Product Description

Published to tie in with the third series of the acclaimed Channel 4 River Cottage , this book draws on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's experiences at his home in Dorset. Hugh writes:"There are two reasons why you may want to buy this book. The first is more or less selfish, because the main aim here is simply to help you enjoy your life more - your life with food, that is. One of the most satisfying things about my life at River Cottage is that I've hardly ever had a bad meal here. Of course I've burned things and messed up once in a while. But I rarely have that experience that used to seem all too common, where I find myself thinking "why am I eating this rubbish?" The second reason is more political. This book is written with a strong awareness that our current food production system leaves a great deal to be desired. Most of the meat we eat comes from industrially farmed animals who lead miserable lives and are fed on inappropriate diets. It is neither as tasty nor as healthy as it should be. Much of the fruit and vegetables we eat is the product of intensive agriculture that pollutes the land we live on and leaves unnecessary residues on and in the produce. I don't like that, and I know more and more people who feel the same way. How much of this book you incorporate into your life is up to you. But if all you do is grow a few herbs in a window box, make nettle soup once a year, and try a free range goose for Christmas instead of a frozen turkey, you will already, I hope, be enjoying your life more." With over 100 recipes, and Simon Wheeler's acclaimed photography, "The River Cottage Cookbook" should appeal to all downshifters and to all those who prefer their food to be full-blooded and wholesome.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9536 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ordinarily the word "lifestyle" is more likely to be applied to slender magazine articles puffing lofts full of Eames furniture rather than books about smallholdings in Dorset. The River Cottage Cookbook, however, is a hefty 450 pages of pure, gumbooted rural lifestyle; and one could not wish it shorter. Cook, broadcaster and food-writer-at-large Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has been ensconced at River Cottage for a number of years, cultivating his vegetable garden, raising chickens, pigs and even cattle for his table and taking occasional potshots at the local wildlife. His achievements have been chronicled on television; now they appear between hard covers.

Although it calls itself a cookbook and does contain a large number of fine recipes, the book's scope is much broader. Really, this is more like one of those "Enquire Within on Everything" volumes 19th-century settlers used to take to the outback with them, full of instructions for mixing whitewash, worming dogs and making a bag pudding. Starting with vegetables, proceeding to livestock and fish (River Cottage does indeed have a river and is only five miles from the sea) and concluding with the wild food, floral and faunal, of the hedgerow, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall explains how he grows, gathers, kills and cooks his own food.

There is a lot of information here, and a lot of hard reality, too: he is very clear and forthright about the place of death in this kind of life. But then this is a very clear and forthright book overall, a very engaging and really quite inspirational manual of how to live the country life so many of us dream about. It's well-illustrated, too, with Simon Wheeler's fine photographs of Hugh at work chasing chickens, skinning eels, carrying piglets and so on. The food in the River Cottage kitchen looks wonderful, too, though the photo of a cod-head glaring resentfully from under a beehive of parsley in a stock pot carries many more resonances than it is possible to summarise here. --Robin Davidson

Philippa Davenport, Financial Times, 17 February 2001
A practical and lively smallholder's bible, essential reading ... I am prepared to bet this will prove one of my favourite cookery titles this year

Tom Jaine, Guardian, 17 March 2001
As good for the armchair as it is in the kitchen, even worth packing for reference outdoors

Customer Reviews

superb down-to-earth guide to your food life
a fantastic book describing all the best (and some of the worst) parts of natural food production. hugh's passion for natural food flies from every page of this book. hugh does a magnificent job of explaining why people hunt,shoot and fish, and gives great recipes for how to deal with the products of these sports. a truly great cookbook, and a highly practical guide to most things!!

Replace your hostas with cabages!
Having loved the television series this book was a great read. It's not just a cook book but full of advice on how to be more selective about the quality of food you put on your table. After the introduction I was ready to dig up my hostas and plant cabages and maybe even invest in a chicken or two. The book doesn't preach about organic foods and vegetarianism but instead offers advice to those who object to the way farm animals are reared and tells them to get their own or buy from reputable butchers or farmers markets. The stories are amusing, he admits his faliures as well as sucesses. It's enough to make you want to move to Dorset, if it weren't for the fact that he and Harbour Lights have caused it to become a desirable county for more than just the retired, and house prices have rocketed. I think that we can all, with the help of this book, aim for a slightly better way of living. Oh and the recipies are excellent, if sometimes a little strange.

Honest, inspiring, totally unpretentious
As a supermarket-shopping, restaurant loving, born and bred Londoner, I did not buy this book out of any mis-placed romantic notions about self-sufficiency and country living, but because of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who is the best TV presenter on the subjects of food and people I've ever seen, and who turns out to be just as good a writer. His complete lack of pretension,his intelligence, his personal passion for his subject and his immunity to crowd-pleasing or 'style' make him inspiring, trustworthy and hugely likeable. This book will not persuade me to abandon urban life, but it has made me think deeply about the food chain, and motivated me to shop better, cook more and relish real food. This is a practical and sensual treat, and an absorbing and rewarding read.