San Mateo County Libraries is thrilled to visit the coast with local adventurer Taku Kondo as he teaches us how to sustainably harvest your own food, master preparation techniques and make creative dishes with his book Coastal Harvest: Fish, Forage, Feast.
On Saturday, February 21, at 1:30 PM, join us in the Half Moon Bay Library as Taku discusses the joys and responsibilities of finding your own food along the Pacific Coast, covering fishing, coastal foraging and mushroom identification, along with a focus on sustainable practices. A book signing will follow the presentation and audience Q&A.
Limited giveaways of Coastal Harvest will be available at community libraries before the event, with door copies for the first few patrons at the event.
About the Cookbook
Embark on an epic adventure up and down the Pacific Coast! Whether you want to find your own food or just cook creative recipes, Coastal Harvest can show you how to catch fish, identify and harvest mushrooms and make delicious dishes using wild ingredients.
Enjoy some of the most popular dishes from Taku's YouTube channel, Outdoor Chef Life, as well as recipes that he's developed over years of experience. Each recipe has been thoughtfully curated to bring out the best flavors of your harvest. Taku provides guidance on the entire catch-to-plate process, giving you the knowledge to catch and prepare your own food. If you're not catching your own food, follow his expert recommendations on sourcing the freshest and most sustainable seafood.
Join Taku Kondo as he takes you on an exploration of waterways and coastal forests to connect with nature and find ingredients sourced from the great outdoors.
Meet Taku Kondo
“In the world we live in today, it’s almost impossible to trace where your seafood comes from, or even your meat. Gathering your own food connects you to the environment and makes you realize that these are important parts of our ecosystem that need to be taken care of.”
Taku Kondo is a popular YouTuber and former sushi chef who sustainably harvests his own ingredients to create masterful dishes. Focusing mainly on fishing and foraging, he specializes in preparing restaurant-quality meals in the great outdoors. Taku lives in Northern California, where he is often on the water or in the woods, seeking his next big catch or mushroom haul. He frequently travels around the globe to expand his knowledge of fishing and cuisines. Follow his outdoor adventures on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook: @outdoorcheflife.
Praise for Coastal Harvest
"Much like his YouTube channel, the book’s pages are filled with vivid photography that showcases techniques for fishing and cooking in the wild on the Pacific Coast of North America. Readers can feel confident starting their fishing and foraging quests after learning a wealth of information from Kondo, including knife skills, how to clean and store fish and ways to safely consume raw fish in the wild." — Library Journal
"His flavors express the joy of finding and preparing your own food, cooking it in an unadorned fashion, and then building flavor with the ingredients of the broader Japanese-California Cuisine cannon.... [Coastal Harvest is] a spirited cookbook, perfect for anyone considering preparing fish and seafood caught with their own hands." — Christina Mueller
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