the ridiculous side of his own adventures, and to appreciate the fecklessness of modern man in the wild.

Overall, a great book for anyone who loves the outdoors but fears the razor-toothed ling and the deadly Amanita phalloides mushroom.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Classic, September 3, 2009

By 

NW Native "NW Native" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager (Hardcover)

This one of the smartest and most entertaining books on food, nature and cooking to come along. It blew me away. Cook is a great writer. Like a younger, hipper Jim Harrison.

A must read.