Cooking with Bear: A Story and Recipes From the Forest

Bear awakens from his long winter sleep wondering about the welfare of his forest friends. He decides to check up on them after he cooks up a spring meal of watercress soup and Maple-Apple Crisp. Fox stops in to say hello and is invited to share a delicious lunch with Bear. After the meal, Fox asks Bear to teach him to cook. Bear is only too happy to share his recipes with Fox, and together they set out into the forest to gather ingredients and visit with friends.

Each stop includes a polite exchange between friends as well as the acquisition of the fixings needed to create Bear’s recipes. A visit with Squirrel offers some nuts for nut burgers, Chickadee gives up some dried berries for honey-roasted granola, and Deer and Hare share their fresh spring plants for a spring green salad. Together Bear and Fox cook up a feast with all of the gifts received from their forest friends and share a delightful meal together. As the two friends walk back to Fox’s burrow, they drop off some of the food that they have prepared with each of their friends. As spring has not quite arrived, Bear, being restless, decides to spend his time in writing down all of his recipes to share with his friend Fox.

The recipes described in the story are intermingled with the text. The recipes are all listed in an index at the back of the book which arranges them by Wild Fruits and Berries, Wild Greens and Herbs and Wild Nuts and Seeds, for a total of 15 healthy treats to try out. The clear and easy-to-follow instructions encourage children to work with an adult to help out with the stove and with chopping. Within the story, there is an understated message to consume foods that are natural and locally grown.

Lisa Cinar’s illustrations complement the story with a lovely forest coloured palate. The characters and the forest around them are all outlined in broad ink strokes and filled in with watercolour hues.

Cooking with Bear is a lovely story about sharing with and caring for friends.