Welcome to The Fat Farmer Cookbook

We are the owners and employees of Eleazer Davis Farm - a 300 year-old working farm in Eastern Massachusetts. In addition to sharing a passion for the horses in our charge, we love to cook. Most mornings we can be found in the barn regaling each other with stories of food as we muddle through the daily chores. And most Friday nights we can be found in the farmhouse kitchen, sharing a little wine and good conversation over the stove. It was during one of these frequent food conversations that the idea was formed to write a cookbook together.

Once the idea for the book began to take shape, we decided we wanted not only to compile a list of our favorite dishes, but also to explore the ways modern families might recapture some of the social traditions that are being lost to urbanization and mechanization. For colonial farmers simplicity, economy and community were the central aspects of their lives. And nowhere else in the early

American home were these values better integrated than in the kitchen. Farmers only bought from the markets those whole food staples which they could not make or grow themselves, what was yesterday's chicken dinner became tonight's stew and tomorrow's garden compost, and the crowded dinner table doubled as a meeting place to discuss the past and plan for the future.

While the age of industrialization makes it difficult to keep in touch with these ideals, we find that they are just as relevent in modern life as 300 years ago. For us, we cook using whole foods because it is less expensive, less wasteful, more flavorful and healthier than going out or buying something prepared. We support local business by buying fresh, seasonal produce and staples. We try to recycle as much as possible. And we use cooking, both the process and the product, as a way to gather and share time with friends and family. So while you'll find our menus to be a little more exotic than those of our colonial forebears, you'll also find that the book strives to uphold something of the colonial values of fellowship and frugality.

We are still in the process of compiling (and testing!) our recipes.