Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager

Langdon Cook's book is divided into four sections, one for each season. Within each season, he shares several chapters, each one focusing on a specific item he forages for, with anecdotes on the process, historical facts, and stories about the goofy characters he comes across in the foraging realm.It was really refreshing reading a book that was both incredibly informative and chock full of humor. Cook ends each chapter with a recipe, and they were all mouth watering (and a bit terrifying, for t [...]

Read for the "food memoir" square on Book Bingo 2016. This book perfectly aligns with my interests in mushroom hunting and other wild foods of the Pacific NW. That said, the writing was a little clunky and there were a few too many fishing chapters for a book about foraging (I was hoping for more plants and less hunting). I didn't necessarily care for Cook's voice, but I did learn a lot about hunting wild flora and fauna in the Pacific NW, and some of the recipes included look delicious.

Great storytelling, memorable characters, and tons of info on wild foods and foraging.

Love this book - This is the first book I've read by Langdon Cook and I look forward to picking up another one of his. This book makes me want to get out into the woods and find my own food. That way of live has become so appealing to me lately and I can't get enough of reading about it - The stories Landon tells transports you right to the location and time and the details allow you to really know what it smells and tastes like! Highly recommend for the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. #mayernikkitch [...]

This book collects the adventures of a modern, Seattle-dwelling dude who chases wild food. He doesn't discuss extensively why he does it, and thus avoids endless ranting about local foods or back-to-nature smugness. Since I've been fascinated by free, public food sources lately, this quickly rose to the top of my "must read" list. The story is divided into seasons, and each season has its own bounty, complete with recipes, anecdotes and punch lines. By the end of the last mushrooming forage stor [...]

This was a fast read, and a fun one for anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest and is interested in what edible items may be caught in the water or harvested on land here. It is well written and each chapter ends with a recipe. Hence, four stars. And here are the reasons I deducted a star. First, this author loves butter, salt, bacon, and lots more non-vegan, non-vegetarian items, so the recipes don't offer much to someone who'd prefer to eat in moderation, without meat, or more cleanly, or w [...]

This flowery self-indulgent memoir left me rolling my eyes at Cook so often that it took me forever to finish it. The book does have some great surface level information about the types of foraging opportunities available in the Pacific Northwest, but only enough to pique your interest to prompt more research. Cook includes a lot of information about his friends and odd little conversations that he clearly thinks were clever or funny, but those sections slow down the book and never hit their mar [...]

Follows Langdon's outdoor culinary adventures and pursuit of fine foods that can be found with a little knowledge and a willingness to look and dive and dig where others might never take the time to explore. My favorite part, besides the description of the wonderful banquet spread hosted at a small log cabin in the final pages is the recipes he includes at the end of each chapter. I use the beer battered fish recipe all the time and the crab cakes I made following his instructions turned out won [...]

I really enjoyed this book. After coming back from a 120 mile backpack, the vast majority of time spent eating blueberries and huckleberries on the trail, then reading Langdon Cook's insider account of foraging in the Pacific Northwest was inspirational. Growing up around here, it was nice to have nods to certain places, like Point Wells (I go diving there too!) the locks and other Seattle area notables. I can't wait to start foraging on my own. The tides look great in another week, so maybe I c [...]

After following Langdon Cook's blog for some time, I loved reading this book. It's a wonderful introduction to the complexity of foraging in Washington state, and a perfect introduction for me, a transplant to this new environment. I enjoyed the author's sense of humor, open mind, and ability to share his insights about food, ecosystems, and people. Now when I notice dandelions growing by the road, or slurp a fresh oyster at the local restaurant, I remember his adventures, and appreciate that he [...]

After years of seasonally harvesting nettles, berries, crab, occasional clams and salmon, my interest in foraging reached new heights after stumbling into a patch of morel mushrooms. This led to many hours spent carefully poking around the woods not far from my home where I went on to discover the golden forest flowers known as chanterelles. It was fun to read the firsthand stories of another forager, told with humility and humor, sprinkled with history and each chapter capped with a recipe.

