Book on Ugly Food to Hurst

Hurst Publishers is to publish Ugly Food, a book that "tackles head-on our aversion to odd-looking ingredients", by Tim Wharton and Richard Horsey.

Hurst bought world rights to the title directly from the authors.

The publisher said: "The food industry seems driven by the pursuit of impossible perfection. Ugly Food, in contrast, explores the tasty, sustainable, and easy to cook foods which are often neglected and overlooked, and aims to change the way people think about them, and the way they think about eating them".

The book answers questions like: Why don’t we eat more octopus? What about gurnard and other ugly fish? Cheeks and feet are cheap and delicious, so why do people prefer fillet or chops? What about rabbits and squirrels? Where do all the giblets go? And what’s wrong with ugly vegetables?"

Alongside recipes, Wharton and Horsey provide social histories of ingredients that are "positively brimming over with fascinating facts, fictions and, of course, flavours". The book also includes "stunning" photographs by photographer Tanya Ghosh.

Commissioning editor Alasdair Craig said: "I'm delighted to have commissioned what I think will be a truly beautiful book about ugly food. The images are striking, sometimes a little shocking, but always strangely appetising, while the social histories will induce melancholy, amusement, fascination and hunger."

Wharton is an accomplished cook, and, as well as his academic work, has published titles on food culture and recipe writing. Horsey has worked for the United Nations fighting forced labour, as a foreign-exchange trader in Hong Kong and as an itinerant dishwasher. He has a doctorate in cognitive science and is an expert on the politics of Myanmar.

Hurst will publish Ugly Food in hardback on 1st December 2016, priced at £25.