Science - USA (2020-05-22)

836 22 MAY 2020 • VOL 368 ISSUE 6493 sciencemag.org SCIENCE

PHOTO: S-VELASCO/FLICKR/CC BY-ND

F

or those of us who travel for a living, the

coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

crisis carries extra bite. Books such

as Gina Rae La Cerva’s Feasting Wild

offer a balm of sorts, transporting the

reader out of lockdown and into a

world of little-known and endangered fla-

vors on the margins of where human soci-

ety rubs against wild ecosystems.

Feasting Wild is an ambitious book that

asks a big question: What does it mean to

eat wild food? Like most big questions, the

answer can differ depending on the scale. La

Cerva approaches this question both from a

personal perspective and through

the voices of diverse groups, rang-

ing from Polish foresters to urban

chefs foraging for wild treats in

graveyards. She shines light on

the larger context of humanity’s

relationship with wild foods in

snippets and glances, giving the

reader little jewels of introspec-

tion and observation. This is a

journalistic exploration based on

phenomenological research—and

a very good one.

La Cerva warmly welcomes

readers along for an intimate

journey into the world of wild

food. Together, we visit corners of

the world’s food system that have

rarely been explored in print at

this level of detail—places such

as Borneo, where La Cerva de-

scribes the exacting preparation of a bird’s

nest for consumption, and the forests of

Sweden, where she takes us along on a

moose hunt and then walks us through the

difficult work of processing the meat.

We also vicariously experience some very

interesting meals. At Noma, a high-end,

avant-garde restaurant in Copenhagen, for

example, unusual ferments ranging from

lacto-fermented raspberries to preserved

mosses offer a good bridge into the compli-

cated world of bushmeat preparation.

At times, the intimacy of the book crosses

into the literal. There is a love affair and

hints of a free-range childhood, seasoned

with sketches any field researcher would

instantly recognize: humidity, uneasy

interviews, rattling bush planes, and ques-

tionable motorcycle trips. La Cerva reveals

the landscape in brightly lit detail and

gives generously of herself, and the result

makes for a suitably satisfying feast.

The opening third of the book jumps

rapidly from Copenhagen to the forests of

Poland and includes glimpses of La Cerva’s

childhood in the desert of New Mexico.

The richness of the book shows through in

glimmers here, but I felt the overall theme

of wild food, loss, and change was scat-

tered at first. Some of this was personal.

I grew up in a town similar to the Danish

commune of Christiania; the “free society”

that La Cerva marvels at while exploring

Copenhagen reminds me of bickering over

chores, and her sense of wonder falls flat.

La Cerva finds her voice in Part Two.

Her description of the bushmeat trade in

the Democratic Republic of Congo is one

of the most tightly crafted and engaging

pieces of writing I have enjoyed in years.

Here, the pages flow by like the great riv-

ers of the Congo Basin, taking the reader

through the realities of the bushmeat trade

and the desires of the eater. La Cerva is not

blind to the pressure that bushmeat con-

sumption puts on endangered species or to

the economic realities that drive the bush-

meat trade. However, she also captures the

cultural importance of bushmeat, a factor

we will need to consider as conversations

regarding the role of wild foods in the

spread of zoonotic viruses continue.

We follow the meat as it travels to the

markets of Paris and, in doing so, fall

deeper into the author’s life. Her love af-

fair with the man we know only as “the

Hunter” and the wildness he represents

provide a counterpoint for the wild foods

she seeks to capture.

The final third of the book is a

fitting denouement. In the woods

of Sweden, wood smoke and the

chill of the passing seasons help

La Cerva tie up open narratives.

Her sudden shift in this section

to the exploration of the edible

bird’s nest industry came as a des-

sert of sorts. Although she does

not manage to access the wild

bird caves where edible nests are

harvested, she does uncover the

reality of nest farming. When she

tastes tea brewed from the nests

and describes its underwhelming

flavor, we are reminded that in

the case of wild food, the myth

often overshadows the tepid re-

ality. I was a little disappointed

that this section was so short, but

that is my usual reaction to desserts, both

real and literary.

Feasting Wild did have one weakness

that is worth mentioning. The book cleaves

tightly to the narrative of wilderness as

paradise lost, a fallen kingdom. As Wil-

liam Cronon noted in 1995 in the New York

Times Magazine, prompting a canon of re-

lated literature, wilderness is a profoundly

human creation, the result of a particular

set of human cultures at a specific moment

in their history ( 1 ). This is, however, a minor

quibble, given how deeply this book spoke

to me as a kindred traveler. j

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1. W. Cronon, “The trouble with wilderness,” The New York
   Times Magazine, 13 August 1995.

10.1126/science.abb8580

ECOLOGY

By Lenore Newman

Diversity and the dinner plate

An intimate exploration of foraged flavors brings nuance to the wild food discussion

Feasting Wild: In Search

of the Last Untamed Food

Gina Rae La Cerva

Greystone Books, 2020.

336 pp.

Quail eggs at Noma evoke the wild foods for which the restaurant is known.

INSIGHTS | BOOKS

The reviewer is at the Department of Geography and

the Environment, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford,

BC, Canada, and the author of Lost Feast: Culinary

Extinction and the Future of Food(ECW Press, 2019).

Email: lenore. [email protected]

Published by AAAS