Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time

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Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time

3.21 of 5 stars 3.21 · rating details · 247 ratings · 60 reviews

The Omnivore's Dilemma meets The Pioneer Woman Cooks: a provocative book that pushes the boundaries of the foodie revolution and considers why, how, and what we eat.

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Published 2012 by Tantor Media (first published December 13th 2011)

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Feb 14, 2013 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The aspects of character that make someone gifted at outdoor skills tend to be at odds with the aspects that make someone a good writer. Hemingway is the great example of a wordsmith whose other gifts bring a first-hand knowledge to the reader of things the reader may never come close to experiencing for himself. Ms. Pellegrini writes vividly of how it can be stimulating to be out in the cold and the wet when your reward is the thrill of the hunt. She's really good at sharing that thrill. Her ap...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Ms. T rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Give me a moment. I’m having a lot of feelings about this book. I didn’t know that I could feel this way about non-fiction books, but there you go. Girl Hunter left me with a hungry belly and a full heart and a shiny new crush on Georgia Pellegrini.

Girl Hunter is an ode to hunting, an ode to a pioneer kind of life, and it is deeply anchored in the connection between a person and the natural world in which they live. Pellegrini describes her journey from corporate life to culinary life and, event...more

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May 15, 2012 Simone rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-read

I was skimming through reviews on this, and they seem to be mixed. Some people hate the flowery writing, (which I didn't mind) and other people are upset she's not attacking the meat industry more systematically or providing tips for hunting your own meat. First up, this is definitely more a memoir than food industry book. Second of all she doesn't focus on the learning to hunt, that part would be up to you, she does provide recipes for how to cook the game you get, and those all sound delicious...more
I was skimming through reviews on this, and they seem to be mixed. Some people hate the flowery writing, (which I didn't mind) and other people are upset she's not attacking the meat industry more systematically or providing tips for hunting your own meat. First up, this is definitely more a memoir than food industry book. Second of all she doesn't focus on the learning to hunt, that part would be up to you, she does provide recipes for how to cook the game you get, and those all sound delicious.

There was also a review that was really upset because she thought Pellegrini was attacking vegetarians, I don't think that she is. I think she's celebrating meat, and our connection to the land, which ancestrally was based on a plant and meat based diet. But getting your meat used to be more complicated than a trip to the deli counter or McDonald's, and that's what she is advocating for. I think if Pellegrini was given the option of Tyson chicken breasts for life or a vegetarian diet, she would advocate vegetarian. But that's also a little short sighted. She wants to advocate for something different. Something more local, something more farm to table.

To me that's worth exploring. It certainly made me want to try more fresh game, to try cooking with it, though she still didn't convince me quite to go out hunting. I also don't think we can opt out entirely, if we leave the deer alone the population will swell, and overpopulation leads to sickness and other not so great consequences. The same can be said for a lot of other animal populations, cultivated thoughtful hunting and gamekeeping is different than the crazy mass produced meat factory farms. She raises an interesting point about the nature of hunting in the US. In England, hunting is seen as a good thing, done by the elites and the aristocracy, but in the US it's seen as something only poor redneck folks do. That's one cultural item I would love to trace the origin of.

Anyway, if you're interested in a discussion of food and the way we eat, I would recommend this book, just be prepared for more of a flowery memoir than you might be expecting.

(less)

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Mar 05, 2012 Kevin Farrell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a good next step after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. Georgia Pellegrini writes about her pursuit of the ultimate experience in consumption - killing, butchering and eating her own food. She meets many colorful souls who help her on her journey as she hunts deer, hogs, turkeys, pheasants, and squirrels.

