The Smith & Hawken Gardeners' Community Cookbook

The Smith & Hawken
Gardeners' Community Cookbook

Compiled and Written by Victoria Wise

Gardeners' Community Cookbook
Good cooking comes from good growing.
Good growing comes from loving the earth.
Good dishes come from watching your pot as you do your plot.—Victoria Wise

Step out of the garden and into the kitchen to share the bounty The Smith & Hawken Gardeners' Community Cookbook, a sumptuous collection of more than 400 recipes, stories, tips, and information from gardener-cooks across the country. The book also celebrates the spirit engendered by the love of gardening, cooking, and eating fresh by giving back to another community; a two-percent royalty from the sale of the book will go to Second Harvest, the largest charitable hunger relief organization in the United States.

In The Smith & Hawken Gardeners' Community Cookbook, contributors who are neither professional cooks nor gardeners by trade join experts in those fields to create a vivacious community bonded by a shared passion for good cooking, good growing, and good deeds. A creative, humorous, and universally earth-friendly group, their words embody the "pass along" spirit of the garden. Each recipe takes its spark from the garden and is shared as if being handed over a neighbor's fence, drawing a fresh and delicious line from seed to table.

Hear Laraine Ward of Florida hand down her heirloom Herb Chicken Cacciatore recipe straight from Rome, where her grandmother—more than 100 years old and still gardening—adds a touch of sherry and fresh herbs for "a nice change." Savor urban gardener Christine Hibbard's Thai-style Turkey Sausage Wrapped in Grape Leaves (a dish inspired by ingredients at a Thai grocery store that she now grows in her Philadelphia community garden). Learn how James Hickey of Massachusetts maximizes the fall harvest by putting "a delicious spin on a favorite classic" in his Sweet Potato, Caramelized Onion, and Butternut Squash Lasagne. Smile as Robert Lambert of California waxes nostalgic about Best-Ever Sugar Cookies with Homemade Raspberry Jam Centers that evoke memories of collecting wild raspberries that his grandmother turned into his favorite dessert.

"Like a bountiful garden, this collection grew to abundance as gardeners and cooks enthusiastically and generously contributed their tips, tricks, and a treasure trove of recipes for the sheer pleasure of participating in the project," writes Wise, who spent more than two years crafting the book. "From those seeds and that exuberance, this book took form and the persona of a community emerged."

With dozens of salads, soups, and original gardener's desserts and a wealthy selection of main courses, starters, pasta, vegetable sides, sauces, pantry perks, and baked goods The Smith & Hawken Gardeners' Community Cookbook demonstrates how gardeners often rethink the traditional approaches fusing vegetables and herbs in unexpected ways—savory and sweet. From its beginning more than twenty years ago, Smith & Hawken has sprouted a community of gardeners who want to share. Their creativity and desire to make the best use of versatile seasonal produce make the book perfect for anyone who loves surrounding themselves with the freshest ingredients year round.

About the Author

On August 28, 1971, Victoria Wise cooked the first meal ever at what came to be the world-renowned Chez Panisse. In 1973, in a move that helped define Berkeley's emerging "Gourmet Ghetto," she opened Pig-by-the-Tail, her own landmark establishment right across the street. In 1985, she opted to pursue her other passions -writing and gardening— creating numerous articles and nine cookbooks, among them American Charcuterie: Recipes From Pig-By-The-Tail (Viking/Penguin, 1986) and, with Susanna Hoffman, Good & Plenty: America's New Home Cooking (Harper & Row, 1988), The Well-Filled Tortilla (Workman, 1990), and The Well-Filled Microwave (Workman, 1996). Today, Victoria Wise lives and gardens in Oakland, California.

About Second Harvest

The largest charitable hunger relief organization in the United States, Second Harvest is dedicated to feeding the hungry by soliciting and distributing food and grocery products. The organization gives out a billion pounds of food a year through its nationwide network of nearly 200 certified and affiliate food banks.

Buy the Book!

The Smith & Hawken
Gardeners' Community Cookbook
Written and compiled by Victoria Wise
Workman, October 1999
Hardback, $35.00
ISBN 0-7611-1772-5
Trade paper, $19.95
ISBN 0-7611-1743-1
Information provided by the publisher.