River Cottage - a way of life, not just a TV programme (The River Cottage Cookbook - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)

Member Name: JHWilts

Product:	The River Cottage Cookbook - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Date:	24/06/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Covers a great variety of subjects

Disadvantages: NONE

My name is JHWilts and I am an addict - thought I would get that out of the way and for those that like or care about the River Cottage way can read on, those that don't, thanks for dropping by.

I am a huge River Cottage and Hugh fan and make absolutely no apologies for that. I loved the show from the moment it first appeared on TV about ten years ago and I still love it. We have always bought free range eggs, never bought ready meals and completely strip our roast chicken to give us three meals in a week.

This is the first of the River Cottage books and it has become so worn and it is falling apart that I bought another one recently.

This book to me is the perfect book for anybody - chefs, gardeners, smallholders, people who just love making their own brew. He covers a wide variety of subjects and I just find the book is a pleasure to read. As a reference it is invaluable.

The book is not only recipes, it talks about the welfare of animals, our responsibility for the food we provide and my favourite - FREE FOOD! I am a hedgerow hunter (my first batch of nettle beer went down a treat!) and Hugh talks of his forages with such passion and excitement that it is hard not to become seduced to his way of thinking.

This book is important to me for many reasons not only because I found it incredibly useful for the garden, what to plant, ideas on how to do things, how to store my fruit and veg and what to do with the produce. For me this book reminds of life when I was younger and things seemed to appear much more simple (although we know the truth - it just seems the innocence is appealing). Both my parents grew up as post-war babies and my grandparents always followed the ways of thrift when cooking or keeping a house. This book and High's ways harks back to that - River Cottage is not only ideas on food and cooking - it is a way of life. I may not have a huge block of land and only my small garden and windowsills on which to grow my food but this at least gives me a flavour of how I could do it and adopting the mentality can go a long way to providing a sustainable and fun(!) future or us all.

This book comes in both hard back and soft copy.

I bought my version from my local independent bookseller for £20, the soft back costs from £10 or cheaper on play.com.

Author Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Publisher HarperCollins Publishers (United Kingdom)

Year 2001

ISBN 9780002202046

Format Hardback - 256 Pages

Summary: Fanstatic book, easy to read, great ideas