FOREWORD

When I think about vegetables, in the context of a “subject matter,” say for a book such as this, I think of the provocative book by Lynne Truss: Eats, Shoots & Leaves. That book, on the subject of punctuation and grammar, has the effect of making one want to rearrange the title to Eats Shoots & Leaves, which of course has an entirely different meaning. It also brings to mind a few categories of vegetables. Roots, Shoots & Leaves, in fact, could have been the title of this book.

This book is about all kinds of vegetables, and it is full of all kinds of recipes we’ve developed to prepare those vegetables in the most savory and delightful ways. Everyone in the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living contributed to the content, and the expertise of our editors is evident on page after page—in the choosing of the types of vegetables, in determining the appropriate freshness of those delicious gifts from garden and farm, and in the serving and enjoying of even some very usual varieties.

There are almost infinite ways to enjoy vegetables, and we have divided the edible plant world into big chapters to lure you into trying and experimenting in many different ways with bulbs, roots, tubers, leaves, shoots, kernels, pods, stalks and stems, greens, flowers and buds, and even fruits. Why fruits? Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, avocados, zucchini, and other squashes are all, botanically, fruits. The scientific reason for dividing in this way is not very complicated, and it is fascinating to think about each “vegetable” and learn the correct taxonomy.

Children, as much as adults, are fascinated with such distinctions, and it is true that cooks and our culinary traditions have clouded the categories. In any event, the recipes in this book treat both vegetables and fruits in delicious, savory, memorable ways. Enjoy as many of these recipes as you can.