The writing is superb. Very descriptive and "comfortable" at the same time. Each chapter is followed with several recipes for the game just discussed. I am going to buy this book and kee...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I borrowed this book from the library because my beloved is a hunter who spends most of his spare moments sitting in a tree stand looking for that elusive 10-point buck. I, on the other hand, am a vegetarian who trends toward vegan. I respect his choices (and he respects mine) and I wanted to learn more about why he does what he does and if, maybe, one day, I could do the same. Pellegrini seemed a good person to tell me. And she may have been, but somehow her delivery just didn't work for me. Ma...more I borrowed this book from the library because my beloved is a hunter who spends most of his spare moments sitting in a tree stand looking for that elusive 10-point buck. I, on the other hand, am a vegetarian who trends toward vegan. I respect his choices (and he respects mine) and I wanted to learn more about why he does what he does and if, maybe, one day, I could do the same. Pellegrini seemed a good person to tell me. And she may have been, but somehow her delivery just didn't work for me. Maybe it was the line about the moonlight sparkling on the lake like "angry diamonds" or the "black wind" that batters their faces, metaphors that just didn't work and that just seemed to indicate that Pellegrini is, maybe, a little pompous and full of herself. But I think that I really never recovered from her statement, on page 11, that "if you want to feel what it is like to be human again, you should hunt, even if just once."

I respect the choice of hunters like Pellegrini who, by her own admission, don't like to let any of the animal go to waste (neither, by the way, does my boyfriend). But her decision to hunt, butcher, cook, and eat her own meat doesn't make her more human than my choice to not eat animal flesh. Rather, I see vegetarianism as a very human choice: the choice to eschew animal flesh out of concern for the animal and the pain and fear it feels as it's being hunted and killed. My human-ness is present every time I choose plant-based foods, or foods that don't subject sentient beings to that pain and fear. It's my ability to sympathize and care for those sentient beings that makes me human, not my ability to whip out a compound bow and put a flying projectile between the ribs of a whitetail deer.

The choice to hunt doesn't boil down to an argument of "I'm better than you are," but Pellegrini seems to be saying just that. I wouldn't tolerate it from my boyfriend, and I sure won't tolerate it from her. I'll take a pass on the rest of this book, thanks all the same.(less)

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Oct 13, 2012 izzyraywilliemay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Girl Hunter" by Georgia Pellegrini
Girl Hunter is a memoir about a woman (Georgia) who, at age 12, decides she wants to hunt. After a hunting trip gone not so well, she forgets about it and lives a very successful life in New York City. The book is about how she quits her life in New York and becomes a hunter and a cook. You follow Georgia on her hunting trip around the world. But it's not all hunting. You see her struggles with different people and enviroments. Along with the story, Georgia sh...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cooking-food

Overall I was pretty disappointed with Girl Hunter. Georgia Pellegrini worked on Wall Street, then went to culinary school and became a chef. While working as a chef she worked much closer to her food, but only after she was asked to slaughter a turkey did Pellegrini start thinking about how removed even chefs could be from the reality of where their meat comes from. So, she decides to learn how to hunt and in doing so close the gap between herself and her food. All of this sounded very interest...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I live in a house of many opinions on the matter of hunting.

I am not a hunter. I, however, am married to a hunter. I have one child who struggles to like the taste of meat and yet wants to hunt for it. The rule of the house is that if you can't eat it, you can't shoot it. It's taken some soul searching for that child to decide how to proceed. I have another child who, disposition wise, strikes me as an unlikely hunter and yet is fully excited to embrace the idea. So this book was an interesting...more I live in a house of many opinions on the matter of hunting.

I am not a hunter. I, however, am married to a hunter. I have one child who struggles to like the taste of meat and yet wants to hunt for it. The rule of the house is that if you can't eat it, you can't shoot it. It's taken some soul searching for that child to decide how to proceed. I have another child who, disposition wise, strikes me as an unlikely hunter and yet is fully excited to embrace the idea. So this book was an interesting perspective on the puzzle that is my house.

The author, Georgia Pellegrini used to work for Lehman Brothers. After a time she opted to forgo her career there and went to cooking school abroad to become a professional chef. Her experiences there led her to the opinion that the most responsible manner of eating is procuring that which you eat. This book is about that journey and her experiences hunting for different types of game. The lovely addition to the end of each chapter is recipes for the game and sauces to go with them.

