From Scratch: Adventures in Harvesting, Hunting, Fishing, and Foraging on a Fragile Planet

by David Moscow, Jon Moscow

Overview

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER

Gold Award Winner in “Food, Cooking, & Healthy Eating” Category of the the Nautilus Awards

“Unadulterated, smart, beautifully rendered, and often thrilling... This is delicious, adventuresome entertainment for the mind, soul, heart, and stomach.” —Kirkus Review

“Adventurous Anthony Bourdain-esque eaters and readers will savor David Moscow’s every word as he travels far (Ciao, sea of Sardinia) and near (howdy, Texas plains) to learn from farmers, hunters, fisherfolk, and scientists about how our food reaches our plates.” —Reader's Digest

David Moscow, the creator and star of the groundbreaking series From Scratch, takes us on an exploration of our planet’s complex and interconnected food supply, showing us where our food comes from and why it matters in his new book of global culinary adventures.

In an effort to help us reconnect with the food that sustains our lives, David Moscow has spent four years going around the world, meeting with rock-star chefs, and sourcing ingredients within local food ecosystems—experiences taking place in over twenty countries that include milking a water buffalo to make mozzarella for pizza in Italy; harvesting oysters in Long Island Sound and honey from wild bees in Kenya; and making patis in the Philippines, beer in Malta, and sea salt in Iceland.

Moscow takes us on deep dives (sometimes literally) with fisherfolk, farmers, scientists, community activists, historians, hunters, and more, bringing back stories of the communities, workers, and environments involved—some thriving, some in jeopardy, all interconnected with food.

The result is this travel journal that marvels in the world around us while simultaneously examining the environmental issues, cultural concerns, and overlooked histories intertwined with the food we eat to survive and thrive. Through the people who harvest, hunt, fish, and forage each day, we come to understand today’s reality and tomorrow’s risks and possibilities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637584026
Publisher:	Permuted Press
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	693,133
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

David Moscow is the creator, executive producer, and host of From Scratch. David made his feature film debut at age thirteen in Big, starring as the young Tom Hanks; soon after, he starred with Christian Bale in Newsies. He has appeared in dozens of films, television shows, and theater productions over a thirty-five year career.

Most recently, David founded the production company UnLTD Pictures. He has executive produced more than twenty feature films, including Under the Silver Lake, To Dust, Strawberry Mansion, and Wild Nights with Emily. He also directed the thriller Desolation.

David currently lives in LA with his wife and son—and develops mixed-income sustainably green apartment buildings in NYC.

Jon Moscow is David’s father, creative partner, and a writer on From Scratch. He is co-executive director of Ethics in Education Network and co-host of the Ethical Schools podcast (ethicalschools.org). He actively works to support asylum seekers with housing and links to social services. He has a BA in International Studies from Reed College and a master’s degree from Bank Street College of Education. He and David’s mother, Pat, live in Teaneck, NJ, with a Shih-Tzu named Niki.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Oysters: NEW York / Istria 1

Dune Spinach, Avocado: Cape Town / Johannesburg 24

Beer, Octopus, Snails: Malta / Sardinia 55

Wild Game: Texas / Wyoming 82

Round Scad, Patis: Philippines 111

Potatoes: Peru / Utah 136

Cod, Scallops, Salt: Iceland 159

Goat, Barley, Honey: Kenya 179

Porcini, Chanterelle: Finland / Whidbey Island, WA 206

Pizza: Amalfi Coast / NYC 230

Afterword 256

Recipes 261

Endnotes 282

Acknowledgments 299

About the Authors 306

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

I was prepared not to like this. Oysters? Who gives a shit? But it’s great—like reading an episode of a really good food show, and being taken behind the scenes and somewhere you have never been. The shit really pops. Great stuff.

Jeff Pearlman

I’m still rocking in the wake of reading From Scratch, an all-out adventure of food exploration and education. With a food system that increasingly denies the existence of seasons, it’s an urgent reminder of where our food comes from. The Moscows bring the ancient human art of feeding ourselves back into consciousness.

Chef Dan Barber

You don’t need to be some kind of foodie to find this book tasty...and just brilliant.

Greg Palast

The Moscows have a very engaging voice—readable, informative, and capable of weaving complex information into a captivating narrative, sprinkling sugar on the hard-core information of the story. I was engaged, entertained, informed and pulled along by this tour de force. Bravo!