These 2 stars do not mean "next to bad", but that this book was really Okay. I had exppected it to be more about gathering than hunting and fishing. I had also hoped for illustrations. This is not really a guide as to how one would go about living off the fat of the land, but rather Langdon's adventures in doing so. These adventures are engaging to read although very much from a guy's point of view.

Even though every weekend of the fall mushroom season has me out in the woods and winter is a much needed break - reading this in the middle of winter has me excited and wanting to get back out into the forest. There are some great foraging tips in this book from clamming to picking huckleberries, but I think Cook's love and appreciation of wildlife and ecosystems is a stronger pull to keep you reading to the end.

Interesting book, but not quite what I'd been hoping for. Thought it would contain more how-to's and recipes. So, I confess, I only skimmed it. (More thorough readers will probably give a higher star rating.) I am looking forward to trying some of the recipes included though, like Stinging Nettle Soup (at last - a use for those nasty things!)

This book was a quick, easy read, full of praise for the "eat local" concept without a lot of preachiness, and well-balanced between facts about the foods at hand and personal stories to give you a connection to the material. Bonus points for being Northwest-focused (Western Washington, particularly), since I'm a sucker for anything that personally relates to me.

I finish this book still reflecting on one line early on; "Foraging at the dawn of the twenty-first century is a weird mix of opportunity and regret." Indeed. If you love wild places and the nourishment they provide, its a reality that haunts you. Don't let that stop you from reading this book however. This is a fun romp in the woods, more fun and informative than maudlin.

There are foraging ideas in this book that I had never considered. Before I moved to Seattle, I would read about these awesome things that people who lived in Seattle did. I was always jealous, now I have those same opportunities, and this book is telling me about great things I should have done outside the city. Sigh! Oh and he does give recipes.

Has some cool insight into food foraging, though it's centralized around the west coast and therefore not quite as useful as I'd hoped. It did get me to start seeing differently when walking/running around town. I know where three or four public-land apple trees are in my neighborhood, two of which I've used to make cider.

not what I was expecting, but still pretty interesting!The only chapter relevant for me was for dandelions, which I promptly put to use by making his dandelion petal bread. I also sauteed a few bitter greens and made a tea from the roots.

A very fun read with a mixture of narrative and useful information. While overall I'd say this book is mostly a collection of stories about exciting outdoor adventures relating to foraging for food, there are some useful nuggets of information for the perspective forager as well.

Usually, the English-major-writing-about-science books bug me, but Fat of the Land was beautiful and fun. The best part was the side characters, all of whom seemed much larger than life.

Neat, very engaging handbook/memoir on foraging food in the Pacific Northwest. Includes recipes. Very fish/seafood/mushroom oriented. Author also maintainsa comprehensive blog and teaches hands-on classes locally.

I adored the authorial voice here. Cook was an approachable, fun friend who invited me along on his trips- that's how I felt, reading this. I enjoyed all his adventures immensely, and had vicarious fun with him. I want him to write a memoir now, please.

I loved this book. It made me consider the wild edibles of the Pacific Northwest in a new way, as foods for which I could actually forage instead of merely buying them in the grocery store. Highly recommended for its imagery and wit.

Pure west coast fun. Recipies, local spots, and personal connection all in one book. It read like a compolation of connected short stories so it is a great book to pick up and put down anytime.

read my review at my food blog: potlikkery/2011/06/for

Love foraging mushrooms (my newest hobby) so can't wait to read the Langdon Cook book

It's good and interesting, but I was hoping for more instruction and instead am getting anecdotes. It's still entertaining and local for me.

Stellar description of modern day foraging complete with humor and recipes

A fine read, especially for someone who lives near the Puget Sound; stretches foraging to include spearing fish underwater and other quite literally adventurous eating.