Miele Selvatico

I didn't expect a cookbook to read like a travel diary, but the chapters on foraging in the Mediterranean kept me up past midnight. The recipes are loose and unhurried, more suggestions than instructions, which suits how I actually cook.

Patience Gray writes about foraging wild greens and cooking them over open fires in places like Greece and Italy, and the recipes are almost beside the point next to the prose. It reads more like a travel diary you can cook from, and I've already reread the chapter on sardines twice.

I expected a cookbook but got something closer to a travel diary, with recipes tucked between stories of foraging in Greece and Italy. The chapter structure wanders in the best way, so I've been reading it cover to cover instead of just hunting for dishes.