Category Archives: asides

The Fly Tapes: Episode 3

Leave a reply

RECENTLY I HAD the pleasure of talking with Jason Rolfe, a writer and fishing guide who uses fly-fishing as the put-in to navigate an ever-changing stream of words, art, and ideas through a variety of mediums. In addition to guiding and taking shifts at my local flyshop, Emerald Water Anglers in West Seattle, Jason operates the Syzygy Fly Fishing web site, runs a podcast called The Fly Tapes, and is the impresario behind Writers on the Fly, a traveling reading series that combines tales inspired by fly-fishing with visual art, music, conservation, and beer (not necessarily in that order).

In episode three of The Fly Tapes I talk to Jason about salmon culture, the recent release of my book Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, from River to Table, and the writing life, among many other  topics, in a wide-ranging conversation that might as well be taking place in a drift boat deep within a basalt slot canyon.

In related news, this week kicks off the second annual Cascadia Tour for Writers on the Fly, with readings/happenings in Bend (11/14) Portland (11/15), Seattle (11/16), Bellingham (11/17), and Vancouver, BC. (11/18) I’ll be at the PDX gig this Wednesday with several other esteemed writers, artists, conservationists, and moon-howlers.

The Hawk Lady

1 Reply

Dear readers, I’m pleased to share with you an essay of mine that was a finalist in Terrain.org‘s third annual writing contest. Terrain is an online lit journal that celebrates the intersection between nature and the human-mediated world. My submission, “The Hawk Lady,” was published in issue 31, which debuted yesterday, January 15.

Those of you have read my book Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager will recognize the essay’s setting—the Rogue River Canyon of southwestern Oregon, where I spent a year off the grid with my family, a sabbatical away from the city that inspired both the book and this essay. So while it’s not about foraging, per se, this piece is very much a part of what I’m doing now and my interest in our relationship with the wild.

Dept. of Horn-tooting

3 Replies

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of introducing national NPR correspondent Martin Kaste to the woods—and all the possibilities for nourishment that await within. The segment was part of a week-long series devoted to “West Coast Innovators.”Short radio interviews can be tricky, but I think Martin did an excellent job of capturing the many levels of awareness that go into foraging, from the sheer visceral pleasure of it to the culinary to the cautionary.

Listen to my NPR interview:

The following week, while in the Cascades hunting spring porcini, I took a break on the edge of cell range to speak with James Beard Award-winning food writer and personality Anthony Dias Blue. Listen to our conversation on “Blue Lifestyle” (starts around 18 minute mark).

Environmental Writers Workshop

Leave a reply

Seattle’s Burke Museum is sponsoring its third annual Environmental Writers Workshop on Saturday, April  23, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Award-winning authors and journalists Carol Kaesuk Yoon (Naming Nature) and Bruce Barcott (The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw) will join me in leading both class-based and field-based sessions in this all-day workshop.  Enrollment is open to 40. We’ll divide into three groups so that each enrollee has a chance to work with all three instructors. Sessions will include panel talks, writing exercises, and class discussion. Lunch is provided. The cost is $100.

 
To register, please email burked@uw.edu or call (206) 543-5591.

Photo by Catherine Anstett

New in Paperback!

2 Replies

I’m pleased to announce that my book, Fat of the Land: Adventures of a 21st Century Forager, is now out in paperback. You can buy a copy at all the usual places: Amazon, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble, or your local bookstore.

A few Quotes & Reviews: 

“Once in a while a book crosses my desk that gives me pause, and once in a very great while a book will resonate with me in such a way that it becomes part of my permanent collection. Fat of the Land, by Langdon Cook, is one of those. Part memoir, part cookbook, part field guide for the adventurous gourmand, Cook’s book is simultaneously lyrical, practical and quixotic.” —Greg Atkinson, Seattle Times

Smart, funny, and hugely knowledgeable, Langdon Cook is a walking field guide and a gifted storyteller. Fat of the Land is a welcome kick in the pants to get outside and start foraging for our suppers. —Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table

“With his beautifully-crafted prose, rare gift for storytelling, and good humor to spare, Langdon Cook serves up the best kind of nature writing: drawing readers along on his wild adventures, and leaving us with a deepened sense of daily sustenance in the natural world.” —Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness

My New Column

8 Replies

In their infinite wisdom—or maybe a moment of deadline and coffee-induced weakness—the editorial folks at Seattle Magazine have handed over a few column inches to this here foraging scribbler. It’s called…drumroll…”Cook’s Adventures.” Every other issue I’ll be taking readers on a jaunt to some of my favorite outdoor grocery stores to sample the wild foods therein.

