A Boy After The Sea – book review

A Boy After The Sea
Kevin Snook
Snook Publishing, £35
ISBN: 978-0956310606

A Boy After The Sea is a triumph in more ways than one. Not only is it a stunning collection of recipes from some the world's leading chefs, accompanied by beautiful photography, but it is also a tribute by Kevin Snook to his 19-year-old son, Dan, who died following a drugs overdose.

Dan was a young man who loved fishing and loved to cook. Snook, a chef, who has owned restaurants in Canada and the Caribbean and is now based in Bray, Berkshire, from where he works as a private caterer, set up the Dan Snook Trust Foundation to provide help and support for troubled young people to find a better way of life.

All proceeds from the book, which Snook - astonishingly for such an ambitious project - formed his own publishing company to produce, will go to the foundation. Deservedly, the book has been named the Best UK Fish and Seafood Book in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

In the foreword, Heston Blumenthal says he understands the vital importance of organisations such as the Dan Snook Trust Foundation.

"Of all people, the chefs who have so generously contributed to this book will know some of the pressures facing young adults today as the catering industry certainly has its fair share of problems that particularly affect young people," he writes.

The enticing collection of recipes from our oceans, rivers and lakes highlights the global crisis facing fish stocks and encourages both chefs and home cooks to make well-informed, sustainable choices. Anne-Sophie Pic from France, Alice Waters from the USA and Andoni Luis Aduriz from Spain are among the featured chefs, with the UK represented by Alain Roux, Atul Kochhar, John Burton Race, Rick Stein and Snook himself (see recipe below).

This is not a book to keep in a working kitchen - it is too beautiful and precious for that - but it is one to look at and be inspired by in the knowledge that every penny spent in purchasing a copy will go towards an excellent cause.

Caterer readers can purchase A Boy After The Sea for the special price of £25. To order a copy, e-maildenise@privatelabelww.com, quoting ref: HC10