Our resident foodie Chris Gordon previews Rohan Anderson’s

Here’s a bloke doing the walk and the talk – and someone as pure as that has to be admired. Rohan Anderson started out with a sweet little plot of land – the size of a Fitzroy courtyard – and grew stuff. One summer he grew 22kg of tomatoes, he made his pumpkin vines walk up the side of a fence and he felt strangely ill when he went to the supermarket. Supermarket customers puzzled him. What was someone doing in their gym gear buying frozen food? It didn’t make sense.

So about four years ago, he started taking larger steps and he went feral. Well, not really, but some people might think he did. His new cookbook, Whole Larder Love, is all about living (and sharing) off the land. This is not a conventional cookbook – rather, it’s about a philosophy, a way of life. (Think Michael Pollan meets Annie Smithers.) For example, there is a section on guns needed for hunting. There are recipes for wild duck risotto, sneaky eel dip and rabbit with mustard sauce. He says, in the book, that sometimes he ‘gets the redneck tag for hunting his own food’. I’ve had a latte with Mr Anderson and there’s nothing frightening about him. He’s just a family bloke that knows how to utilise the land around him.

He lives in a bigger place now and he has a huge garden, but he doesn’t get everything from his land. He has food buddies. I like this expression ‘food buddies’ – people he swaps produce with, and bartering systems he has in place. Even though Rohan sounds revolutionary on one hand, really he is just harking back to the good old days. The days where people stopped, cooked together what they had hunted or collected, ate together and were pleased when the first tomato of the season hit their plate.

So here is a book that reminds us of where we came from and asks where do we want to go? Rohan’s book includes sections on how to do what with what, and obviously, recipes. I dreamt of making spud and nettle soup, but alas had absolutely no luck in finding nettles. So after a pretty delightful conversation with Rohan about broad beans, I opted for the Tarragon Broad Beans. It was quick, easy to make and it was delicious.

Whole Larder Love started as a blog and soon was noticed by those in the publishing world. Rohan’s advice is to write about what you love and make it easy. This unusual book is a testament to a man looking backwards for inspiration and by doing so is ultimately showing us the future.