A TASTE OF HAIDA GWAII (Whitecap, 2015, 374 pages, ISBN 978-1-77050-216-1, $34.95 CAN paper covers) is by the indefatigable award-winning Susan Musgrave, better know for her 19 books of poetry, plus other fiction and non-fiction and children's books. This is her first cookbook. It is a unique and entertaining look at the remote archipelago Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands) on the northwest coast of BC. Musgrave has lived there for decades. In 2010 she acquired Copper Beech House, a guest home. She has long been devoted to foraging and eating locally, and this has now resulted in a cookbook based on her stash of recipes that she has collected over the years. It is a good read, especially for fans of Canadian Literature. A lot of it is based on good gathering and foraging, with appropriate recipes and stories. It starts with breakfast at Copper Beech House, moves through foraging for the oven, food gathering all year long, harvesting the sea and the land, and ending with dinner on the deck. But these are just chapter headings. Haida culture is covered as well as wildlife and food preservation. This is probably my most eclectic cookbook received this year.
Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements.
Audience and level of use: serious cooks, Canadian culture and literature lovers.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: cold-smoked salmon; baked yams with honey, butter and lime; shipwrecked chicken wings in saltwater brine; spruce tip syrup; crunchy cabbage and sugar pea salad with sesame miso dressing; sauteed sea asparagus; smoked salmon on seaweed with avocado.
The downside to this book: heavy in weight
The upside to this book: lots of photos and stories, eclectic in nature.
Quality/Price Rating: 90.
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