By Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books
Don’t forget: these books below are available at 20% off for tablehopper readers for two weeks following this review—simply use the code “tablehopper” at checkout (either at the store or online) for your discount.
While the produce markets are still bursting with summer abundance, our new release shelves are awaiting September, when publishers release their best hopes for the holiday shopping season. So instead of focusing on the latest releases today, I offer a fun read and a healthy cookbook that rates four drops of drool on a five-drop scale.
First, the fun one: The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine (just out in paperback). Outdoorsman Steve Rinella stumbled upon a copy of Escoffier’s 1903 Le Guide Culinaire and came up with an unusual quest: to procure all the necessary ingredients for a forty-five course meal born entirely of Escoffier’s esoteric wild game recipes. So there’s hunting and fishing, vegetarian girlfriend issues, wacky characters, travel stories, and, of course, food. Good concept, great easy-to-read magazine-style writing.
Now to make your body and mouth feel good. Local blogger Heidi Swanson has recently made the transition to the print world with her book Super Natural Cooking. You could probably find many of these easy, healthy recipes on one of her fine sites (101Cookbooks.com and/or MightyFoods.com), but you’d be missing the beauty of this vibrantly designed cookbook. And if you sloppily cook from recipes like I do, you’d risk getting cotija on your laptop instead of on the book. Representative recipes that passed muster in one Green Appler’s test kitchen: Sweet Potato Spoon Bread, Risotto-style Barley, and Spring Minestrone. Put your mouth where your politics are and eat fresh, whole, healthy food. Swanson makes it easy.
Thanks for reading.
