Vegetable Literacy

February 18, 2013
Vegetables are the new heroes of the food world, as more and more of us try to eat healthier meals and many struggle to lose weight. Madison (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone), a leading expert on vegetarian cooking, helps us expand our vegetable knowledge by examining edible plant families, which, in turn, determine our cooking, growing, and eating choices. She showcases 12 plant families—from the very familiar to those that are less well-known, including carrots, mint, sunflowers, cabbage, and more. In addition, she covers how to use the entire plant, highlights different varieties, and offers truly helpful suggestions for companion ingredients. Madison also includes appealing and original recipes for main and side dishes, as well as appetizing desserts such as carrot almond cake with ricotta cream, red rhubarb–berry ice cream, and corn cookies with almonds and raisins. Madison’s keen focus covers a variety of squashes, grains, legumes, and tubers, showcased in all their versatile goodness in dishes such as butternut squash soup with coconut milk, miso, and lime; chewy oat and maple pancakes; peas in butter lettuce; and sweet potato flan with maple yogurt and caramel pecans. An avid gardener and vegetable aficionado, Madison may tell us more than some of us want to know about these plants, but her writing is clear and accessible, and her unique dishes will be irresistible to veggie lovers everywhere.

Starred review from March 15, 2013

Leading vegetarian cooking authority Madison's (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone) latest cookbook combines the poetic gardening savvy of Nigel Slater's Tender and Ripe with the history and botany of James Peterson's Vegetables, Revised. To illustrate the similarities between edible plants, with the intent of teaching readers to become more intuitive cooks, Madison groups her recipes into 12 vegetable families subdivided by species (for instance, "The Sunflower Family" includes artichokes, cardoons, endives, tarragon, and more). For each plant, Madison includes a detailed description, selected varieties, storage and prep advice, and suggested flavor pairings. VERDICT This ambitious reference, beautifully photographed by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirscheimer of Canal House, can help readers deepen their vegetable knowledge.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2013
Committed vegetarians will cheer over another book from the hands of Madison. One of the nation's best-known vegetarian cooks, Madison has practiced her craft both at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse and her own restaurant. Comprehensive and exhaustive, this new cookbook surveys the world of edible plant products in rigorous scientific groupings. Both text and color photographs educate readers to discover correlations and kinships and to explore how recipes adapt to encompass related ingredients. All of the nightshade familyeggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, and peppersappear together. A sandwich of spinach, caramelized onions, and roasted peppers neighbors a sort of casserole assembled from little-known quelites (lamb's quarters) and mushrooms layered with corn tortillas. Madison introduces even more curious vegetables, such as fourwing saltbush. Although most recipes fall into the vegan category, there are plenty of dairy products and eggs to broaden recipes' appeal. Madison herself confesses partiality to tomatoes baked in cream. A necessary addition for both reference and circulating collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)