“Feasting Wild is indeed a feast — a memorable, genre-defying work that blends anthropology and adventure, love and loss. Gina Rae La Cerva is a keen observer and a wonderful writer.”
A writer and anthropologist searches for wild foods—and reveals what we lose in a world where wildness itself is misunderstood, commodified, and hotly pursued.
For most of human history, we hunted and gathered. Today, most people will never eat anything undomesticated. And yet the desire to eat wild has never been stronger.
To understand this trend, La Cerva forages for wild onions in a Danish cemetery, tracks the trade in illegal game meat from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Europe, sips elusive bird’s nest soup in Borneo, and smuggles Swedish "heartbreak" moose meat home in her suitcase.
Feasting Wild is a remarkable celebration of biodiversity, Indigenous and women's knowledge, our vital connection to nature, and delicious flavors!
“It is rare these days to find a food book with a truly original take on food. Feasting Wild gives you a great deal to think about and at the same time is a pleasure to read.”
“This is the food book I’ve always wanted to read—a witty, illuminating, and beautifully written travelogue, which rightly centers the historical role of women, and the importance of Indigenous knowledge. Throw away the trite faux-wisdom of dietitians; and gorge yourself instead on the charming platter that Gina Rae La Cerva has served up.”
“Feasting Wild is at the point in the Venn diagram where Cheryl Strayed and Michael Pollan overlap. ”
“Eloquent and utterly original. Page after page I savored the thrill of a perfect sentence driving home a surprising new way to think about the world.”