"Fresh encourages us to become more familiar with the food we eat, where it comes from and the concept of seasonality...Fresh brings together award-winning recipes inspired by each season's fresh ingredients and the people who produce them."

"From the single, perfect beet decorating the cover through the sauteed shiitake mushrooms topping up crisp spinach to spears of gleaming roasted parsnips and beets, [Fresh] is a cookbook of tempting West Coast favourites that we easterners can share."

"You don't often see a group of people waiting in line with big smiles on their faces, but that was the scene...[when] sixty-five people lined up for the opportunity to meet Vancouver-based chef John Bishop...Bishop praised local growers and producers for their amazing quality and diverse range of products."

"Spring salmon roasted in corn husks, steamed asparagus in orange butter sauce, roasted-tomato soupwith sage-and-apple biscuits -- tell me if there's one dish there you wouldn't love to eat. And this joyous book has dozens more...Bishop's insights on sustainability in the kitchen are written with his usual quiet modesty as he suggests 'small actions.'"

"At today's top restaurants, ingredients are the stars, not the chefs, not the owners, not the celebrity diners. And as corollary, the producers of these ingredients are edging into the limelight...Hazelmere Farm was a big part of that transformation and the recently-released Fresh, Bishop's fourth cookbook, celebrates his relationship with the farm."

"Seasonal ingredients inspire Bishop's simple menus, and recipes showcase the garden's bounty in its almost-naked glory. No gastro-porn here, just simple, pared-down preparations that let the natural flavours shine through. Fresh takes us into the garden and inspires us to bring the harvest home to our tables."

"More than a sound collection of easy to execute recipes (smartly arranged by season), [Fresh] is also a book that salutes the place of local farmers, fishers and livestock. And it's a timely tome that should be on the desk or in the kitchen of every cabinet member as they contemplate tinkering with the Agricultural Land Reserve, the fate of the UBC Farm, or -- dare we say -- consider any convenient 'conversion' of critical arable land for convenient profit."

"Bishop's remains the embodiment of good things local. And the man himself has been quietly green about it since the beginning of time...Bishop likes is simplicity elegant though, and it shows. And tastes. What's most compelling about the man and his deeply felt passion about food is that he never seems to get militant about any of it. He remains gentle, easy-going, a bit of a food-whisperer among all the shouting."