Gastronaut

Witty and weird...this extraordinary "cookbook", stuffed with esoteric foodie facts, contains a surprising quantity of workable recipes, but the principal pleasure is to be derived from Gates's witty writing, which had me laughing out loud.

Huge fun, extremely informative and featuring the oddest selection of recipes you are ever likely to see (I never knew, incidentally, that woodlice tasted like shrimps), Stefan Gates' new book is in the best tradition of British experimental gastronomy.

With the avalanche of chef books launching this autumn, Gates and his irreverent look at culinary matters presents welcome relief from all that serious cooking, It's a splendid read.

Stefan Gates is a writer and broadcaster. In 2004, as a presenter and writer of the BBC2 series Full on Food, Stefan introduced the nation to the wilder side of gastronomy. He's worked as a TV directorm scriptwriter and comedy producer, but his strangest job was appearing naked on the cover of Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy at the age of four. He is married to the top food photographer Georgia Glynn Smith, who shot the pictures for Gastronaut in between working with the likes of Nigel Slater and Gordon Ramsay.

Gastronaut is an irreverent journey through the crazy, twisted, mixed-up world of food. Its full of extraordinary, extravagant and bizarre culinary experiences, arcane information and practical recipes for spectacular food. 
 
 Each of us will spend 16 per cent of our waking lives cooking and eating. That time is far too precious to waste on chores, so why not turn cooking into an adventure? This book of strange and wonderful gastronomic quests will help you do just that. 
 
 If you've ever wondered how to stage a Bacchanalian orgy in the comfort of your own home, how to make a bum sandwich, how to cook a whole pig underground, smoke salmon in a biscuit-tin, cook with gold, woodlice, reindeer, guinea pig, aftershave or breastmilk, or whether its true that you cant teach a grandmother to suck eggs the answers are here. 
 
 This isnt a work of fiction or hyperbole. Gastronaut is thoroughly researched, tested and illustrated throughout. It also includes a survey that lifts the lid, Kinsey-style, on the real eating habits of the nation. If cannibalism were legal, which famous person would most people like to eat? What foods make us fart? Do people genuinely like their pasta al dente? Can men lactate? Gastronaut is perfect for people who are fascinated by food, who love the wilder side of cooking, who yearn for adventure or who, frankly, just like showing off.

In the Danger Zone

The story behind Stefan Gates' extraordinary culinary journey to the world's most dangerous and difficult places.

Consistently engaging... Terrific reportage: thoughtful, unpatronising and gently provocative

What could be grotesque and patronising turns out to be informative and occasionally shocking ... A kind of antidote to the mundanity of the rest of culinary TV.

Stefan Gates is a writer and broadcaster who first introduced the nation to the wilder side of gastronomy in BBC2's Full on Food. His book Gastronaut won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award and was shortlisted for a Guild of Food Writers' Award. He spent two years travelling the world writing and filming Cooking in the Danger Zone. 
 
Stefan has worked as a journalist, scriptwriter and TV producer. He lives in London with his wife, two daughters and a fridge full of weird food.

Award-winning food writer Stefan Gates has travelled the world to investigate how people cook, eat and survive in extreme conditions for the acclaimed BBC television series Cooking in the Danger Zone. He drank radioactive wine with babushkas in Chernobyl, ate fat-tailed sheep with Taliban warlords in Afghanistan, yak's penis with Chinese Communists, civet cat with the Karen rebels deep in the Burmese jungle and rotting walrus with the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic. 
 
In this book Stefan takes us on an extraordinary personal journey as he tries to understand a world in crisis, and meets people caught up in war, poverty and environmental disasters. This behind-the-scenes account is hugely entertaining and thought provoking, blending war and food, ethics and emotions, comedy and tragedy.

Stefan Gates

An Edible Field Guide

Ever been tempted by the thought of trying juicy deep fried mealworms, proteinrich cricket flower, or swapping your Walkers for salt and vinegar flavoured grasshoppers? If so then you are not alone! Over 2 billion people regularly eat insects as part of their diet, and the world is home to around 1,900 edible insect species. 
 
For adventurous foodies and daring dieters comes the newest way to save the planet, eat more protein, and tickle taste buds. But this isn’t an insect cookbook. Instead it’s an informative field guide: exploring the origins of insect eating, offering tips on finding edible bugs and serving up a few delicious ideas of how to eat them once you’ve tracked them down! 
 
It includes a comprehensive list on edible insects and where to find them, how to prepare them, their versatile usage and nutritional value as well as a few recipes. A bug-eating checklist covering all known edible bugs so readers can mark off the ones they’ve eaten and seek out new delicacies concludes the book. 
 
This is a perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful, and adventurous side of entomophagy.

Stefan Gates

Books by Stefan Gates

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