A foodie afloat

A Foodie Afloat is the story of a cook's journey through France on a barge.

Di Murrell takes us on a gentle journey across France; her main preoccupation being to make sure that tasty food arrives on the table each day.

As she voyages across the country she shows, through her recipes, how the cuisine changes with the landscape.

Whether bought in the market, dug from a lock-keeper's garden or even foraged along the towpath, the food she finds and cooks is always seasonal and local to the region.

This book is more than just a collection of recipes though.

It is the result of a life spent on the waterways of Europe.

She talks to lock-keepers, skippers of working barges and those, who, like her, find their sustenance on or near the canal.

Di's enjoyment of good champagne, foie gras and truffles leads to an eclectic mix of simplicity and sophistication in her cooking. The boating life, though rarely sensational, is full of small events and chance encounters.

This is an enticing story of slow boats and slow food.

Di makes it come alive, and her combination of travel and recipe book tempts us to give up everything and join her on the waterways of Northern and Central France.

A Foodie Afloat is the 2020 UK winner of the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards in the Food Tourism category.