A new title from the Nickel Dinner culinary imprint! Two excerpts from the foreword by Andrew Barton: 1: The culinary writing of Thom Eagle found its way to me after I read a short blurb about his debut book. First, Catch - study of a spring meal had either just or not yet been published. I was staying at my childhood home for a weekend, and coming across this blurb was in the latter half of the evening. The premise of this book, one without any clear recipes but a great deal about the sensory aspects, the intellectual exercises one goes through when cooking with intention, massively appealed to me. That same night – book ordered – I found my way to Thom’s blog, which had short pieces ranging from travelogue-style journal entries to recipes to restaurant reactions to contemplative pondering to…I just kept scrolling backward; he’d been writing it for some time. The grandfather clock downstairs struck midnight, and I kept reading. 2: This book begins with the collection of place-letters appearing as they did during the era in which they were written, then drifts back in time to a selection of once-blog writing, selected and edited by me, then annotated by Thom in 2025. A writer’s journey in nine years of notes, with gaps nearly every page to pop a bookmark in and savor the echo. Just as Thom loves to preserve under salt or brine, these pieces now rest in this binding, developing. As you read, or begin to taste, really tune in – and then look around you. Thom Eagle is the author of three previous books on food: First, catch: study of a spring meal, Summer’s Lease: how to cook without heat, and The Philosophy of Pickles. He can be found cooking at Bottega Caruso in Margate, England and doing pop ups, teaching workshops, and making nocino.
