Books That I Have Flipping Loved
I love to learn, be well informed & to be inspired, especially when it comes to food.
Here are a few of my number one books & authors that have left a lasting impression on me.
The Ethical Carnivore
- By Louise Gray
We should all know exactly where our meat comes from.
But what if you took this modern-day maxim to its logical conclusion and only ate animals you killed yourself?
Louise Gray decides to be an ethical carnivore and learn to stalk, shoot and fish. Starting small, Louise shucks oysters and catches a trout.
As she begins to reconnect with nature, she befriends countrymen and women who can teach her to shoot pigeons, rabbits and red deer.
Louise begins to look into how meat is processed, including the beef in our burgers, cheap chicken, supermarket bacon and farmed fish. She investigates halal slaughter and visits abattoirs to ask whether new technology can make eating meat more humane.
Delving into alternative food cultures, Louise finds herself sourcing roadkill and cooking a squirrel stir-fry, and she explores eating other sources of protein like in vitro meat, insects and plant-based options.
With the global demand for meat growing, Louise argues that eating less meat should be an essential part of fighting climate change for all of us.
Her writing on nature, food and the environment is full of humour, while never shying from the hard facts.
Louise gets to the heart of modern anxieties about where our meat comes from, asking an important question for our time – is it possible to be an ethical carnivore?
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
- By Samin Nosrat
While cooking at Chez Panisse at the start of her career, Samin Nosrat noticed that amid the chaos of the kitchen there were four key principles that her fellow chefs would always fall back on to make their food better: Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat.
By mastering these four variables, Samin found the confidence to trust her instincts in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients.
Whether you want to balance your vinaigrette, perfectly caramelise your roasted vegetables or braise meltingly tender stews, Samin’s canon of 100 essential recipes and their dozens of variations will teach you how.
Venice is a Fish
- By Tiziano Scarpa
The most beautifully written book I have ever read! I read it twice in a week. A sensual travel guide to Venice that is like no other guide book you will ever read.
This book opened my eyes & ears to parts of the city I might have missed if, I had not stumbled across this book in the Aqua Alta book shop. Tiziano is a Venetian poet, novelist & play write who captures his city in a way that made me love travel, history & just being alive, more with each page I read.
His descriptions are incredible, honest, romantic & inspiring…
Built on an inverted forest, paved with a tortoiseshell of boulders, Venice is a maze of tiny alleys, bridges and squares.
Tiziano Scarpa wanders through the city, recounting the customs and secrets that only Venetians know. With everything from practical advice for aspiring Venetian lovers to hints at where to find the best bacaro, Scarpa waves the tourist in the right direction, without naming a single restaurant, hotel or bar, relates the secret language needed to experience the real Venice.
So ignore the street signs – why fight the labyrinth? Venice, the fish, is ready to swallow you whole.