For the inaugural column we stay close to home, just sticking a toe in the swirling currents of adventurous gastronomy. “Weed Eater” is a tour of my backyard—and probably yours too. Bottom line: Don’t compost those dandelions. Eat them!

Yesterday on Seattle’s King 5 TV, I spoke with Margaret Larson on New Day Northwest about the new column, taste-tested a few backyard weeds with the studio audience, and cooked up a batch of Stinging Nettle Soup. Coming in May: Morels!

Field Trips and Workshops

9 Replies

In upcoming months I’ll be teaching a variety of classes on foraging, cooking, and writing in the Puget Sound region. One day maybe I’ll get organized enough to send out a newsletter to those of you interested in such classes. In the meantime, check back here on the blog periodically to see what’s being offered. I’ll post dates in the right column.

In an exciting new collaboration I’ll be working with the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District to offer several foraging and cooking classes in 2011. The first will be a stinging nettles class with instruction both in the field and in the kitchen. I’ll also be teaching shellfish classes [dates TBD], including a geoduck dig!

Writing workshops are on tap as well. On April 23 I’ll be teaching an all-day Environmental Writers Workshop in Seattle. This is sponsored by the Burke Museum and will be held at the Center for Urban Horticulture. In September I’ll be at the North Cascades Institute for the three-day Thunder Arm Writing Retreat, and some time this fall I’ll be teaching a writing workshop at 826 Seattle. Stay tuned for updates.

Note: If you would like to organize your own field trip, you can contact me at finspotcook AT gmail dot com. I’ve taken groups up to 25 in number on nature walks and wild food walks around the Seattle area and Tiger Mountain. This is a good introduction to foraging and plant identification.

Dept. of Horn Tooting

3 Replies

If you enjoy a fish story, head over to your quality news stand and pick up a copy of the May/June Gray’s Sporting Journal—and I’m not saying that just because I have a piece in the current issue, adapted from a chapter in the book. If you’re not familiar with GSJ, check it out here. There are few better outlets for the reader (or writer) who could care less about trophies, secret spots, and the latest outdoorsy fashion statements.

I really like the artwork the editors paired with the story. Though a salmon fisherman isn’t likely to encounter such breakers along the beaches of Puget Sound, the painting captures the feel of the elements, how you can disappear into your thoughts on a good day of saltwater casting even when the beach is crowded with other anglers.

Riding the Radio Waves

7 Replies

Listen to an archived edition >>

I found myself in the U-District studios of NPR Seattle affiliate KUOW 94.9 FM this morning, sitting in a sound room with “Weekday” host Steve Scher and two other local foragers, Patrice Benson, president of the Puget Sound Mycological Society and Christina Choi, a co-founder (along with Jeremy Faber) of Foraged and Found Edibles, a company that provides wild foods to area restaurants. If the other two guests were nervous they certainly didn’t show it. Meanwhile my own stomach was doing back flips.

Despite the nerves, in a fortunate coup of timing I had an ace up my sleeve—or more accurately an elephant in the corner. While en route to the studio this morning I was able to stop off and nab a western giant puffball (Calvatia booniana) that was fruiting on an eroded slope above Martin Luther King Blvd. right in the heart of the Central District (less than half of which is pictured at right). The mushroom was bigger than my head. It looked more like an alien space egg. I had a prop!

Once the show went live all mental preparation went out the window. It was auto-pilot all the way—and I’m pleased to say this auto-piloting forager was able to navigate the radio waves without crashing and burning, landing safely an hour later. I even had fun. Hats off to Steve Scher and all his colleagues at KUOW for making us feel so comfortable.

You can listen to an archived edition of the hour-long show, “Nature’s Bounty: A Forager’s Delight.”

Houston, we have cover art!

17 Replies

Here it is folks, the Fat of the Land book cover. The book won’t be published until August 30, but it feels a little bit more real now, even if the jacket only exists as pixels on a screen.

Try as we may, pretty much all of us judge books by their covers. Social scientists suggest there are evolutionary reasons for this, since making a snap judgment about a friend or foe was often a decision fraught with life-or-death consequences for our prehistoric ancestors. Like all cliches, there’s a grain of truth at the heart of the book cover trope. I know I’m guilty. One of my favorite books of the year probably wouldn’t have gotten even a cursory flip-through at the bookstore if I hadn’t decided to buy it sight unseen after reading a review.

Happily, I’m pleased with the cover. I like the type fonts and those deep blue cobblestones. The fork is a nice touch, too, and the crab—well, that was my idea. You can’t really go wrong with a crab. Crabs are cool (the ones you eat, that is).

Okay, enough of that. I’ve still got to make a few edits to the first typeset pages and get those in by tomorrow. Then it’s out of my hands forever.

P.S. You can pre-order it now.