20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For anyone who cares about what now passes as food, June 5, 2011
This review is from: Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast (Hardcover)
This book is one of a kind; for anyone with a palate who cares about food. As the New York Times glowing review of June 5. 2011, describes it, it is not, as the name might suggest, a book for hunters. Rather: "It is instead a book that provides a glimpse of the inevitable byproduct of life spent at the farmer's market railing at the evils of industrial agriculture while spending huge amounts on organic food." Shaw shows us wild greens -- dandelions even -- and berries, and nuts and roots all around us, and what to do with them for a nutritious, tasty and adventurous meal. And, yes, he talks about hunting and fishing but with a respect bordering on reverence. While most of us will not hunt or even fish, his description of how to cut and cook the food is expertly instructive. Shaw shows there is a world of good food all around us if we only take the time to look and taste. This book shows you how. (It is also wonderfully written by a hunter/gatherer who was a political writer in his daytime job.)
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The How-to Book, June 6, 2011
This review is from: Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast (Hardcover)
Those of us who check in regularly to Hank Shaw's award winning blog, Hunter, Angler, Cook ([...]) have been waiting with scant patience for the coming out of his new book Hunt, Gather, Cook; Finding the Forgotten Feast It finally hit the stands late in May, on schedule, but none too soon enough for a lot of us.
The book came a couple of days ago, all 324 pages, including some great photography, and divided basically in three parts: gathering (foraging) things that grow; fishing, (including gathering shell fish) and hunting, both birds and four footed game. He includes at least a couple of recipes with each chapter, sometimes more, and they by themselves are worth the price of admission.
The book is a delightful mélange of personal experiences, descriptions, and instructions. Hank's writing style is captivating. He could write a book about a shovel full of mud and I'd not be able to put it down until the very end.
If he didn't' write so extremely well this book could have been a disaster, for it covers such a prodigiously wide field.
For those experienced in any one of the three fields, foraging, fishing or hunting, there may not be much to learn. However, I have been fishing and hunting for more decades than I care to state, but even I found new things in each. My plant foraging has been pretty much limited to going after wild strawberries and field mushrooms (the book omits any mention of edible fungi, for the author felt it is too large and complicated a subject) so this part was very helpful. I don't see stinging nettles where I live, but we have plenty of miner's lettuce to beef up our springtime salads.
Hank Shaw had scarcely touched a gun all his life until just a few years ago, but in less than a decade he has become a very accomplished wildfowler after a painful and not very fruitful introduction to duck and goose hunting. He describes whimsically shooting his first migratory bird - a moor hen -, blundering into someone else's spread, and shooting lots of mudhens before his first real duck.
And, of course, Hank is an accomplished chef, and tells you how to prepare and what you have gathered, fished for, or shot. Since my wife is not a good cook - she is a superb cook - and because I manage to create a mess if I get near the kitchen, I don't get to try my hand at cooking. So I don't know how good his recipes may be. I do know that I totally agree with his philosophy on how to cook duck, though, the skin crispy, and the meat rare.
While this is a how-to book that assumes the reader is brand new to the game, don't sell it short all you foragers, fishers and hunters. You'll be bound to find something new and you'll enjoy every word.
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Enough, June 23, 2011
This review is from: Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast (Hardcover)
This is a nice book. It glorifies the life of a hunter/gatherer/back to nature sort of guy, which is not at all a bad thing. The problem is that for somebody who might be serious about trying it, this book is not nearly specific and detailed enough. I've been fishing all my life, but Hunt, Gather, Cook tells very little about the actual technique of landing a flounder (for instance). The sections on gathering are even worse. Shaw mentions specific edible plants and tells a bit about them, but the pictures are sparse, many are black and white, and there is no way on Earth that I could go out into the field or woods and not poison myself if I tried to find the plants described.
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