Cooks Afloat! by David Hoar & Noreen Rudd (Harbour $29.95) was literally launched-with a sailing cruise up the coast to demonstrate that gourmet cooking on the water need not be difficult or time consuming. The couple has learned how to collect fresh edibles along the way, developing recipes that accentuate West Coast seafoods. With medical science backgrounds, they've turned their galley on the Pacific Voyager into a laboratory. Rudd is a founding member of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists. She gave up her career at the Alberta Children's Hospital at age 50 to pursue music, cedar bark collecting, weaving, food photography, beading and scuba diving. Semi-retired from teaching at UBC's medical school, Hoar is a geneticist and molecular biologist who dives for pleasure-and collects specimens for the Vancouver Aquarium. Cooks Afloat combines tastefulness and science, drawn from the couple's broad knowledge of marine biology, seafood collection and preparation, and creative cookery. 1-55017-260-3

[BCBW WINTER 2001]