“Instinctively we are drawn to the sea. Lured by water, waves and sunshine, calming blue vistas and a horizon that reminds us the world is bigger than the lives that seem to define us.” Catherine Lawson and David Bristow, The Hunter & The Gatherer.
Never before has recreational sailing been so popular. As the nature of how we view work, commitment and our lives has changed in the face of climate change and on the back of COVID, more and more people are seeking alternative life adventures. Of them, sailing has attracted many.
This isn’t news to Catherine Lawson and David Bristow, who, with their daughter Maya, have been liveaboard sailors for longer than YouTube and Instagram have glorified it. Having made conscious choices to live simpler and more sustainably, they’ve never looked back to shore life in envy.
Currently cruising the wilds of Indonesia and Southeast Asia on their 40-foot catamaran Wild One, Catherine, a travel journalist, and David, a photographer, prefer anchorages away from civilisation as much as possible. That desire to be far away shaped their food mentality.
The Hunter & The Gatherer is the culmination of all they’ve learned after spending two decades at sea across five different yachts. With over 260 pages, 160 recipes and more than 60 pages of provisioning advice, this book contains
everything a sailor, experienced or dreamer, should know about planning and preparing good food for any adventure.
Catherine says, “We call these recipes faraway food, and create them for people who love to eat well but love to escape more.”
She adds, “This is a book for ocean-loving foodies striving for better health, greater self-sufficiency and a tiny footprint on the sea: sailors and boaties, anglers and divers, snorkellers and surfers, and everyone whose best adventures end with feet dug into the sand, watching the sunset with good mates and great food.”
“Our food is for tiny galleys, long passages and perfect beach sunsets, and those times when food stocks might be low, but the fish are biting.”
“The food we cook in this book is the food we catch. Not every day on the sea brings in a fish, but we might harvest oysters instead, find a nice, fat mud crab, or forage for coconuts to crack. Some of our vegetables are boat-grown, and others are market-bought or traded off the back of our yacht. We sprout seeds, grains and pulses to produce the healthiest, most sustainable menus imaginable in the most remote and beautiful locations we can reach.”
The Hunter & The Gatherer is divided into four sections. There are extensive notes on provisioning your yacht and preparing your galley and advice on dealing with seasickness, the mishaps of sailing life and how to make everything last when shops are an ocean away.
The recipes are divided into three of those sections. Food for Hunters is a compilation of the best seafood recipes Catherine and David have created, with experienced advice on how to catch what you need from the back of your boat. Food for Gatherers focuses on vegetable-forward dishes using everyday ingredients you can find at just about any market around the world. Sweet Treats round out the book collating those foods that get sailors through long, overnight passages or are perfect for floating celebrations and relaxed sundowners.
The Hunter & The Gatherer will officially go on sale May 1, 2023, and can be ordered from all good bookshops or exploringedenbooks.com. For every copy sold, one tree is planted to help make sure the books do more good than harm. Its recommended retail price is $49.95.
About Exploring Eden Media
Founded in 2018, Exploring Eden Media is committed to publishing local advice and hard-won expertise for people who want authentic travel-related information. Its 100 Things To See travel guides to the Kimberley, Tropical North Queensland and Australia’s Coral Coast have become the go-to guides for each area, each written by locals for travellers who aren’t tourists. Its camping cookbook, Fire To Fork, is the best-selling outdoor cookbook in Australia. Find out more at exploringedenbooks.com/our-library.