Reading this book did make me more aware of the fact that I am really more accepting of hunting than I believe myself to be. It's not that I have any issue with people hunting, it's more that I have trouble with the idea of myself hunting. I think I could hunt birds but that's really as close as I see myself coming to the sport. That said, over the years I have graaaaaadually let down my guard about dealing with the game that comes home to my house. At first I would only allow it to go from field to butcher. My husband (a former professional chef) did prove that it was better, cleaner, tastier if he handled it. So I allowed that. Over then years I have reached the point where I will also tolerate the packaging of it.

But this book also pointed out another matter that I had already embraced - the meat, almost withour fail, just tastes so much better than what you find in a store. And there is something to be said for taking what you need, responsibly, not having something raised inhumanly and killed inhumanly. To others it may seem primal to hunt for your meal. To me, and to the author, it seems oddly more thoughtful. So I walk away from this book still unable to embrace the idea of becoming a hunter myself but more appreciative of the greater idea. And , I am now also armed with great recipes for the game that will come home with those in my home who do embrace it.

A good book with an interesting perspective. (less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Diana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know I must be missing something here. I adore Georgia Pellegrini's blog and am convinced that if we ever met, I would be too much in awe for us to have a healthy, normal friendship.

So how could I not get into this book? Grrrr..... (That would be me, not the animal she's hunting.) I mean, I believe in guns...but maybe I can't justify hunting. I eat meat although these days my diet is pescaterian-ish, so maybe the recipes at the end of the chapters didn't do it for me. Despite all this, I just...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Teri Argo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Half narrative on how a classically trained chef, city girl, becomes a hunter and half recipes for the game she kills. I found this book very entertaining; however, she mostly writes about hunting on hunting ranches and game preserves, which is foreign to me. We hunt on public land, or farmers land with permission. Our hunting experiences are very different from the authors, but in the end, it comes down to eating what you take. And, the knowledge of where you food comes from and how it is cared...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Gustoffa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this a really interesting read. I LOVE cooking and picked it up hoping to find some good recipes for game meat as my hubby is a hunter. Mission accomplished - the recipes look great and cover just about every type of game that I am likely to run into. What I didn't expect and was pleasantly surprised by was that it gave me the desire to learn to hunt! I have always just thought about the preparation of harvested animals once they got to my home but I think it would be great to be involve...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Jim McClellan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Georgia Pellegrini set out on a journey to learn how to hunt, but more significantly, to understand why we hunt. She steered away from the canned, pay-to-play experiences and instead spent time with real hunters carrying on time-honored traditions. In Girl Hunter, Georgia connects readers with the spirit of self-sufficiency that sustained all but the most recent generations of Americans. Her perspective is refreshing and her recipes are gifts that keep on giving long after the first read. I give...more

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May 06, 2012 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the way we eat, one hunt at a time” is none of the above. What a disappointment. I found this book so…unhelpful, so…uninspiring, so… insipid. It was just really, really boring to read. Maybe my expectations were off – but they were set by the book itself in many ways.

My biggest complaint is there is no “WE” to this book! There is no path demarcated that we can follow, there is no philosophy outlined that we can incorporate. There is no discussion about the economic...more “Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the way we eat, one hunt at a time” is none of the above. What a disappointment. I found this book so…unhelpful, so…uninspiring, so… insipid. It was just really, really boring to read. Maybe my expectations were off – but they were set by the book itself in many ways.

My biggest complaint is there is no “WE” to this book! There is no path demarcated that we can follow, there is no philosophy outlined that we can incorporate. There is no discussion about the economics, the morals or even the history of hunting. This book is very much about the rather repetitive adventures of Georgia Pelligrini.

And it’s not even about her growth as a person. Granted, she becomes a better marksman, she becomes a more skilled hunter, and she can butcher her kill more efficiently. But she never shows us why we should care. Here is a synopsis of her first hunt: “I got up early. I met my hunting buddies. They were all guys; I stood out. I used to wear high heels. The animals were beautiful. But I thought how good they would taste, so I shot them. We all drank together and celebrated. We ate our kill.” Unfortunately, it’s also the synopsis of her 2nd, 3rd, 4th and nearly every kill, with just a different personality, game and background thrown in for color.