LynNell Hancock

From Scratch is a fascinating and necessary book making the connection between global food production, climate and environmental devastation, and disease. Combining science, history, social, and culinary commentary, David and Jon Moscow point to the limitations of a consumer-driven, instant-gratification food culture, and invite us to return to the wonder and integrity of the full food cycle—from scratch to finish; honoring time-intensive processes necessary for both our personal and collective well-being.

Adjoa Jones de Almeida

I loved it...(it’s) both highly educational and highly entertaining. And mighty fine writing. The history lessons are rich and layered, but very accessible. And so is the personal narrative.

Kevin Powell

Perhaps because David is not a culinary insider—not a chef or a farmer or a hunter—the result is something as accessible as it is adventurous. As someone who has actually been in the field with David, I can say that this book wonderfully captures the feeling of being right beside him on his wild, educational, surprisingly humorous, and often shocking adventures.

Clay Jeter

You don’t need to be some kind of foodie to find this book tasty...and just brilliant.

Greg Pala

Perhaps because David is not a culinary insider—not a chef or a farmer or a hunter—the result is something as accessible as it is adventurous. As someone who has actually been in the field with David, I can say that this book wonderfully captures the feeling of being right beside him on his wild, educational, surprisingly humorous, and often shocking adventures.

Clay Jete

I was prepared not to like this. Oysters? Who gives a shit? But it’s great—like reading an episode of a really good food show, and being taken behind the scenes and somewhere you have never been. The shit really pops. Great stuff.

Jeff Pear

2022-11-21
An actor, producer, and director recounts his tour of various countries’ cuisines and economic challenges.

David Moscow, star of the cable television series From Scratch, combines his dual love of food and international travel in this whirlwind gastronomic adventure in search of food sources, history, cooking styles, botany, and biology. Together with his creative partner and father, Jon, Moscow spent four years visiting 20-plus countries in search of the most vivid atmospheres, agriculturally challenging environments, and interesting food-related stories he could find. Each culinary jaunt results in an unadulterated, smart, beautifully rendered, and often thrilling entry to a travel journal that begins in New York with lessons on oyster cultivation in the Long Island Sound and ends with a pizza tasting in Naples. In South Africa, Moscow explores the region’s economic inequalities while learning about its native foods from a pair of seasoned chefs. One chef introduced the author to the delicacies of “boiled and blowtorch-seared sheep’s head” while they “bonded over my repulsion.” (Everyone’s tastes vary, and even Moscow calls some dishes “gut-turning.”) The American is gleefully welcomed in Malta to forage for snails and fish for octopus while learning that the region’s potable water resources are roughly 50% reliant on desalination plants. He hunts for feral pigs in Texas, scouts out a memorable elk dish from a Wyoming food truck, discusses sustainability options with a cafe and bakery owner in the Philippines, cooks scallops in Iceland, and learns about some of the over 2,800 native varieties of potato in Peru from a “potato whisperer.” Moscow gets his hands dirty harvesting mushrooms in Finland before fishing for anchovies on the Amalfi Coast and comparing pizza styles in Naples. Moscow lavishes his evocative descriptions on every local dish and landscape (on Iceland: “Trees give context to your own size, but there—with only the volcanoes and glaciers and fjords to measure yourself—you just feel incredibly small”). He also has clearly done his homework in researching these far-flung locations. Each section is a history lesson as well as an informed discussion on food sourcing, preparation methods, and the economic and climate conditions enhancing (or threatening) each area’s ecosystem: “The economics of South Africa’s impoverished, landless majority has also led to poaching by large cartels, which can hire local people to do the actual poaching. We’ve heard about the rhinos, but not about the macadamias, avocados, oranges, etc. There is a huge security industry of cameras and fencing set up to catch bands of burglars who pull up with trucks in the middle of the night and clean out a harvest.” While depicting the ways food moves from farm to table in each country, Moscow’s narrative opens up larger conversations on more serious issues of food-production hurdles and critical global current events, like monocultures, wildlife preservation efforts, and harmful overfishing. Included are 10 recipes for favorite meals from the author’s journeys, like “Trout Piscator,” “Da Michele Pizza Dough,” “Acorn Fritters,” and “Snails in Maltese Landscape.” This is delicious, adventuresome entertainment for the mind, soul, heart, and stomach.

A dynamic, ruminative journal for food lovers and armchair globe-trotters.

Kirkus Reviews