More than anything, as I read The Troll Cookbook, I wanted to turn back the clock to when my boys were 5 and 7 years old. They grew up surrounded by books and eagerly entered any fantasy world I read aloud to them. There’s something so endearing about this book. Although it may look like it’s just about trolls, it’s about so much more. The book takes you to a simpler place of food, a place of appreciation and creativity. These days cooking can look so complicated to the novice cook. With the wide ranges of cooking methods, kitchen gadgets and ingredients from around the globe, trying to perfect so many things can be overwhelming.
What The Troll Cookbook embraces is the act of food gathering and intuitive cooking. No fancy equipment is needed and recipes can be followed precisely or can easily be altered to suit different tastes. The Troll Cookbook follows the seasons, focusing on Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, as the seasons change, so do the recipes and anecdotes woven throughout the book.
This isn’t just a cookbook for home cooks, it’s a book meant to read from front to back, to teach and inspire any age group. This book intrigued me and left me nodding in agreement many times. We are a hunting, fishing and gathering family and have been blessed to live a semi-subsistence lifestyle for the past 26 years. From the cold of the Arctic, to the humid heat of the equator, to the abundant Pacific Northwest, we have hunted and gathered in many places, much more like the trolls than I would have ever guessed. Karima and Clint say it best in the Afterword titled, Rekindling the Flame, “Every day offers us opportunities to move closer to a life in touch with nature and the people around us, a life we glimpse through the stories of the trolls.”
Full of stories, interesting illustrations and simple recipes, The Troll Cookbook deserves a spot in your library and would be a welcome addition to any cook’s collection.
A passing little troll (my dog Echo) sniffing the goodness of the Rhubarb Bread on page 190! Here’s the recipe, it’s also great with raspberries.
