The Kew Gardens Cookbook

Author: Edited by Jenny Linford with contributions from celebrity cooks, chefs and food writers. With photographs by Hugh Johnson. 208pp. 100 photographs and archival illustrations. 246 x 189 mm. Hardback, ISBN 978 1 84246 745 9, Kew Publishing 2022.

... a true cook’s celebration of vegetables and fruits, in recognition of, and support for, the valuable work done by the great botanical gardens at Kew – Nigella Lawson, nigella.com

The Kew Gardens Cookbook is an anthology of vegetarian recipes gathered from celebrity cooks, chefs and food writers in celebration of the huge array of plants and fungi that have the potential to both broaden our palates and prevent biodiversity loss.

From that first cup of tea or coffee and slice of toast or bowl of porridge we start our day with, to the bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce or stir-fried vegetables with rice we eat for supper, the kitchen is where we connect with plants in a very special way. They literally sustain us. Human beings have long eaten and enjoyed greens, spices, grains, pulses, roots, fungi and fruit.

This cookbook celebrates both the glorious variety of edible plants and fungi that we eat and the vital work that the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew does to promote and sustain this rich biodiversity. All the recipes have been generously donated by wonderful chefs and food writers to support Kew. The theme of coming together reflected by the contributors to this book is important. Sharing food is a special way of connecting with others; it is at the heart of hospitality. Taking the time and trouble to cook for others is nourishing in so many ways. In our hectic world, the time spent together over meals – with the chance to talk and share our thoughts and feelings – is precious. If changing how we eat can help our beautiful, precious planet, then surely we need to embrace that. These are challenging times for the Earth and we humans need to unite to look after it.

Organised in six sections, covering leaves, roots and squashes, grains and pulses, fungi, herbs and spices, and fruit and nuts. The book features over 60 delicious and unusual vegetarian recipes in praise of the myriad of unusual and delicious flavours plants and fungi can offer from around the world - including some you wouldn’t expect to eat.

The more plants we eat, the more space there will be for wild plants.

The Green Planet, BBC Natural History Unit

A perfect book to help you eat a rich diversity of plants to help both your gut microbes and the planet.

Prof Tim Spector OBE, Author of Spoon-Fed

What a wonderful guide to cooking and eating delicious food! I know this book will become an indispensable part of your cookery inspiration. So, use it in good health and save the planet!

Ken Hom OBE, chef, author and TV presenter

A wonderful and timely book full of delicious ideas to help us all celebrate and preserve plant diversity.

Dan Saladino, food journalist and author of Eating to Extinction

Edited by Jenny Linford, with contributions from celebrity cooks, chefs and food writers:

Angela Clutton, Anja Dunk, Anna Jones, Asma Khan, Brwa Ahmad, Carla Capalbo, Catherine Phipps, Chantelle Nicolson, Chetna Makan, Ching He Huang, Christine Mcfadden, Claire Ptak, Claire Thomson, Claudia Roden, Dae-Ha West, Dan Lepard, Diana Henry, Ed Smith, Elisabeth Luard, Felicity Cloake, Florence Knight, Fuchsia Dunlop, Hattie Ellis, Helen Goh, Irina Georgescu, Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer, Jenny Chandler, Jill Norman, Kathy Slack, Ken Hom, Kimiko Barber, Lara Lee, Liz Knight, Luiz Hara, Mark Diacono, Martin Morales, Meera Sodha, MiMi Aye, Monica Galetti, Niki Segnit, Olia Hercules, Ozlem Warren, Pam Corbin, Rachel Roddy, Raymond Blanc, Roopa Gulati, Rosie Sykes, Rukmini Iyer, Sami Tamimi, Selina Periampillai, Signe Johansen, Simon Hopkinson, Sophie Kirak Kebede, Sue Quinn, Sumayya Usmani, Sybil Kapoor, Tessa Kiros, Thane Prince, Thomasina Miers, Tim d’Offay, Tom Hunt, Uyen Luu, Vanessa Bolosier, Xanthe Clay, Yotam Ottolenghi, Zaleha Olpin, Zoe Adjonyoh.

Awards:

Best Publication Finalist at the Association of Cultural Enterprises Awards 2023 - Meet the Finalists – The Association For Cultural Enterprises

Media coverage:

Full of inventive, delicious ways to work with fruit, vegetables and grains, this book is a celebration of an iconic botanical garden, full of inspiration that’ll have you running to your local greengrocer. Foodism

Christmas gift guide: 90 excellent ideas from the Observer

Christmas presents for gardeners: 37 excellent finds

Jenny Linford is a food writer and author of 15 books, ranging from cookery to ingredient guides. She has written for The Guardian, The Times, Time Out and the British Library’s Food Stories website.

Born in London, her interest in food stems from living as a child in Singapore and Italy, places where good food is important to the community, both taken for granted and relished as a great pleasure.