Life at The River Cottage
Self-Sufficient Lifestyle Suits Locavores, Urban Farmers, Foodies
Oct 21, 2009
When food lovers proclaim the back-to-the-earth movement as the example of how food is supposed to taste – fresh, local and wholesome – credit the United Kingdom’s Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, author of The Rover Cottage Cookbook (Harper Collins, 2001, ISBN 0 00 220204 2) for at least part of the popularity surrounding the so-called “locavore” movement.
Fearnley-Wittingstall is a respected British food writer who has won numerous awards for his articles and cookbooks, including the Glenfiddich Trophy 2002 for The River Cottage Cookbook.
Life in the Country
The River Cottage of the title is a typical English country home that London-living Fearnley-Whittingstall rented from time to time as a weekend getaway. Fearnley-Whittingstall issued a proposal to a British television station: Why not film a series there, based on the self-sustaining lifestyle he had created for himself in the country? Why not, indeed, said Britain’s Channel Four – and the series River Cottage was born. The cookbook, of course, emerged from the series.
The cookbook is itself, a testament to that self-sufficient lifestyle once lived by farmers in both the U.K. and the U.S. It’s divided into four sections – garden, livestock, fish and the very British “hedgerow,” which Americans might term “foraging.” This is more than a cookbook, though. This is a how-to manual for today’s urban farmer, with instructions on not only how to cook a chicken, for example, but also in how to choose, house, feed and butcher that chicken as well.
Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs
In the vegetable category, readers are given the basics of growing vegetables, fruits and herbs, then, once the gardens and orchards have been harvested, the book explores ways to use the harvest. Try a River Cottage chutney or a cherry clafouti. Of course, some of the book will need “translation.” There is a recipe for a courgette soufflé, which might prove puzzling for Americans not used to British terminology – but glance over at the next page, “Four more ways to cook courgettes” – and you may recognize the courgette as a zucchini. After all, what other vegetable in the garden is as ubiquitous or as versatile?
The fish category provides a bit of charming information on shellfish for those who want to head for the nearest seashore and collect their own. (Who needs a fish monger?) Fearnley-Whittingstall reminds readers that everyone has the same beachcombing instincts as children; they just need to recover them. For those whose instincts may not yet be fully tuned, however, he provides a list of the best (British) shellfish beaches. Those who live inland needn’t feel left out. There is a section in the category that focuses on just freshwater fish.
Finally, there is the hedgerow category – for the hunter-gatherer cook. Information about hunting hares, venison, pigeons and snails are provided along with recipes, but if that proves to be “too much information,” readers can turn to the gathering section – and learn about how to forage wild greens, herbs, mushrooms, and fruit and nuts.
Appreciating Food
Not everyone, of course, wants to get as basic as Fearnley-Whittingstall does in The River Cottage Cookbook – but it’s no doubt a handy book to have on the shelf if there is a sudden apocalypse and those remaining are left to fend for themselves. In the meantime, the information it contains provides a deeper appreciation for the food picked up so blithely on a supermarket shelf. And the recipes are delicious.
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