The Wild Gourmets

[Jedadiah]

Had a wander around Waterstones in Cardiff yesterday and stumbled across this book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Gourme...4041242?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188894164&sr=1-1

It's co-authered by Guy Grieve (Call of The Wild) and looks quite interesting. Although i only had a couple of minutes (Jed Jnr was pulling books of the shelf in the travel section) it looks very interesting. Has anyone else had the opportunity to have a more detailed scan through? Or am i going to have to buy it and do a review?

 

[Jedadiah]

Oh yes, on the cover it says 'As seen on Channel Four', has anyone seen it, or know when it will be on? Jodie is usually good for that!

 

[janiepopps]

Never heard of it. Please go buy and review...!

j

 

[Jedadiah]

OK, got some info and it's looking good. I've got a link for a Channel 4 site and the synopsis is nearly at the bottom, so you may have to do some scrolling down.

http://www.channel4sales.com/programming/c4/seasonal?genre=9

I'm looking forward to seeing this as they seem to have gone to great lengths to say it is NOT an SAS survival programme, but a program about living off the land. See what you think.

Oh yes, sorry janiepop's but i've been told not to buy anything else before Christmas so i'm afraid i'll not be doing a review before then. Anyway, if the proramme is as good as i think it will be, i'll not be alone in having one of the books in my stocking!

 

[Ben_Hillwalker]

By a strange coincidence I bought this book on the weekend. I've only really skimmed through it so far but here are my initial thoughts.

The book seems to be mainly recipes and wild food preparation, but isn't bad for all that. Imagine the River Cottage Cook Book but with rather more wild ingredients and you have a fairly good idea of the style and layout.

The first third/quarter of the book covers bushcrafty camp craft. Some of it will be fairly familiar to you all but it's always interesting to hear about the theory being put into practice.

To sum up, its a cook book with bushcraft extras in the coffee table style. if you are looking for a hardcore bushcraft manual then you will be a tad disappointed, but I personally didn't begrudge paying money for it (especially as it's £4 off in Borders ).

 

[Jedadiah]

Thanks Ben, nice to hear from someone who's got it. Any idea how the programme will pan out? As you've read it, is there anything in particular you'd look forward to seeing?

 

[Ben_Hillwalker]

You're welcome Jedadiah

I would like to see the presenters actually doing their stuff. The idea seems to be that they will hunt, forage and barter for all their food while living under canvas. I'm sure there will be a mix of success and failure, and there's nothing like seeing how something doesn't work to fix in your mind how it will work.

 

[Mikey P]

By a strange coincidence I bought this book on the weekend. I've only really skimmed through it so far but here are my initial thoughts.

The book seems to be mainly recipes and wild food preparation, but isn't bad for all that. Imagine the River Cottage Cook Book but with rather more wild ingredients and you have a fairly good idea of the style and layout.

The first third/quarter of the book covers bushcrafty camp craft. Some of it will be fairly familiar to you all but it's always interesting to hear about the theory being put into practice.

To sum up, its a cook book with bushcraft extras in the coffee table style. if you are looking for a hardcore bushcraft manual then you will be a tad disappointed, but I personally didn't begrudge paying money for it (especially as it's £4 off in Borders ).

I agree with the River Cottage comparison. It really has the same feel (text and images) and, if I had to describe it in a nutshell. I would liken it to an extension of the 'Hedgerow' chapter.

It's very readable but clearly aimed more at the River Cottage 'afficianado' than the hardcore bushcrafter (take note of the title of the book).

That said, I have enjoyed reading the first few chapters and even learned a couple of practical tips. I really like the River Cottage series and so would lump this text in with those books - and that's no bad thing! I probably wouldn't buy it for in-depth bushcrafting but it's something a little different and fills a niche. Recommended!

 

[Jedadiah]

OK, apparently the series starts next Tuesday at 20:30 on Channel 4. Just seen a trailer and it looks quite good, but don't hang me if it is not!