Photo by Holly A. Heyser

My name is Hank Shaw. I write. I fish. I dig earth, raise plants, live for food and kill wild animals. I drink bourbon, Barolo or Budweiser with equal relish and wish I owned a farm. But most of all I think daily about new ways to cook and eat anything that walks, flies, swims, crawls, skitters, jumps – or grows. I am the omnivore who has solved his dilemma. This is my story.

Honest food is what I’m seeking. Nothing packaged, nothing in a box, nothing wrapped in plastic. I eat meat, and I’m not keen on factory farms, so I either hunt it myself or buy it from real people who raise animals humanely. Likewise with vegetables and fruits and grain. I am a fan of farmer’s markets, eating locally and making good food from scratch. If you know how to cook, a good meal doesn’t have to be expensive.

I am especially interested in those meats and veggies that people don’t eat much any more, like pigeons or shad or cardoons. I have nothing against good grass-fed beef or a head of lettuce, it’s just that others are doing just fine writing about those foods. I’m trying to walk a less-traveled path.

Who the hell am I? I am a former line cook, I’ve caught fish and dug clams for a living and, after 18 years as a political reporter, I now pay the bills writing, catering around Northern California and sometimes as an instructor at Sacramento State University.

As a food writer, my work has been published in The Art of Eating, Gastronomica, Field and Stream, Meatpaper, Edible Sacramento, the Stockton (CA) Record, Delta Waterfowl Magazine, The Gilded Fork and several other publications. I was written up in the March 2009 issue of Field & Stream magazine for my wild game cookery, which was an honor.

I am currently writing a book with Rodale Press about opening up the world of foraging, hunting and fishing to those interested in food, but who may have never hunted mushrooms or picked up a gun or cast a rod and reel before. If this interests you, please drop me a line at the email below — I am eager to hear your questions.

Until recently I also ran the Fish & Seafood Cooking site on About.com, a sort of living encyclopedia owned by the New York Times. That’s where you will find most of my original thoughts on fish and seafood, although when it comes to the catching you’ll still find it here.

AWARDS

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook was nominated for Best Food Blog by the James Beard Foundation in both 2009 and 2010. I won a Bert Greene Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals this year for Best Food Blog, and a story I contributed to in Field & Stream was nominated for an American Society of Magazine Editors award in 2010.

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CONTACT: scrbblr AT hotmail DOT com

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ABOUT THE PICTURES

While I do take some of the pictures on this site, the vast majority (and all of the really good ones!) of the images you see here are taken by my partner, Holly A. Heyser.

Holly is a hunting writer, food photographer and professional journalist in residence at her alma mater, California State University Sacramento. She writes hunting stories, gear reviews and commentary at her blog, NorCal Cazadora.