Sharing Gifts of Food for Christmas, by the Book : 1988’s Holiday Volumes Address Topics From Cookies to Environmental Toxins

Cooking From the Garden by Rosalind Creasy (Sierra Club Books: $35, hardcover, 531 pp., illustrated)

“For me, starting to cook begins with the planting of a few vegetables. I see wonderful breakfasts and sensational tarts when I plant Alpine strawberries, and stir-fries when the pea pods and ginger shoots appear,” writes Creasy. This integration of creative gardening and contemporary cuisine is the concept behind her book.

A glance through the list of acknowledgments gives some indication of the effort it took to publish this volume. Master gardeners, seeds people, chefs, production people, photographers, friends, friends of friends and family all joined in the three-year project.

The book is divided into five parts:

Part 1 is devoted to theme gardens taken from American history and reflecting various growing climates across the country. Part 2 features gardens with vegetable and herb varieties from around the world--Italy, France, Germany and the Orient. Part 3 covers gardens that reflect the newest approaches to food now emerging, which might be called the avant-garde in cooking and gardening.

Part 4, the encyclopedia section, covers specific growing information on how to grow, harvest and preserve some of the most popular vegetables and herbs. The final part presents details on planting and maintenance, pests and diseases, nurseries and seed companies and mail-order gardening and cooking suppliers.

Chapters within these different parts contain cooking sections, with information on ingredients and cooking techniques. The 180 recipes range from simple to complicated. Personal profiles and valuable tips from chefs and gardeners are interspursed, along with 170 color photographs.

Creasy writes: “One of my fondest hopes is that this book will inspire not just gardener-cooks like me but also cooks who have never dared to undertake their own planting. Too many people believe that cooking from the garden involves plowing the back forty, but even growing a few basil and tarragon plants or some fancy lettuces among the petunias or some lemon thyme on a windowsill will add immeasurably to your cooking.”