Vegetable Kingdom

Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes, often shortened to Vegetable Kingdom, is a 2020 cookbook by Bryant Terry. It received positive reviews and won an NAACP Image Award. Recipes are based on the cuisines of the African diaspora. The book provides a song pairing for each dish.

Soundtrack

For each recipe Bryant suggests a song pairing, which he calls the recipe's "soundtrack".[1] The pairings include Cab Calloway’s "Jumpin Jive" with a recipe for stuffed peppers, “Flat of the Blade” from Massive Attack with a recipe for dirty cauliflower, and Solange’s “Stay Flo” with a recipe for mashed kabocha.[2][3] Bryant, who comes from a musical family, has said he considers food and music inseparable and refers to his pairings as "cooking as collage".[1][2]

Influences

According to Francis Lam, Terry has said his "approach to cooking is inspired by hip-hop producers", which Lam describes as "taking a little bit of this, taking a little bit of that, and remixing things."[1] The recipes are vegan and based around the flavors of the African diaspora.[4][3]

Reception

The book was one of Splendid Table's Spring Picks in 2020.[1] It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly[5] and won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional.[6] The New Yorker called it "a stylish, inspiring love letter" to cooking with vegetables.[4] Joe Yonan, writing in The Washington Post, said "I can’t think of the last time I marked this many dishes to try, the very first time I flipped through a book."[3] It was named to several "best of" lists, including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Food & Wine, and Vogue.[4][3][7][8][9][10] VegNews named Vegetable Kingdom one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time" in 2024.[11]

Publication

The hardcover and ebook were released by Penguin on February 11, 2020.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The basic pleasures of eating inside Bryant Terry's Vegetable Kingdom". www.splendidtable.org. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  2. ^ a b Puckett, Susan. "Plants reign supreme in 'Vegetable Kingdom'". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  3. ^ a b c d Yonan, Joe (9 December 2020). "Our favorite cookbooks of 2020". Washington Post.
  4. ^ a b c Rosner, Helen (2020-12-15). "The Best Cookbooks of 2020". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  5. ^ "Lifestyle Book Review: Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes by Bryant Terry. Ten Speed, $30 (256p) ISBN 978-0-399-58104-5". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  6. ^ Bosselman, Haley (March 28, 2021). "NAACP Image Awards 2021: The Complete Televised Winners List". Variety.
  7. ^ Koenig, Leah (3 November 2020). "10 Of The Best Cookbooks In 2020". Forbes.
  8. ^ Maitland, Hayley (2022-01-20). "15 Vegan Cookbooks to Inspire You to Join the Plant-Based Revolution". Vogue. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  9. ^ Bitker, Janelle; Ho, Soleil (2020-12-02). "The best cookbooks of 2020". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  10. ^ Soll, Megan Soll (7 January 2020). "17 Vegetarian Cookbooks to Live By in 2020". Food & Wine. Retrieved 2022-01-23.
  11. ^ Pointing, Charlotte (January 10, 2024). "The Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time". VegNews. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  12. ^ "Vegetable Kingdom by Bryant Terry: 9780399581045 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2022-01-23.