Hunting

Georgia Pellegrini: Hunt, Cook, Eat

Alex Robinson Avatar

By Alex Robinson

Posted on Apr 20, 2021 3:54 AM EDT

3 minute read

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Georgia Pellegrini, an author, blogger, chef and world traveler, is not your average outdoorswoman. So it's fitting that Georgia didn't start hunting for the typical reasons.
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Georgia was working at a restaurant and her interest in where food came from began to grow. Soon she decided she wanted to not only be part of the cooking, but also part of the harvesting. "I realized that I wanted to take it one step further and bought a shotgun," Georgia says.
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As natural and organic food continued to grow in popularity, Georgia also realized that eating wild game you kill field in the is about as natural as it gets.
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"I like that I can participate in every part of the meat eating process," she says.
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"It's really hard to argue against [hunting] if you eat meat or wear leather," she says.
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Now Georgia has been in the field for a few years and has hunted deer, turkeys, elk, pheasants, quail, ducks, wild boar and grouse.
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Her goal is to bridge the gap between hunters and people who are looking to eat more naturally. "There's this sort of stereotype about hunters that they're all these white middle-aged men who just like to go out and shoot things," she says. "But that's not the case."
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She's also on a mission to help hunters learn how to better prepare the game they bring from the field to the kitchen.
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Georgia's book, Food Heros, hit the shelves in September and tells the story of 16 food artisans across the world, who are fighting to preserve their traditions.
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She's currently working on a book called Girl Hunter that is about the process of hunting and cooking wild game.
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Here's Georgia on a bird hunt in England.
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Georgia's interest in natural food started at an early age while growing up in the Hudson River Valley in New York.
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"My passion for good food, for simple food, began at an early age, on a boulder by the side of a creek as I caught my trout for breakfast. I grew up on the same land my great-grandfather owned and worked. This place is called Tulipwood, and there my great-aunt could name every species of plant; my grandmother made meatloaf, balsamic vinaigrette and egg dip with an intoxicating savoir-faire; and my father raised honeybees and quince trees with the care typically devoted to a newborn," she writes in her blog. Photo: Gordon Pellegrini Photography
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Photo: Gordon Pellegrini Photography
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But Georgia didn't recognize her calling as a chef right away. Photo: Gordon Pellegrini Photography
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After college she got a job at Lehman Brothers and entered the world of Wall Street. Photo: Gordon Pellegrini Photography
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But she quickly found out that a cubicle in a financial office was not where she wanted to spend the rest of her life. She dropped everything and went to culinary school.
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That's where her passion for food, and then eventually hunting, grew. Photo: Gordon Pellegrini Photography
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Georgia's take on hunting might seem unconventional at first, but her motivation is as old as hunting itself. Photo: Gordon Pellegrini Photography
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The first hunters were out for food. Hunting was not a sport to them, it was their way of life. Georgia simply took this concept and modernized…
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… And perhaps made it a bit more stylish.
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Georgia's recipes
Braised Rabbit
To see the recipe and cooking directions click here.
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Braised Venison
To see the recipe and cooking directions click here.
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Duck Proscuitto
To see the recipe and cooking directions click here.
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House Cured Bacon
To see the recipe and cooking directions click here.
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Visit Georgia's website and find her book at GeorgiaPellegrini.com

Georgia Pellegrini is working to close the gap between cooking and hunting. I hope you’re hungry.