Prologue: a recipe for something -- All thinking and talking of food -- The secret society of unconventional cooks -- Slaughter and scurvy -- Meat and melted snow -- How to keep a fat explorer in prime condition -- Into the deep freeze -- Prisoner-of-war syndrome -- The syrup of American comfort -- A cookie and a story -- Sleeping with vegetables -- A tale of two stations -- Epilogue: not under these conditions -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix 1. Selected recipes from Gerald Cutland's fit for a fid -- Appendix 2. Hoosh timeline.