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The River Cottage Cookbook
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

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 fourhundred and fifty 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 of course does contain a large number of fine recipes, the scope is much broader. Really, this is more like one of those "Enquire Within on Everything" volumes nineteenth-century settlers used to take to the outback with them, full of instructions for mixing whitewash, worming dogs, or 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.

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

Excellent (March 2006)
Reviewer: A reader

If after reading this book you don't want to do what he did . . .

The recipes are fantastic, and the writting behind the recipes about how life continues is amazing.

Uhm a bit though (August 2004)
Reviewer: "massimo_pasquali"

Do not take me wrong, I enjoyed this book as much as I loved the TV series. The only problem is that I am not sure the average reader will be interested in breeding his/her own cattle. I love the recipes and have enjoyed this book more as a novel than as a manual to a do-it-yourself live in the country book.

Not exactly a cookbook but nevertheless . . . (April 2004)
Reviewer: Emilie Flowergarden (United Kingdom)

This accompanyment to the televsion series 'River Cottage' is an excellentguidebook and reference to all those who dream of becoming a smallholder. While not exactly a cookbook, although it does have many recipies, thisbook does describe wonderfully the process of growing or rearing your ownfood, from creating a herb garden to to butchering a cow (get someone todo it for you!).

While I unfortunately will have to make do with my vegetable plot I can but read this and dream.

A Lifestyle Bible (February 2004)
Reviewer: "nicola_haines"

An absolutely fascinating read from beginning to end. Full of useful, practical information on growing and cooking your own food. Chapters on fruit and vegetables, meat, seafood and wild food are written to inspire you to get more intimate with the food you eat, rather than to intimidate you with tales of what can go wrong. This book pursuaded me to dig up my lawn for vegetables, build a small henhouse in the garden, make good use of the wild bramble harvest, and see stinging nettles in quite a different light. Whenever I manage to obtain more space, pigs will be next. Hugh speaks so much SENSE about the whole issue of food in such a non-preachy way that the book is a pleasure to read. This is my all time favourite book.

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