I was left wondering so many things, and desperately wanted her to justify the subtitle and explain HOW hunting revolutionized the way she ate. How Georgia? Did it allow you to accept your inner predator? Did it change the way you felt towards all animals? Other than taste, did you feel differently eating an animal you had just killed, versus one you bought at the grocery store? Did it change your ‘non-hunting’ eating habits? How, How How? This question is skirted so many times and never answered satisfactorily.

Maybe some truth in titleing would help this book, I suggest “Girl Drunkard: You too can change the way you eat if you know all the right rich people and get someone to pay you while you write a book about it.”

Sorry. This self indulgent book guised as something "revolutionary" brings out my snarky side. (less)

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Sep 10, 2012 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ages ago, I was a vegetarian and was against any form of hunting. Today, I have given up my vegetarian lifestyle and married a hunter... who is quickly turning me into one as well. When I first learned about Georgia's book, I immediately preordered it and then read through her blog to bide my time until the book came out. My determination to hunt my own food has been renewed, I can't wait to get my 20g over and under.

Unfortunately, her constant narration about every little detail and feeling bo...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The author was recently featured on MPR Midmorning. She described fascinating tales of her hunting experience in search to track down the ingredients for the meals she prepared as a classically trained chef. Other callers relayed their experiences with wild game hunting, including a college student at Bemidji State who hunts and eats mostly wild game and avoids the college cafeterias. I added the book to my reservation queue at the library, and just had the chance to read it now. Here are some o...more The author was recently featured on MPR Midmorning. She described fascinating tales of her hunting experience in search to track down the ingredients for the meals she prepared as a classically trained chef. Other callers relayed their experiences with wild game hunting, including a college student at Bemidji State who hunts and eats mostly wild game and avoids the college cafeterias. I added the book to my reservation queue at the library, and just had the chance to read it now. Here are some of the stories she highlights in her book:

Turkey and duck hunting in the southern United States
Elk hunting in Wyoming, where she encountered a shady character and had some discussion of poaching
Squirrel hunting in upstate New York
Grouse hunting in Montana
High class hunting on a British estate
Hog hunting in the south west, with tracking and hunting hounds

For each type of game she encounters, Georgia includes recipes at the end of each chapter. Knowing that we all don't have easy access to wild game, she includes modifications with more common meat items from your local grocer. You can also read more at her blog: http://georgiapellegrini.com/topics/b...

Along with the hunting skills and tips, she shares some local trivia from the various places she visits. While in Wyoming, she mentions that it was never supposed to be a state. "If Ulysses S. Grant had his way, the land would have been split among Idaho, Montana, Colorado and South Dakota. But the citizens of Wyoming put more people on the official rolls than actually inhabited the state. They begin naming babies before they were born, and they were the first to give women the right to vote because they needed all the voting power they could get" p 71. Go Wyoming!

I enjoyed reading this book for several reasons. One, it makes you face the reality of where some of our food comes from. I respect Georgia for her research. I've taken comparative anatomy and done plenty of dissections, but I haven't mustered up the courage to ever fire a gun. Second, it makes me appreciate the efforts of my family who are more than happy to share their bounty of venison, fish and the occasional bit of elk.(less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Sarah Boon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A bit overhyped. The type of hunting Pellegrini does is the hunting of the elite few, a far cry from the blue collar hunting described in David Adams Richards' Facing the Hunter. Pellegrini had a good opportunity to address women in hunting culture, the role of wild food in our current diet, and access to wild game by different sectors of society. Instead the book is about going on shoots with the wealthy and making over-the-top recipes (which did make me salivate!) with the spoils.

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Apr 22, 2012 Karey Swan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I LOVED her trailer, so I got the book from the library. It was a fun read, but I don't need to own the book - recipes I'm not going to need. Like I've eaten javelina, but not going to ever need to cook one. I've eaten bear, but not planning on putting one up myself. I've eaten deer and elk, but don't need her recipe. The only "critter" I've eaten that she's not eaten is rattle snake...Oh ... I've also eaten sauted mormon crickets... and have I eaten raccoon? I forget.

