Cornish Fishing and Seafood by Carol Trewin and Adam Woolfitt

Did you know that more than 50 species of fish and shellfish are regularly landed in Cornwall? Or that stocks of most of these are thriving?

Cornish Fishing and Seafood is not just another book of fish recipes, although more than 20 recipes demonstrate how easy it is to cook the best, freshest fish. It also celebrates seafood and sea fishing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and reveals why our only truly wild source of food, harvested by the last of the hunter-gatherers, is special, to be treated with respect. It takes the lid off the myths and misunderstandings surrounding sea fishing, to discover the real state of fishing in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Using the words and experiences of the fishermen themselves, auctioneers, processors and fish merchants, this book debunks any idea that fishermen are wilfully destroying the very thing that provides them with a living, showing instead the initiatives they have taken to protect stocks for the future.

While celebrating the positive aspects of Cornish fishing, Cornish Fishing and Seafood does not shy away from recent difficulties – decommissioning, cuts in fish quotas, and shortages of manpower. It also looks forwards, and outlines the steps being taken to ensure that Cornish fishermen and Cornish boats keep fishing profitably in the twenty-first century.
Cornish Fishing and Seafood has been written with support from the industry, at sea and onshore, so that profits from sales can help the Duchy Fish Quota Company to keep Cornish fishing quota in Cornwall.

Carol Trewin and Adam Woolfitt have already collaborated on three books including, 'Gourmet Cornwall' and 'The Devon Food Book'. Both 'Gourmet Cornwall' and  'Cornish Fishing and Seafood' won the Gourmand World Cook Book Award for Best Local Cook Book in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Click here to visit The Devon Food Book official Web site..

Carol Trewin
- has worked as the Food Editor of the Western Morning News and has written on food, farming and the countryside for many publications, including Inside Cornwall, Food Illustrated, the Field, British Farmer and Grower. Before returning to the South West she was editor of Radio 4’s Farming Today, and also worked for BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme, Woman’s Hour and the BBC World Service. Other radio programmes include On Your farm, Costing the Earth, Walston Goes Walkabout and Over the Counter. From 1997 – 2002 she was Farming Editor of the Western Morning News and later ran a £3 million food project for Taste of the West in Cornwall. In 2005 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies. From 2005 she has also been editorial consultant for Taste Cornwall Magazine, published twice a year.

Sadly Carol died 14th October 2009 after a three-year battle with leukaemia. There have been many tributes to Carol's courageous nature, both as a writer and champion of the wests finest foods. Click here to visit Carol Trewin's tribute page..

Adam Woolfitt
- has been a photographer all his life, and has contributed to many titles such as GEO, Newsweek, Gourmet, Travel and Leisure, the Weekend Telegraph and Sunday Times Magazines. From 1967 to 1994 he contributed more than 25 assignments to National Geographic and NGS Books Division. He writes on digital technology for the British Journal of Photography, Image Magazine and Ag Magazine, and is a past Chairman of the Association of Photographers. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Professional Photographers in 2002 and won his associateship of the Royal Photographic Society while still a student at Guildford College in 1959.

Cornish Fishing and Seafood won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2006 for the Best Local Cookbook published in English in the UK. Previous winners in English include Rick Stein and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are regarded as the Oscars of food and drink books, and attract some 6,000 entries from 65 countries. Winners are selected for the author whose personality and heart shines throughout the book; for their high quality of production and printing, and as a user-friendly book that respects and understands the reader.

Cornish Fishing and Seafood is the key to eating more locally sourced fish. It tells the true story of the Cornish fishing industry, and why we must love and cherish it. (Gordon Ramsay)

Here's something to celebrate: a book about the fishing industry that's not full of tales of threatened stocks and livelihoods .. an uplifting study of a vibrant sector with a bright future. (Coast, issue 14, September/October 2006)

Through 256 full-colour pages of carefully researched documentary and glorious shots, they create a comprehensive and panoramic record of the Cornish fishing industry today ..
.. the reader is the beneficiary of Ms Trewin's determination to record a faithful account of this most primal pursuit. (Western Morning News, 12.09.06)

Carol Trewin has broadcast and written on farming, food and the countryside in a wide range of programmes and publications, but this must surely be the most comprehensive and pertinent publication she has yet produced.
She is to be congratulated on her extraordinary hunting and gathering efforts and for telling it like it is. (The Cornishman, 28.09.06)

.. Carol Trewin is someone who tackles the subject of food with a passion ..
.. she understands her subject inside out ..
.. Her words go hand in hand with the glorious photography of Adam Woolfitt.

(Western Morning News, 30.09.06)

A comprehensive and balanced overview of the fishing industry in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly ..
The imaginative use of top quality action and atmospheric photographs taken at the cutting edge by Adam Woolfitt, further enhances the quality of what is both an extremely well presented and highly accurate book. .. Immensely readable. (Fishing News, 03.11.06)

Carol Trewin is Cornwalls leading food writer. .. She is an evangelist, standing in the front-line of defending farming and fishing from the predations of bureaucrats and supermarkets. ..
.. Cornish Fishing and Seafood is a tour-de-force. The history, technique and feelings of the Cornish fishing industry are laid bare. (Cornish World, 2006)

Packed with dramatic testimony from Cornish fishing folk and merchants .. the book covers the history, the trials and tribulations and the future of the industry .. Thoroughly absorbing.

(The Eden Project, Friends Magazine, no. 24, Winter 2006)

..deserves to be widely read. It makes an outstanding contribution to our understanding of an industry that is both warp and weft to Cornwall. Carol Trewin writes with authority, sensitivity and imagination about every aspect of Cornish Fishing and seafood.

(Coast Project, Newsletter, Autumn 2006)

a perfect Christmas gift (Cornwall Today December 2006)

a voyage of discovery that also includes history and politics (Western Morning News 16.12.06)

.. whether you are a cook, a fish connoisseur, a fisherman or someone interested in the sea and its sustainability, you will find something to interest you.

(Cornish Worldwide Winter 2006)

.. a lively and fascinating overview ..
The informative text is accompanied by a series of incisive interviews ..
Illustrated with a series of brilliant photographs this is an enlightening celebration, which brings long overdue respect and recognition to an industry at the heart of Cornish life.

(This England, Summer 2007)

This is a gorgeous, full-colour volume (photographer Adam Woolfitt does fantastic work) .. but its a book you should read. Its a serious, worrying and inspiring book..
.. a book about fishing, yes, but its about community, heritage and the future. ..
This is the book to give you a real insight into the industry. Buy it and read it.

(Mostly Food Journal, May 2008)

Cornish Fishing and Seafood was featured at the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival in September 2006

Alison Hodge - ISBN 0906720427