"An intimate guide to the food at our feet, Pacific Feast shares expert advice on how to identify the good eats, harvest responsibly, and create delicious meals." - Pacific Feast
Far more than just a field guide or collection of recipes- this book includes a section of full-color photographs, recipes from chefs including Christina Choi (!) and Tom Douglas, harvesting calendars and beautiful introductions to each species covering area history and the Authors personal experiences.
Recipes range from Sea Urchin Gazpacho to Maple Blossom Fritters to a Spotted Owl (Nettle Martini), and Jennifer perfectly explains how and where to harvest your goods. Her experiences have taken her from California to Alaska and British Columbia and she doesn't seem to overlook a single worthwhile edible.
Among the stack of books that makes up my current reading list- this is the only one that bounces around my living room and kitchen constantly. I find myself reading through recipes at random on an almost nightly basis. My copy was a gift from a dear friend- and I'm thrilled to be able to offer a copy to one of my dear readers! Read on for details!
There are four (!) ways for you to enter to win your very own copy:
1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite wild food is. If you don't have one- just tell me what's on your mind.
2. "Like" Skipstone Books on Facebook and leave a separate comment here telling me that you have.
3. Sign up for the Skipstone Books Newsletter and leave a separate comment here telling me that you have.
4. Follow Skipstone Books on Twitter and again- leave a separate comment here telling me that you have.
The contest will run for one week- ending April 13th at 9 PM Washington time. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted soon after. Please be sure to include a way to contact you in each of your entries. Good luck and happy foraging!
My favorite wild edible food is fiddlehead ferns! They have the best name, and when they bread and fry them at Sutra, they look and taste like little shrimps. I also like: raspberries, nettles, morels, chanterelles, rosemary, and clams but NOT shiitakes, I just read that undercooked ones can give you an angry criss cross rash like you've been flogged.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I would like to know the methodology for choosing comments at random for the drawing.
Love your blog!!
SRG
I'm not sure that I have just a single wild food favorite . I'll always be fond of wild mushrooms and they're always best when you've picked them yourself. My first introduction to wild mushrooms was in Haines in the early 80's. We picked bushels of Chanterelles and Shaggy Manes and canned up what we didn't devour for dinner that night. We ate mushrooms all winter. I've still never had mushrooms that good again. There's just something about that first time experience.
ReplyDeleteDigging clams and steaming them on a camp fire at the beach hits at the top of the list too. That salty brine slurp, yum!
Picking fiddleheads with you, sauteing them in butter and tossing them with pasta. Hmmmm, I should probably take a walk down Treadwell soon.
When we were kids, we would pick the watermelon berry branches when they were fresh and tender, peal off the skin and munch them down. We also tried pealing the bark off early Alder branches and nibbling the tender growth, but that was a bit bitter and not really much there. Did make me feel like I could survive like a mountain man though. Yah, say it, your aunts and I were cool kids!
Well, and of course, berries, berries and berries!
Looks awesome! I've been hunting for some wild fennel lately. Mmmm fennel.
ReplyDelete-Sara Brickman
My favorite wild edible food is probably a HUGE faux pas, YEAH BLACKBERRIES.
ReplyDeleteLook, I know they're not native (Shana) but they're way more delicious than salmon berries. Raspberries are also pretty amazing.
Woohoo, keep up the great work!
Benjamin Carey Hackett
i'll have to agree with Benjamin in saying that my favorite wild edible food is blackberries. Perhaps because they are in abundance around here and not so much where I am originally from. But then again, i've grown quite accustomed to a good meaty, chanterelle...which also sounds like a old '50s girl group with hoop skirts. oh, and hedgehog mushrooms...because the name is adorable and they taste fantastic!
ReplyDeleteokay...gimme a book!
L F
Why are they called berries! It makes me think of being cold! They should call deliciouserries! And that's my favorite thing to collect. Any type.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I like to eat other people's foraged mushrooms - lobster mushrooms anyone?
My favorite wild food are Turkish Figs. Orcas Island Lepillota mushrooms (sp?) are a close second.
ReplyDeleteI love picking blackberries! And to make Ben feel a little better, it's actually HELPING the environment by picking them because then there are less for birds to eat, poop out the seeds, and spread around!
ReplyDeleteYou know how to find me. :P
Also, I followed them on Facebook!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I followed them on Twitter!
ReplyDeletenettles! nettle tea is delicious. last night i had some fantastic nettle pesto at sutra. i don't know how they made it, but i want to try to make some. it was splendid!
ReplyDeleteberries of any kind: blue, black, rasp, salmon, salah. fiddleheads, of course. also, the green part of devil's club in the early spring. yum. mushrooms, especially the red caps, hehe.
ReplyDeletedone been liked of the fb.
ReplyDeletenews letter check!
ReplyDeletealso tweets!
ReplyDeletep.s. the book looks rad, as is your blog. rock!
i "liked" skipstone on facebook, and i LIKE-LIKE your blog! Such an inspiring combination of practicality and creativity.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite wild edible currently is cedar and hemlock needles for making an indescribably delicious tea. And then you are drinking trees. Which I like.
ps - there is a species of blackberry that's native to WA, ben!
oh hey, blackberries would be mine too, ALTHOUGH when i was in high school this old man from our church would always pick our dandelions and make fried dandelion heads and dandelion jelly. it was yum. there's a recipe in my church cookbook (surprise, surprise). love,
ReplyDeleteb (pick me to win!)
my favorite wild food to eat around here are wineberries. they grow all over our property. a cross in taste between a raspberries sweetness and a cherry's sourness, they are, in short, AMAZING! thanks for hosting such an incredible giveaway. i'm going to fb/tweet the giveaway, as well!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful book and giveaway! My absolute favorite wild food is nettles, but I also love morels and fiddlehead ferns. Edible flowers are lots of fun too. Borage and nasturtium are two of my favorites. Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeletenasturtium(at)fastmail.fm
Dandelion greens sound good. And they are everywhere!
ReplyDeleteWow - how did this book get under my radar? It looks like an amazing resource. We're novice PNW foragers, and have had fun with nettles, chanterelles, various clams, and now we're planning a morel trip for May. I think my favorite thing to forage is whatever's in season. Thanks for a chance in the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteOoooo, I want! PICK ME! PICK ME!
ReplyDeleteI love wild mushrooms. Some garlic sauteed morels...delicious. I am dying to try cooking with fiddlehead ferns though - I use them in bouquets but not food just yet. =)
I liked them on Facebook!
ReplyDeleteBlueberries FTW!
ReplyDeleteI love to harvest wild blackberries. I know they are lower quality than domestic ones, they are invasive and terrible to garden around, but they are so prolific and it's so nice to get quantities of easy, free fruit!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness! This books looks BEAUTIFUL!
ReplyDeleteI don't have just one favorite wild food though. I love blueberries. And currents. And salmon. And fiddleheads. And now that I live in the south GRAPES!! :-D
I need to find a book like this for N. Carolina. Thus far I've been disappointed w/ the books I've found, as well as with the ability of the native N. Carolinians, whom I've befriended, to be my foraging guide. :-/
Thanks for this giveaway! What an awesome one to do!
Also I have "liked" them on FB...
ReplyDelete...and followed them on Twitter! :-D
ReplyDelete