What do you think?
Rate this book
Taste of Haida Gwaii: Food Gathering and Feasting at the Edge of the World
Using her esoteric knowledge of food and her love of the island s colourful locals, Susan Musgrave introduces readers to the remote British Columbian island of Haida Gwaii. With her good humour and incisive wit, she tells stories from her time living on the island and the people who live there. She shares recipes of the delicious food she makes at her guest house and how to forage for and cook with local ingredients. This book offers a unique take on food that could only be developed living on a remote island.
"
"
374 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2015
6 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Susan Musgrave
78 books44 followersSusan Musgrave is a Canadian poet and children's writer. She was born in Santa Cruz, California to Canadian parents, and currently lives in British Columbia, dividing her time between Sidney and Haida Gwaii.
Musgrave was married to Stephen Reid, a writer, convicted bank robber and former member of the infamous band of thieves known as the Stopwatch Gang. Their relationship was chronicled in 1999 in the CBC series Life and Times.
She currently teaches creative writing in the University of British Columbia's Optional Residency Master of Fine Arts Program.
Recognizing a life in writing, the Writers' Trust presented Susan Musgrave with the 2014 Matt Cohen Award for her lifetime of work.
Musgrave was married to Stephen Reid, a writer, convicted bank robber and former member of the infamous band of thieves known as the Stopwatch Gang. Their relationship was chronicled in 1999 in the CBC series Life and Times.
She currently teaches creative writing in the University of British Columbia's Optional Residency Master of Fine Arts Program.
Recognizing a life in writing, the Writers' Trust presented Susan Musgrave with the 2014 Matt Cohen Award for her lifetime of work.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 22, 2020
This is much more than a cookbook. I agree with the back cover: “the book brims with good humour, good food and hundreds of photos. Short of moving to Masset yourself, it is the closest you will get to living on the famed northern coast.”
I also love the raven artwork.
Salmon
The author and I are close in age and it appears that in school, Musgrave and I watched the same “scratchy filmstrip of the salmon being born in pure mountain streams, narrated with deep male authority.”
Musgrave contrasts that with how farmed salmon are raised “according to Andrew Struthers in his book The Green Shadow, about (among other things) doing time in a Tofino fish plant.” It’s quite sickening. She sums it up well with: “Cedar and salmon were our lifeblood once. Now, in British Columbia, we have a wilderness of stumps, and sea pens full of diseased carnivores on drugs.”
Besides finding a few new recipes using Elderflowers, and the Pear and Cranberry crumble that I want to make, I learned that “Those almost intact replicas of crabs you find washed up on the beach are not dead crabs but the result of the crabs molting and shedding their hard outer shell and then growing a new, larger one.”
Some day I hope to visit Haida Gwaii and perhaps stay at Susan Musgrave’s B&B, Copper Beech House.
I also love the raven artwork.
Salmon
The author and I are close in age and it appears that in school, Musgrave and I watched the same “scratchy filmstrip of the salmon being born in pure mountain streams, narrated with deep male authority.”
Musgrave contrasts that with how farmed salmon are raised “according to Andrew Struthers in his book The Green Shadow, about (among other things) doing time in a Tofino fish plant.” It’s quite sickening. She sums it up well with: “Cedar and salmon were our lifeblood once. Now, in British Columbia, we have a wilderness of stumps, and sea pens full of diseased carnivores on drugs.”
Besides finding a few new recipes using Elderflowers, and the Pear and Cranberry crumble that I want to make, I learned that “Those almost intact replicas of crabs you find washed up on the beach are not dead crabs but the result of the crabs molting and shedding their hard outer shell and then growing a new, larger one.”
Some day I hope to visit Haida Gwaii and perhaps stay at Susan Musgrave’s B&B, Copper Beech House.
January 10, 2026
Delightful read, part story telling, part food gathering and description of perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever been to, and part recipes.
December 7, 2016
Susan Musgrave has a wonderfully droll sense of humour, is a novelist and fine poet and runs Copper Beach House in Masset on Graham Island, the largest of the islands of Haida Gwaii. All of these aspects of her wit and wisdom have gone into the making of this gorgeous book—a feisty feast of all things Haida Gwaii.
For those who don't know, Haida Gwaii is described as a "remote archipelago" off the northern coast of British Columbia, Canada. There are thirty-four words for "salmon" in the Haida language, and they're included along with stories about Haida culture.
Musgrave bought Copper Beech House from David Phillips in 2010. Many famous people have visited through the years including Pierre and Margaret Trudeau in the mid-seventies. (Pierre Trudeau was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada and his son Justin is Canada's current Prime Minister.) A recipe for Mussels Trudeau is included as well as Beets Margaret Atwood.
Besides cooking the food featured in the recipes and menus in the book, Musgrave did the "food styling" and took many of the photographs. Another of the photographers was Michelle Furbacher, art director at Whitecap. I can only imagine how much fun she had getting to eat the foods she photographed: Potatoes Haida Gwecchio for instance, and Copper Beech House Clam Chowder.
And as A Taste of Haida Gwaii is about food gathering as well as feasting, Musgrave does that too. She has arranged the wild foods she gathers in order of their appearance—"from seaweed and elderflowers in the spring to chanterelles and other wild mushrooms in the fall, with one exception. For easier reference I have grouped the Berries of Haida Gwaii in one section, starting with salmonberries in spring and ending with cranberries in fall," she writes in her chapter, "Food Gathering All Rear Round."
