Its Only Slow Food Until You T Misadventures of a Suburban Hunter-Gatherer

"Locavores can be tiresome with their insistence on sourcing (and discussing) everything they put in their precious little mouths. Bill Heavey ran the risk of being a bore in his account of attempting to hunt, fish, grow or forage as much of his food as possible, It's Only Slow Food Until You Try to Eat It, but escaped thanks to good humor, poking fun at hard-core foodies and himself while still finding merit in the movement. . . . Mr. Heavey takes us back to the joys--and occasional pitfalls--of the humble edibles around us, and his conclusions ring true. The finest things I ever ate, wandering the East Coast with rod and gun for 30 years, were the most local . . . Mr. Heavey reaffirms the value of things small and common that were once treasured but that we now walk by without a passing glance: persimmons, cattails, giant mushrooms, squirrels, morels, dandelions, wild cherries, frogs, crawfish and the whitetail deer that occasionally wander through backyards--at their peril, if it's Mr. Heavey's lawn." --"The Wall Street Journal" "Heavey's bumbling attempts at self-sufficiency are a winning mixture of compelling and hilarious." --Modern Farmer "There is much to like about Bill Heavey's latest book. In it, Heavey, editor-at-large and back page columnist for "Field & Stream" magazine, follows a sometimes difficult, often challenging, and occasionally humorous path to eating wild. ... The book is an enjoyable read, funny without being cute and thought-provoking without an overbearing teacher-to-student tone. If you're not already a Heavey fan, this will likely turn you into one." --"The Courier-Journal" (Louisville) "An engaging autobiography/ersatz primer on how to (or not to) undertake subsistence living in an urban environment. While this title is chock full of facts about nature and industrialized foodways, it's also a story about friendship and falling in love. VERDICT: Laced with tart humor and spiked with moments of sentimentality, this wo