I have published 21 books, with three more on the way, and many deal with my kitchen garden at Roughwood and the massive seed collection started by my grandfather in 1932. Many of my books have won awards and several of them, especially Heirloom Vegetable Gardening, have become “breakthrough” texts in that they have shifted the conversation in a new direction. In short, I have helped make mainstream heritage fruits and vegetables, and my books are intended to help my readers enrich their lives by giving them meaning and context. It’s a story about learning to live well from simple basics: about discovering the gold in your own backyard.
I wrote...
Flavors from the Garden: Heirloom Vegetable Recipes from Roughwood
By
William Woys Weaver
What is my book about?
This unique cookbook is woven together in a series of personal essays dealing with harvesting season by season, even gardening under the snow. The recipes focus on rare and unusual food plants like New Guinea Basil or Spaghetti Peppers in the Roughwood Seed Collection. Seeds are available from the Roughwood Center (a non-profit) otherwise I suggest working substitutes. This cutting-edge guide to eating well introduces American readers to many new flavor sensations, like Japanese Chrysanthemum Melons, Paraguayan flour corn, sorghum chapatis, and even pickled dahlias. The book is illustrated with award-winning photography all taken in natural light at Roughwood with garden-fresh ingredients.
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.
The Books I Picked & Why
The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of t'Ang Exotics
By
Edward H. Schafer
Why this book?
Schafer transports you into extraordinary gardens of the past, in this case, Tang Dynasty China (pre-900 AD), it’s a scientific travelogue revealing the magic of discovery and the way people react to exotic foods. In that sense it inspired me to seek out the unusual and to celebrate the cutting edge, which I certainly do in my own book. Also, as anyone can judge from the title, Schafer is keen on revealing inner “poetry” in the language of plants.
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.
Leaves From Our Tuscan Kitchen, Or How to Cook Vegetables
By
Janet Ross
Why this book?
The objective of Ross’s book was to teach the English how to cook vegetables the Italian way (as opposed to boiling them to shreds). But this is also a romantic fling with the Mediterranean way of life and moving through it at a more humanizing pace. Ross also includes recipes, the part I like most, and like her, I also include recipes because if you are going through the trouble of growing your own food as an experiment in living a better way, come harvest time, it is important to know what to do with them. That should be the spiritual and culinary reward because it all comes together at the table.
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.
Acetaria: A Discourse Of Sallets
By
John Evelyn
Why this book?
John Eveyln’s book is classic. He was the first person (in English anyway) to discuss exotic vegetables, even common weeds, in terms of healthy salads. The man was literary, very smart, and he knew how to cook. I have often used his recipes and surprising enough, he is as trendy today as he was in 1699. Furthermore, this book is a talisman for real foodies. My enthusiasm for Evelyn was shared by the late English author Jane Grigson, whose book is also on my list.
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.
Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book
By
Jane Grigson
Why this book?
I have all of Jane Grigson’s books and to me each one is special. Jane was a personal friend and while she lived in the UK and I lived in the US we often spent hours on the telephone discussing the finer points of pawpaws or persimmons. We also shared the same birthday. Jane discovered she had cancer and decided to meet it head-on by shifting to a plant-based diet. That is her overarching philosophy, and it pervades her books. And while her books reflect that personal journey toward healing, they are also useful because like me she was an epicure with hoe, her food writing was not an abstraction, she wrote from hands-on experience.
When you buy a book we may earn a small commission.
Epicure’s Garden
By
Roy Genders
Why this book?
Genders and Jane Grigson were kindred spirits, although Genders started out much earlier than Jane Grigson. I have all his books mainly because he deals with the unusual and enjoyed the challenge of trying something new (or in the case of rare heirlooms something old and forgotten). Genders’ books are practical guidebooks, so much so that they never go out of date. Serious cooks and gardeners keep his books close at hand because when you are stumped, just look it up in Genders: he will walk you through the problem. And not the least, he understood the meaning of freshness and flavor. He was a culinarian with a spade in hand.