As Musgrave says in the section on picking and pickling Sea Asparagus, also called "beach asparagus: "[Food gathering] gets you out of the house, out of the kitchen, and you come home with a whole new appreciation for being outdoors—with a purpose!"
The journey through the book is a delightful one with tales of "rogues" Musgrave has known; stories from her early years; and "Asides," one of which is entitled "Cilantro." There are those who hate cilantro and they can't help it she learned. They may be "genetically predisposed." Still, the word "cilantrophobia" is a great one.
Some of Musgrave's poetry is featured and her prose is lyrical too. In the section on "Wild Roses or Nootka Roses," she writes: "I have intoxicating memories of driving down to the Village of Old Massett on a fiercely windy but warm afternoon in June, and plucking wild rose petals, soft as the kisses of moths, while the bouldery clouds blew by overhead and ravens spoke in tongues from the trees."
My partner and I plan to visit Copper Beech House in the future and experience, for a short time, the type of life Susan Musgrave has enjoyed for several decades. She plans her "activities around the incoming and outgoing tides, the rising and setting sun."
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
For those who don't know, Haida Gwaii is described as a "remote archipelago" off the northern coast of British Columbia, Canada. There are thirty-four words for "salmon" in the Haida language, and they're included along with stories about Haida culture.
Musgrave bought Copper Beech House from David Phillips in 2010. Many famous people have visited through the years including Pierre and Margaret Trudeau in the mid-seventies. (Pierre Trudeau was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada and his son Justin is Canada's current Prime Minister.) A recipe for Mussels Trudeau is included as well as Beets Margaret Atwood.
Besides cooking the food featured in the recipes and menus in the book, Musgrave did the "food styling" and took many of the photographs. Another of the photographers was Michelle Furbacher, art director at Whitecap. I can only imagine how much fun she had getting to eat the foods she photographed: Potatoes Haida Gwecchio for instance, and Copper Beech House Clam Chowder.
And as A Taste of Haida Gwaii is about food gathering as well as feasting, Musgrave does that too. She has arranged the wild foods she gathers in order of their appearance—"from seaweed and elderflowers in the spring to chanterelles and other wild mushrooms in the fall, with one exception. For easier reference I have grouped the Berries of Haida Gwaii in one section, starting with salmonberries in spring and ending with cranberries in fall," she writes in her chapter, "Food Gathering All Rear Round."
As Musgrave says in the section on picking and pickling Sea Asparagus, also called "beach asparagus: "[Food gathering] gets you out of the house, out of the kitchen, and you come home with a whole new appreciation for being outdoors—with a purpose!"
The journey through the book is a delightful one with tales of "rogues" Musgrave has known; stories from her early years; and "Asides," one of which is entitled "Cilantro." There are those who hate cilantro and they can't help it she learned. They may be "genetically predisposed." Still, the word "cilantrophobia" is a great one.
Some of Musgrave's poetry is featured and her prose is lyrical too. In the section on "Wild Roses or Nootka Roses," she writes: "I have intoxicating memories of driving down to the Village of Old Massett on a fiercely windy but warm afternoon in June, and plucking wild rose petals, soft as the kisses of moths, while the bouldery clouds blew by overhead and ravens spoke in tongues from the trees."
My partner and I plan to visit Copper Beech House in the future and experience, for a short time, the type of life Susan Musgrave has enjoyed for several decades. She plans her "activities around the incoming and outgoing tides, the rising and setting sun."
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
February 10, 2017
I read every single word that Susan Musgrave wrote in this book and now I've developed a ferocious appetite to go to Haida Gwaii. I'm sure, like everyone else who will enter into it's pages.
Her Gold Medal win at the Taste Canada awards for best regional/cultural cookbook is entirely deserved.
Her Gold Medal win at the Taste Canada awards for best regional/cultural cookbook is entirely deserved.
April 4, 2023
Wow, this is stunning. Gorgeous photos, gorgeous writing and stories, and recipes too! One of those lovely cookbooks that are as much about as about culture as they are about food.
February 7, 2022
I read this colourful, informative and humorous cookbook for a second time to satisfy my travel itch. But it’s not just a cookbook. It is a beautiful coffee table book filled with unique photos, distinct plants and animals, stories of interesting inhabitants and famous visitors who have made their way to this northeast corner of Haida Gwaii. Susan Musgrave is a Canadian writer and poet who has lived in this area for 40 years. She runs the Copper Beech BnB, which I intend to visit sometime in the future.
July 22, 2017
Entertaining read for a cookbook, beautiful photos also.
December 1, 2022
Excellent. Humorous tone! Makes me want to visit. And eat more seafood.
July 29, 2023
Read my review at https://canadiancookbooks.ca/a-taste-...
August 24, 2024
What a quirky wonderful book this is. We're about to go on a ship through Haida Gwaii so I liked it even more.
March 27, 2016
A quick fun read. I have had the pleasure of travelling to Haida Gwaii twice and this book really brought back wonderful memories. Was hoping to find a scallops recipe but finding the Moon over Naikoon cinnamon bun recipe made up for it. Love Susan's stories from near and far.
October 4, 2016
Even if you don't read the recipes, the stories contained within are worth reading
November 26, 2016
A quirky coffee table/cookbook/ travelogue about life on Haida Gwaii at Musgrave's B&B.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews