Veg-table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Focused Meals

Praise for Veg-table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Focused Meals

"Offering new takes on a wide variety of vegetable dishes, this cookbook is recommended for vegetarian and international collections." —Library Journal

"Offering new takes on a wide variety of vegetable dishes, this cookbook is recommended for vegetarian and international collections" - Library Journal

"The chemist-turned-cookbook-author plucks from the best of both of those to craft a worthy successor to his bestselling The Flavor Equation and Season, using principles of science to maximize the potential pleasures of grocery store familiars like broccoli, shallots, and zucchini, as well as perhaps less ubiquitous — and thoroughly delightful — vegetables like nopalito, jicama, and sunchokes." - Food Wine Magazine

“Sharma’s recipes, accompanied by his own beautiful photographs, demonstrate his gift for marrying the scientific with the sensual. […] Sharma lists ingredients and their quantities within recipe steps, an approach that streamlines the instructions without sacrificing their clarity. Such clarity is one of his book’s chief virtues and a boon for any cook guided as much by curiosity as appetite.” - Eater

“Mr. Sharma is a nimble tutor with a lithe palate and an evocative palette—the book’s appealing photographs are also the author’s work—and “Veg-Table” is a sure bet for inquisitive home cooks with wide-ranging tastes.” —The Wall Street Journal

“The third book from Nik Sharma, a molecular biologist turned cookbook author and photographer, is a celebration of vegetables and offers an expansive guide to the different ways to clean, store, and prepare them. […] Perhaps most valuable is Sharma’s comprehensive explanation of vegetable’s biology, how the environment it’s stored in can impact its taste and texture (and how best to prolong its shelf-life), and most importantly, how to make them sing.” – Bon Appetit 

“Veg-Table brims with the color, vibrancy, and life that is the delicious signature of Nik Sharma’s food. Beautifully photographed and thoughtfully curated, this is an essential resource for both vegetable lovers and flavor hunters alike. Nik has once again proven he is the master of interlacing crave-able recipes with science and research.”—Hetty Lui McKinnon, cookbook author and food writer 

“If you’ve ever looked at an alien artichoke or spiky nopalito in fear, don’t worry, because Veg-table is here for you! Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about produce is in Sharma’s book, from their origins to the history of their cultivation, and, of course, all the ways to make them delicious. His cinematic photography and personal prose guide you through the veggie world, giving you so many tasty ways to turn plants into dinner (or lunch! or breakfast!).” —Sohla El-Waylly, author of Start Here and television personality on The Big Brunch and Ancient Recipes with Sohla

“Veg-table cements Sharma’s status as one of the most important cookbook authors of our time. He always has his finger on the cultural pulse, and, with the recent uptick in interest in vegetable-forward cooking, this cookbook could not be more timely. Like his other books, this one is thoughtful, steeped in research, bold, and bursting with flavor.”

—Bryant Terry, James Beard Award–winning author of Black Food and editor in chief of 4 Color Books 

“Sharma is not only a talented recipe writer but a masterful food photographer. These pages will make you salivate and see vegetables in a new light. Veg-table is the perfect balance of the art and the science of good food.”

—Padma Lakshmi, New York Times bestselling author and creator and host of Taste the Nation and Top Chef 

“Phenomenal. The scope, the combining of flavors, the knowledge—both about technique and individual vegetables—the gorgeousness of the recipes: This is a must-have book.”—Diana Henry, British food writer and author of the James Beard Award–winning A Bird in the Hand

“Nik Sharma weaves science and culinary creativity together beautifully in this collection of inspiring recipes that prove just how exciting and versatile vegetables can be.”—Ixta Belfrage, author of Mezcla and coauthor of Ottolenghi Flavor

"Groundbreaking, inspiring, delicious: Nik Sharma’s Veg-Table is everything I’d hoped for and more!”—Nigella Lawson, author of Cook, Eat, Repeat

“Helpful, succinct ‘cook’s notes’ follow each recipe. The stunning photographs are by Sharma himself. This cookbook more than holds its own but is especially recommended where The Flavor Equation has found favor.” - Booklist

"Veg-table takes you through how vegetables grow, what they’re made of, the best practices for preparing them, and even what properties make them vegetables in the first place. It’s an amazing undertaking, and you’ll quickly find yourself itching to make corn cakes with Sichuan chive butter, lettuce with avocado Caesar dressing, okonomiyaki-style brassica fritters, and Kung Pao sweet potatoes." - Vice

"Sharma shows us just how exciting vegetables can be, utilizing interesting techniques: collards smeared with spiced yogurt, then rolled and fried, or brassica fritters in the style of okonomiyaki (the Japanese "as you like it" pancake). Sharma delves into plant science, how best to store produce and plenty of cooking tips." – Los Angeles Times

"A modern approach to flexitarian cooking, with the rigorous research and testing of a trained scientist." — Good Housekeeping, Best New Cookbooks of 2023