First Catch

“Eagle, a chef and food writer, uses a nine-dish lunch as the occasion to ruminate about cooking, and life” (New York Times Book Review). First, Catch is a cookbook without recipes, an invitation to journey through the digressive mind of a chef at work, and a hymn to a singular nine-dish festive spring lunch. In Eagle’s kitchen, open shelves reveal colorful jars of vegetables pickling over the course of months, and a soffritto of onions, celery, and carrots cook slowly under a watchful gaze in a skillet heavy enough to double as a murder weapon. Eagle has both the sharp eye of a food scientist as he tries to identify the seventeen unique steps of boiling water, as well as of that of a roving food historian as he ponders what the spice silphium tasted like to the Romans, who over-ate it to worldwide extinction. He is a tour guide to the world of ingredients, a culinary explorer, and thoughtful commentator on the ways immigration, technology, and fashion has changed the way we eat. He is also a food philosopher, asking the question: at what stage does cooking begin? Is it when we begin to apply heat or acid to ingredients? Is it when we gather and arrange what we will cook—and perhaps start to salivate? Or does it start even earlier, in the wandering late-morning thought, “What should I eat for lunch?” Irreverent and charming, yet also illuminating and brilliantly researched, First, Catch encourages us to slow down and focus on what it means to cook. With this astonishing and beautiful book, Thom Eagle joins the ranks of great food writers like M.F.K. Fisher, Alice Waters, and Samin Nosrat in offering us inspiration to savor, both in and out of the kitchen. Winner of the Fortnum and Mason’s Debut Food Book Award Shortlisted for the 2018 Andre Simon Food & Drink Book of the Year BBC Radio 4 Food Programme Best Foodbooks of 2018 Times Best Food Books of 2018 Financial Times Summer Food Books of 2018 “A contemplation of cooking and eating, a return to the great tradition of food writing inspired by M.F.K. Fisher’s The Gastronomical Me . . . Eagle writes with a wit and sharpness that can turn a chapter on fermenting pickles into a riff on death and decay while still making it seem like something you would like to put in your mouth.” —Mark Haskell Smith, Los Angeles Times “In two dozen short chapters linked like little sausages, he serves up a bounty of fresh, often tart opinions about food and cooking . . . Eagle is a natural teacher; his enthusiasm and broad view of food preparation is both instructive and inspiring . . . Eagle’s prose, while conversational in tone, is as crafted and layered as his cuisine. Never bland, it is also brightly seasoned with strong opinions . . . Rare among food writing, this book is bound to change the way you think about your next meal.” —Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor

Analyzing more than 150 years of recipes and cookbooks, this study chronicles the culinary history of New Zealand, looking at curious dishes such as boiled calf's head and stewed liver with macaroni, to the more traditional favorites such as homemade jams and chutneys. It explores what makes New Zealand cooking distinctive, and examines how the culture has changed, from the prevalence of whitebait and mussels in the 1920s, to the arrival of Asian influences in the 1950s, and finally to the modern emphasis on fresh ingredients and fusion cooking.

“Tight, lyrical, linguistically muscular, the poems he sent me grabbed the attention. Now, his first collection, Reading the Water, has just appeared and I’m delighted to see it’s a stunning, well-crafted book. Reading the Water is a richly woven collection which capably showcases Schimmel’s love of language, symbolism and poetic craft”. Siobhan Harvey - Editor of Takahe Magazine at the time of the review. Paul Schimmel’s debut collection is a quietly stunning achievement. These carefully crafted poems talk about our relationship to the natural world. They go beyond invention into discovery; on one hand paying scrupulous attention to what we can read in the landscapes of nature, and on the other going deeper into the often mysterious landscapes of the human heart. Michael Harlow - Recipient of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s award for poetry in 2018. Praise for ‘Sigmund Freud’s Discovery of Psychoanalysis: conquistador and thinker’ Routledge UK, 2014. “So he has taken on a challenge [in writing yet another book on Freud] and it is one he succeeds in meeting. What is distinctive is Schimmel’s generous, intelligent engagement with Freud’s intellectual and emotional struggles…” From Humphrey Morris’s review in: Journal of The American Psychoanalytic Association. Paul Schimmel is a psychoanalyst and writer. Originally from New Zealand, he currently lives and works in Sydney, although looks forward to retiring to Aotearoa (New Zealand). He has had poetry published in various, mainly New Zealand, literary magazines, a book of poems in 2016, and a psychobiographical study ‘Sigmund Freud’s discovery of psychoanalysis: conquistador and thinker’, published by Routledge UK, in 2014. He has always been a keen fisherman, as witnessed by this text.

Here is a book for everyone who loves food and travel. It is a book that will introduce you to the foods of Africa, Europe and the USA with great company along the way. This is not a gourmand’s book of overindulgence, but a slow savouring of the food that has nourished the author’s imagination and taste over a lifetime. The son of a baker, Julian Roup grew up in South Africa with two powerful food cultures, his mother’s French-Dutch-Norwegian heritage and his father’s Eastern European Jewish food tradition. The mix provided him with sophisticated and discerning taste buds from the earliest age. His journeys around South Africa, Mozambique and Angola provide tales of adventurous travel well stocked with interesting food. Emigrating to the UK in 1980, he discovered a whole new world of tastes in Europe as he ventured into his new continent from Greece to Portugal, Spain to France and Italy, with visits to America’s West Coast as well. He is as interested in the taste of bread as he is in cordon bleu. Roup is best known for his books on the environment, horse riding, fishing and politics, but now he invites you to join him on his trail out of Africa to Europe and America, with all the colour and tastes of the places he fell in love with. This is a book that will feed your appetite to break bread and to take to the road once more in search of the best the good earth offers us.

Gingerbread is a loved sweet treat. Enthusiastic bakers and families baking together since lockdown will enjoy the history and recipes.

Experience the magic of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling How to Catch brand in this sweet Halloween board book for little ones! Can you catch a witch? It's the spookiest night of the year and one child has a wish: to trap a witch on her broomstick so she can touch a twinkle star in the sky! Brimming with charming rhymes and delightful art, this Halloween book for kids will enchant little readers as they follow the child, her black cat, and puppy friend in building playful lures for the witch on the broom! Filled with cute jack-o'-lantern pumpkins, trick-or-treat costumes, candy, and more, this spellbinding story makes a perfect addition to any Halloween trick-or-treat basket, holiday gift for babies and toddlers, or a festive fall read aloud for ages 0-3! To ride on a magic broom on Halloween night You'll have to catch a witch so you can take flight! Looking for more read aloud fun? Also in the How to Catch series: My First How to Catch Santa Claus My First How to Catch the Easter Bunny How to Catch a Monster How to Catch a Gingerbread Man How to Catch a Unicorn ... And more!

Do you remember the first time your dad took you fishing, or the first time you caught your own fish? Trickling streams and whispering trees. That day was perfect. Experience it all again and share your love for fishing with your children. Your children are the ones that will be advocating for the conservation of land and animals. This book takes you down the river with a poetic immersion into a child's perspective on his or her first catch while teaching a lesson of perseverance.