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Mar 26, 2013 Johanna Perry rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shelved-mid-read

I agree with the reviews on goodreads that describe GP as a so-so and sometimes pompous writer. It's hard to like her as a person and to get much out of this book. She's been fortunate enough to know a lot of people with a bit of money who can hook her up with really cool outings all over. I find myself mainly daydreaming about what fun it would be to have these opportunities and not have to work in the corporate world, but that's not enough to overpower her serious love of herself which makes m...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Rose rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book wasn't bad, but not as great as I hoped it would be. There was definitely something keeping me from being REALLY interested in the book, although I was interested in the topic before I started reading.
I find that she often made redundant statements ("paying the full Karmic price", etc.) and, as others have said, seemed a little full of herself. I applaud her for being confident, and as a woman it can be hard to get away with being confident without coming off as b*tchy; I get that. Bu...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Lacey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed Georgia's book very much, although I seriously wish it had been longer. I enjoyed the hunting stories, and I also loved reading the recipes at the end of each chapter and the end of the book. Georgia's voice is so strong and her point of view comes across so clearly in her book.

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Jan 15, 2012 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: food

I skimmed this one after the first chapter. Started out too flowerly for my taste. (a personal pet-peeve) I like the idea of exploring one's food in this context and I give Georgia huge props. Just didn't care for her writing style. I did however love the chapter on the English hunt (birds).

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Apr 29, 2012 Mike Morano rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At first I thought 'they don't make them like Georgia in New Jersey', but then I read her background, realized that she's from NY and got really intrigued. A good book, and her story and background are fascinating and compelling. I would happily read more of Georgia's work, but her writing is still a work in progress. Entertaining but ultimately left me still hungry. I do have to try some of her recipes.

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Jan 01, 2012 Rachelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While I liked tue journey of discovery made by the author, I did not like her name dropping and showing off of tue places she hunts or her attitude at the end of the book that she seems to have of being a better person then people who do not hunt.

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Aug 04, 2012 Megan Sanchez rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Probably more like a 2.5, since I did enjoy some of the individual sections quite a bit. But I never did shake the feeling that this probably should have just stayed a blog. The recipes were delicious, I'm sure, but since the key ingredients were very out of my suburban grocery store ability to purchase I didn't try any of them.

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Jul 07, 2012 Carissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cup-cake-chanllenge, non-fiction-read, 2012-reviews

first reviewed here

http://belovedgraceful-carissasbooksh...

Title: Girl Hunter

Author: Georgia Pellegrini

Series:

Chapters: 11 plus epilogue

Pages: 248

Genre: memoir

Rating: 4 stars

It is the memoir in which Georgia records her adventures as she goes on different hunts across the US and even England. It’s all in her quest to get closer to her food source. She also writes a little about the people she meets as well. Sometimes changing their names to protect them.

It was an enjoyable read as well as me...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Jessica Limmer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great book. Actually gave me the final push I needed to start hunting.
Pellegrini helped me realize that hunting and fishing isn't just for rednecks, but can be a foodie sport as well.

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Feb 08, 2013 Kristie (fabk) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books, kindle, wbc-13, non-fiction, 2013

This was a fascinating book. One woman's journey from never hunting before to hunting all kinds of game and as a master chef, she brings to each tale many wonderful recipes.

As someone who didn't hunt from a young age either, I found her journey to be refreshing and interesting. She didn't dwell on the actual killing of things, but on the hunt itself, which is what I enjoy the most. It's about getting outside and getting back to basics, which most hunters do not understand.

I also found the inform...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Sandy Duke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Hunters, Locavores, Outdoorsmen, Adventurous Cooks

Part travelogue, part adventure, part cookbook.

Pellegrini is a a good cook, a good shot, an adventurous spirit, and a really great writer. I hope she will write more in the future.

Warning: Not for those who faint at the sight (or thought) of bloodshed.

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Feb 07, 2013 Ryan Bennett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Getting closer to the source of what we eat has become such a hot trend and this is an interesting look at one woman's journey to become a hunter.

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Oct 29, 2012 Kaitlin Torp rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book rather boring. I think a part of it is that I have already absorbed the lessons of why hunting your own food is better for you and the environment. Reading this was a bit preaching-to-the-choir. I just thought this book would be more interesting.

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