The British Columbia Seasonal Cookbook.

Ann Turner is Financial and Budget Manager at the University of British
Columbia Library.

“Buy local, eat local, give local” is the philosophy underlying Edible British Columbia, the Granville Island artisan grocery store owned by co-author Eric Pateman. This local market is the antithesis to the supermarket, where vast amounts of fresh produce are continuously available, both in and out of season. Although convenient for menu-planning, supermarket food is less satisfying in terms of flavourful freshness if the food has to be harvested before maturity, shipped, and stored. Seasonal and local shopping for produce are attractive and cost-effective alternatives, especially in B.C. with its variety of climate zones. The range of high-quality produce available for buying, eating, and giving in any season is amazing. This collection of 75 gourmet-quality recipes, conveniently arranged in seasonal groups, shows that shopping locally can be the secret ingredient that makes a good recipe great. Each seasonal group includes appetizers, salads, soups, main courses, side dishes, and desserts. Each recipe is presented on a glossy, double-page, full-colour photograph of the finished dish. Accompanying each recipe is a lively introductory paragraph or two about the history and sources of the ingredients and their B.C. connections. This is a great armchair cookbook which also lies flat and works well in the kitchen, although printing the recipe over the photograph background does make the text a little more difficult to follow. Measures are metric and imperial, and yields are in the 4- to 6-serving range.