A CURIOUS HARVEST: THE PRACTICAL ART OF COOKING EVERYTHING
BY MAXIMUS THALER AND DAYNA SAFFERSTEIN
A Curious Harvest is not a cookbook. It is a beautiful reference book, which instead of recipes, offers information on individual ingredients, their qualities, storability, ways to cook and suggestions of what other foods can be paired with them. Chapters range from vegetables, carbohydrates, fruits, protein, dairy, fats, sweeteners, spices, flavors and herbs.
The premise of A Curious Harvest is to use what you have on hand, rather shopping for ingredients. For example, if you have kale in the house and need inspiration the author tells you that kale can be paired with barley or can be stir-fried with tofu, tempeh and spices. From here, if you look up barley, more suggestions are available. The choices keep expanding. Helpful hints on storing ingredients are also included. I did not know that ginger could be stored unrefrigerated for more than a month. I always kept it in the freezer. Colorful and eye-appealing illustrations are done by Dayna Safferstein.
The philosophy for this cookbook came from Thaler’s involvement in the Gleaners’ Kitchen, which was an underground restaurant and grocery store that used ingredients from dumpsters to prepare meals to be given away for free. This project was featured in Time Magazine, The Boston Glove, The Huffington Post, Boston Public Radio and many other news sources. It does not currently have a location. Information at their website.
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