Ugly Food: Overlooked and Undercooked

 Why don't we eat more octopus? Cheeks and feet are good value and delicious, so why do people prefer fillet or chops? What about rabbits and squirrels? And what's wrong with ugly vegetables?The food industry, like the fashion industry, seems driven by the pursuit of impossible perfection: pre-packaged meats with nary a head, foot or set of giblets in sight, and supermarkets stacked with rows of blemish-free fruit and vegetables. But the same ingredients that are neglected, overlooked, and forgotten, are also tasty, sustainable and cheap.Ugly Food aims to change the way people think about food, revealing the tips and tricks you need to prepare undervalued ingredients with ease. Alongside recipes, Horsey and Wharton provide social histories of foods that are positively brimming with fascinating facts, fictions and flavours. Recipes include: Ox-Cheek Salad a la Hongroise, Lao Chicken Feet Salad, Maldivian Curried Octopus, Spiced Squirrel Popcorn, Deep-fried Rabbit Ears, Sheep's Brain on Toast, and Char Siu Pigs' Cheeks.

Review: 'With their book Ugly Food, Horsey and Wharton have become cheerleaders for those vegetables, animal parts and fish species deemed so unattractive that they go to waste ... it includes tricks you need to prepare undervalued ingredients with ease. Even chicken feet or pig's cheeks suddenly look a whole lot more appetising.' * The Observer Magazine *