I bought this book without ever having eaten at Ben Shewry's multi-award-winning restaurant, Attica, in Melbourne, Australia. At the time, I didn't think it likely that I would ever make any of the dishes in it from beginning to end. I already have so many other cookbooks I could use for these sort of recipes - much of what I buy now is for inspiration, to learn about various cuisines and/or to appreciate the beauty of the food. This book works for all three of those categories.
Shewry is from a remote part of New Zealand, where the nearest supermarket was a two-hour drive away, and his school had seven students, including him and his two sisters. With the nearest neighbour 15 minutes away, Shewry's family was largely self-sufficient: they grew their own vegetables and fruit and preserved the excess; they killed and butchered their own meat; and the children were taught from an early age how to survive in the wild and forage for ingredients.
The chef writes about sheep farming, fishing for whitebait, his first professional kitchen job (he was only 10), and aspects of Maori culture, including hangi - the celebratory feast made by digging a pit in the ground, burning a fire in it, adding food and covering it so it cooks in the smouldering heat.