BIG thanks to TreeHugger, the leading environmental sustainability website, for choosing Vegan Soul Kitchen, as the “Best Cookbook” for their 2010 Best of Green Awards.
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in the front box we are growing fruit, vegetables, and herbs. in the smaller one behind it we are growing wild flowers.
today i had a great time in los angeles hanging out with my friend and fellow cookbook author ani phyo. we talked about the way that our work with food is inspired not only by other chefs and cookbook authors but also by architects, designers, filmmakers, painters, photographers, and (drumroll, please) musicians. in my world music and food are inseparable. because i come from a family of musicians, music played as much of a central role as food at family gatherings. so early on in my career i decided to pair a suggested soundtrack with every recipe that i created in order to share songs that might have inspired a recipe or highlight an album that i think would make a perfect accompaniment to a meal. in my mind, i see myself as a culinary dj/producer, if you will, cutting, pasting, reworking, and remixing various foodways, staples, cooking techniques, and dietary models to create something that looks backwards and forwards at the same time. when i started working with the design team at da capo to create the look of Vegan Soul Kitchen, i decided that the cover should pay homage to Reid Miles’ cover designs for blue note jazz label. i was happy with the final product.
in my friend Anna Lappe’s latest book, Diet for a Hot Planet, she plunges into the heart of this era’s newest food fight with a simple message: “if we are serious about addressing climate change, we have to talk about food.” i have been reading it over the past week, and it is hot (pun intended!). get it here.
