When I was a child, I was usually greeted by my grandmother with, “Have you eaten yet?” As a devout Buddhist, she was vegan, but she still cooked meat for her family. Her kitchen was also filled with washed plastic bags that were hanging up to dry and reuse. I didn’t understand her very much as a teenager, but now, I find that I’m a lot like her—although now I tend to just skip the plastic bags altogether.
The concept and format of this book has been years in the making. My food journey has been a very organic one, and my thanks go to the many people who helped create it.
I thank my family for their incredible support and patience, and for venturing to eat all the variations on my attempts to create healthier alternatives for traditional favorites. I’m also grateful for them for adjusting our habits to incorporate a plastic-free, food waste-free life. I am particularly proud of my daughter (Instagram: @skyceramics), who made many of the ceramic pieces featured in this book—thank you for making my food look even better!
Thank you to my incredible sister Monica, who is always there for me, and who always takes the best photos—especially of a certain someone who would much rather be behind the camera than in front of it!
I thank my mom, whose recipes I remember loving throughout my childhood.
Thanks to my dad, who I love for his carefree but solid demeanor, and his “lazy” cooking, which I try to emulate while using whole ingredients.
I can’t even begin to express the gratitude I have to the über-talented Michael Ward for the beauty captured in all your beautiful illustrations. Thank you for sharing this journey with me, for all these years.
I want to thank Suran Song for that lightbulb moment of comparing my food philosophy to the practice of yoga, which led to the creation of Yommme and variable food vinyasas.
Brendan Davis at Good Water Farms, thank you for the delicious microgreens I replanted that continue year after year.
Thank you to the team at Florim Ceramiche for providing the beautiful Italian ceramic backdrops that frame my foods so beautifully in these pages.
I thank Nathalie at Global Table Soho, whose wonderful collection of tableware is always a joy to use.
Thank you to my agent Leigh Eisenman, for believing in me, for your infectious enthusiasm, and constant support.
I thank my good friends and family, who always are happy to let me descend upon their kitchens loaded with veggies.
I send a big thanks to Róisín Cameron and the team at The Countryman Press, for making my book become a reality.
The wonderful Instagram food community is a constant source of inspiration, personal growth, and support. My thanks goes to all the “foodstagrammers” who shared their beautiful images with me for the #plasticfreefoodie eMagazine, as well as for this book through my Instagram hashtag parties: Joscelyn Abreu, Mireille Azar, Susanna Bingemer, Kerstin Brachvogel, Nate Burrows, Kimberly Espinel, Verena Frei, Gudrun Gerzabek, Amisha Gurbani, Olena Hassell, Jutri Herman, Jessica Hoffman, Zuliya Khawaja, Meera Nalavadi, Ika Putri Novitawati, Nancy Partington, Sebastian Perez, Sara Kiyo Popowa, Monisha Sharma, Sheil Shukla, Reethika Singh, Rachel Steenland, Didi van Haren, Nisha Vora, Aviva Wittenberg, and Dora Xindaras. My mission has always been to share recipes to encourage people to cook and have fun in the kitchen. I thank my clients, workshop attendees, friends, and anyone else who has tried my recipes; to my friends who let me descend upon their kitchens loaded with veggies; and I thank you, reader, for purchasing this book!
Last, but most certainly not least, I thank the Plastic Ocean Foundation for making the documentary A Plastic Ocean, which woke me up to the threat of plastics and empowered me to rethink plastic. This has really been a fulfilling aspect that completes the consciousness that embodies the Yommme food and philosophy. I am eternally thankful for the opportunity to be able to inspire others.