eating wildly

Lying in a hospital bed after a heart attack, unsure whether there would be a tomorrow, author Chris Heal retreated from the noise and intrusion of the ward. He played a private counting game. How many animal species had he eaten?

On the road to recovery, Heal wrote this book containing short stories about the first one hundred and fifty animals he could recall. Full of personal reflection, exotic locations, life and death moments, fascinating revelations, always as truthful as memory allows, with humour and with no punches pulled.

How many animal species have you eaten?

This is a cookbook like no other. Actually, it’s a book of meals. Then, again, it’s a tasty story of ethical discovery. Loved it.

This man has eaten dog and penguin and horse and elephant and spider and rat. I won’t even mention stink bug and monkey. I sense there are even more horrible and illegal secrets tucked away.

What a gastronomic journey! I tried to count the different animals I have eaten and didn’t get past forty. Heal only writes about one hundred and fifty of his dinners, but his actual count is well over that.

How do you make recipes out of a tsunami? a minefield? a grisly death by python? Heal is not a hunter, but he is well-used to death. And he’s hungry.

Heal has a dry, self-deprecating and sometimes wicked sense of humour. This book is full of interest and surprise. Perfect short stories for the small hours (with perhaps a sandwich of something different).