Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 239 pages

Scottish field, July 07
" Thirty years after its initial publication, the forager's bible continues to inspire and enthral."

Synopsis
Fans of Food for Free will be delighted at this new format -- ideal for carrying in a rucksack. Over 100 edible plants are featured together with recipes and other interesting culinary information. With details on how to pick, when to pick and regulations on picking. This new format of a best-selling title provides a portable guide for all those who enjoy what the countryside has to offer. Over 100 plants are listed, fully illustrated and described, together with recipes and other fascinating information about their use throughout the ages. The recipes are listed so that you can plan your foray with a feast in mind. This is the ideal book for both nature-lovers and cooks. Particularly with today's emphasis on the freshest and most natural of foods. There is also practical advice on how to pick plus the countryside laws and regulations on picking wild plants.

Customer Reviews

A Handy Pocket Volume


Richard Mabey is the author of several books on flora and fauna so he is well qualified to write a book such as this. Over one hundred edible plants are featured together with recipes and other culinary information. There is also information on how to pick and when to pick and the regulations on picking which are very important. As I come from farming stock I have to say that food for free does not mean going into a field and digging up a few potato plants or for that matter cabbages.

There are plenty of hedgerow plants available for free, if you are prepared to look for them and suffer the odd few scratches. There is nothing better than a bowl of freshly picked blackberries or raspberries, if you can get them home before they are all eaten.

Plants that are edible are fully illustrated and described and the recipes are both old and new. Other fascinating information is how the plants have been used through the ages. An ideal book for all those who are nature lovers and like the idea of something for nothing. I think the last part covers 99.9% of the population.

Good Introduction
I bought this book recently through a desire to understand the countryside around me and try some of its natural foodstuffs.
The book is very well presented and includes an excellent foreword by the author. It provides a basic explaination of the various flora, a little of their natural and culinary history and there are nice photographs with identification hints.
I think I would like to have seen more recipies and ways in which they might be implemented. In the section dedicated to Spring I think there are only three recipies with much of the other suggestions directed towards salads. On balance a satisfactory purchase but I think that if my interest in wild foods develops I will certainly have to follow up my purchase with something more wholly dedicated to the culinary.

Excellent pocket sized guide
This is a 2004 version and worthy addition to the very popular and pocket-sized Collins Gem series. ISBN 0-00-718303-8. Food For Free - A Fantastic Feast of Plants and Folklore.

The book starts with an introduction by the author Richard Mabey. It then has short sections titled 'Roots', 'Green Vegetables', 'Herbs', 'Spices', 'Flowers', 'Fruits', 'Making Jellies and Jams' and 'Nuts'. They include general advice, observations and uses. The main section of the book is given over to identification, with at least two pages per entry. An interesting section follows titled ’Picking Rules’ which gives advice on how to pick correctly how to stay safe. The last section before the main body of the book is a summary calendar which groups the picking times for entries into a colour-coded calendar - very useful as a quick reference.

Every entry is accompanied with a drawing. Most of the drawings are excellent, but one or two are a little small and thus less detailed. Fortunately, almost every entry also has a photograph. The combination of colour drawings and colour photographs is what makes this little pocket book a true 'gem'. If the drawing is a little weak, the photo will be excellent and vice-versa. Almost fool proof.

Each entry starts with the common English name (Latin is in small type at the top of the page)a colour illustration and description. Taking Beech (at random), it says: 'Widespread and common throughout the British Isles, especially on chalky soils. A stately deciduous tree, with smooth, grey bark, to 40m (130ft). Leaves: bright green, alternate, oval. Flowers: male drooping, stalked heads; female in pairs. Fruit: four inside a prickly brown husk, Sept-Oct. When ripe this opens into four lobes, this liberating the brown, three-sided nuts.' The illustration depicts a leaf, spring twig with unopened buds, an opening husk revealing nut inside and bare nut. The article continues with headings; Harvest/Pick, Uses, Beech Nut, Beech Nut Oil, Beech Leaf Noyau. The photo at the end of the entry is a good close-up of a twig with a cluster of husks. (I didn’t know, for example, that ‘fresh from the tree Beech leaves are a fine salad vegetable, as sweet as a mild cabbage though much softer in texture’.)

The book, in line with its title, covers Plants and Trees, Fungi, Seaweeds and Shellfish. There is a glossary at the end and a page devoted to further reading. There is a List of Recipes and finally an index of entries in common English or Latin.

There aren't that many books devoted to 'British' wild foods so to find one which lists over 100 edible plants, berries, mushrooms, seaweed and shellfish is most welcome. Given the true pocket size measurements of the Collins Gem series of books, the price of a fiver (£4-99) and the quality of each entry, this is as good as it gets. Obviously not a benchmark reference work or field-guide, but at least this fits in the pocket - which is the main purpose of such books, isn't it? Five stars!