He’s a hunter, fisherman, forager, cook, James Beard-award winner, and rock star of food writers. Today, the brilliant Hank Shaw can add another title to his growing list: Food Literacy Hero!

California Food Literacy Center is incredibly grateful and excited that Hank is cooking an impressive five-course dinner for its Foraged Feast fundraiser on August 31.

“Learning how to cook ought to be as fundamental as learning to read. That it isn’t in today’s society is sad — and it’s also why Amber’s work with the Food Literacy Center is so important,” said Hank. “I am more than happy to help this effort in any way I can.”

The ultimate locavore, Hank hunts and fishes for his meat, and grows and forages his fruits and vegetables. His popular blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook won the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Food Blog this year, and was nominated in 2009 and 2010.

Hank is a Food literacy Hero for numerous reasons – his dedication to knowing where his food comes from, his support of our organization and mission, his superb ninja skills in the kitchen, but most of all, his passion for teaching everyday folks about real, honest food. His blog shows everyone how easy it is to cook unfamiliar ingredients and make various sauces. Our founder Amber Stott has been friends with Hank for the past five years and has personally learned a great deal from him including how to sort mushrooms for drying and eating fresh, and how to pick elderberries.

“Hank is a teacher through and through. You have to have a passion and drive to teach others if you blog, because you’re not speaking to a room full of culinary students. You’re writing for everyday Americans, like the kids I teach,” said Amber. “I don’t think there’s a kid in the world who wouldn’t do a blackberry back flip for joy if they had the chance to go out into nature with Hank and hunt for wild onions or forage for fennel–often steps from their back doors here in Sacramento.”

Hank’s resume is varied and fascinating! He worked as a line cook, commercial fisherman and political reporter. Today, besides running his food blog, he also tests and writes recipes for Simply Recipes, and has written two books Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast that is already in stores and Duck, Duck, Goose: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Waterfowl, Both Farmed and Wild that will be released in October 2013.

Besides his James Beard award, Hank also won two International Association of Culinary Professional awards for his food writing. Additionally, his back-to-nature approach to food is lauded by highly-acclaimed chefs from around the world. Sacramento is lucky to have such an accomplished resident and California Food Literacy Center is even luckier to have Hank as a supporter!

For his relentless pursuit of food knowledge, his passion for teaching, and for the way he lives and breathes food literacy, we’re proud to call Hank Shaw our Food Literacy Hero!

Want to meet Hank and taste the foraged feast he will be cooking? Tickets are almost sold out so don’t hesitate to book a space today. All proceeds go to furthering food literacy education for low-income kids in Sacramento.