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Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets
Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Madison, Deborah
432 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1988
47 people are currently reading
3318 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Madison
36 books163 followersDeborah Madison is an American chef, writer and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking and her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlights Slow Food, local foods and farmers' markets.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
March 20, 2009
Wow, truth in advertising, people. A seasonal market cookbook that's actually functional! I wandered into my kitchen this afternoon with the vague idea of cooking that last bunch of beets. I flipped open this book for inspiration. This method is pretty much guaranteed to end with me bookmarking a bunch of recipes that I really earnestly mean to make next time if I can ever wrangle all the ingredients into the same time and place. While I eat roasted beets for the 12948674th time. But suddenly it was hours later and I had whipped up a 3 course meal that perfectly used my farmers market odds and ends (and a friend's olive harvest.) Everything was simple and fantastic.
The recipes here are so in tune with my lazy/pared-down/homestyle/clean-out-the-fridge style of cooking, but always with a fresh spin that sets it apart from anything I would cook on my own.
For the record, my feast consisted of:
Beets with their greens and Marjoram/Parsley/Olive pesto.
Celery Root Soup with wild rice
Japanese Sweet Potato Flan
Next up will have to be the carrot top soup.
The recipes here are so in tune with my lazy/pared-down/homestyle/clean-out-the-fridge style of cooking, but always with a fresh spin that sets it apart from anything I would cook on my own.
For the record, my feast consisted of:
Beets with their greens and Marjoram/Parsley/Olive pesto.
Celery Root Soup with wild rice
Japanese Sweet Potato Flan
Next up will have to be the carrot top soup.
February 18, 2024
Beautiful pictures.
About 5 recipes that I am interested in.
Mostly, I was moderately annoyed.
I was expecting a book that would give me recipes that had local seasonal ingredients. Instead, I received recipes that had one or two seasonal/local ingredients along with other ingredients that were out of season or not local.
I am sure that others would love the book. It is just not what I was looking for.
Ordered from B & N
About 5 recipes that I am interested in.
Mostly, I was moderately annoyed.
I was expecting a book that would give me recipes that had local seasonal ingredients. Instead, I received recipes that had one or two seasonal/local ingredients along with other ingredients that were out of season or not local.
I am sure that others would love the book. It is just not what I was looking for.
Ordered from B & N
July 30, 2008
This book is outstanding. I made the swiss chard gratin (using half chard and half spinach), and went out and planted some chard so I'd have chard to make this with in the fall and winter! Every time I come home from the farmer's market, I turn to this book to see what to do with my CSA produce. Deborah Madison is the greatest.
June 13, 2020
I heard of this book through Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and knew that I had to have it. We are getting most of our produce from a farm share for the first time this year and it has been such an adventure and learning process. It has been challenging, but delicious and amazing, and I have mostly stayed on top of the greens and cool weather veggies so far. But squash, which I have never been a huge fan of, has made its introduction and I know there will be more and more, and I need help. Just flipping through this book, I can’t wait to start trying recipes. I recognize lots of the produce that I have been nervous to get in the share, like fennel, endive, and kohlrabi, but also delicious looking recipes for some favorites like chard. I already love this cookbook.
May 21, 2016
Right now I am undergoing the painful process of weeding my cookbooks, which I have to do because my bookcase devoted to them is too full to accept any new ones. So anything I haven't opened up in the past few years gets reviewed, and if there aren't several recipes begging to be made, goodbye book.
Unfortunately, this one didn't make the cut. I love the concept and wish I had more time to visit farmer's markets and cook from scratch, but the fact of the matter is...I don't. I go to the grocery store and cook simple stuff. This book calls for too many hard-to-find ingredients and fussy recipes for my current needs, and to be honest, most of the recipes don't really grab me, even if I had more time. I am sure that many people would love this book, but it just doesn't suit my needs.
Unfortunately, this one didn't make the cut. I love the concept and wish I had more time to visit farmer's markets and cook from scratch, but the fact of the matter is...I don't. I go to the grocery store and cook simple stuff. This book calls for too many hard-to-find ingredients and fussy recipes for my current needs, and to be honest, most of the recipes don't really grab me, even if I had more time. I am sure that many people would love this book, but it just doesn't suit my needs.
January 3, 2009
Deborah Madison is probably my favorite cookbook writer. In this book she provides some great vignettes on farmer's markets and little snippets about not-so-common varieties of vegetables. There are recipes with meat in this one for those so inclined. This will be a great one to take with me to the farmer's market and meal plan around. A good companion to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle- if you liked that one.
February 25, 2011
This actually would be handy to have around during market season. In Ohio that doesn't last all year so this book actually irritated me since I couldn't get my hands on most ingredients to make any of these drooly-looking recipes. I did however make an herbal tea and I have an herbal sugar sitting in wait, so thank you Deborah Madison. I'll have to check you out again soon.
April 1, 2024
I found this book used, serendipitously. I have cultivated a large edible landscape at my regular suburban property, which basically means I have tons of certain foods at any given point in the year, and I need recipes to use it up or it will go to waste. My main surpluses tend to be: fruits like citrus, peaches, apples, figs, grapes, passionfruits, and plums, with many others due to hit their stride in the near future; garden veg like artichokes, fennel, chard, brassicas, fava beans, peas, sorrel, onion family plants, tomatoes, squash, etc.; and eggs from our quail. This book covers it all, and it's organized by type of food, which is super helpful - so all the recipes featuring tomatoes, for example, are close to each other.
I've only made one recipe so far, but it was a wonderful one: Bright Lights Chard Gratin, which was super tasty. It calls for the 'Bright Lights' variety of chard, but I used a different variety ('Perpetual', which is as it sounds, a never-dying type of chard that keeps chugging along through the years, producing tons of excess leaves that I hardly know what to do with). The recipe acknowledges that you can use any type of leafy green. The gratin was excellent, but it calls for 2 lbs. of chard - that's a phenomenal amount. What is that, like three or four bunches if you're buying it from the store? I filled a whole large bread bowl type thing with packed leaves and it was only .66 lbs. Being too lazy to go back to the garden to collect two more bowls, I eyed it and thought it was enough for my casserole dish. It was! I used the recipe's amounts of milk and feta and onion and breadcrumbs, though, and with no problematic results that I can see.
What the above tells me about this book: it is not messing around with the produce. It is asking you to use 2 fucking pounds of chard. That's a lot of chard. Which is great! It's serious about using seasonal, excessive produce as it comes in. I haven't yet made any other recipes, but I plan to make many more, including the rest of the recipes with chard, artichokes, many of the fruit-based desserts, the various risottos, and specifically the Leek, Scallion, and Fennel Gratin and the Green Cauliflower with Parsley and Green Olives.
This is a great resource. Many of the recipes are adaptable to whatever you have (e.g. root vegetable braise, or the aforementioned chard gratin, which is really a greens gratin if you don't have chard). I plan to update as I make more of the recipes.
I've only made one recipe so far, but it was a wonderful one: Bright Lights Chard Gratin, which was super tasty. It calls for the 'Bright Lights' variety of chard, but I used a different variety ('Perpetual', which is as it sounds, a never-dying type of chard that keeps chugging along through the years, producing tons of excess leaves that I hardly know what to do with). The recipe acknowledges that you can use any type of leafy green. The gratin was excellent, but it calls for 2 lbs. of chard - that's a phenomenal amount. What is that, like three or four bunches if you're buying it from the store? I filled a whole large bread bowl type thing with packed leaves and it was only .66 lbs. Being too lazy to go back to the garden to collect two more bowls, I eyed it and thought it was enough for my casserole dish. It was! I used the recipe's amounts of milk and feta and onion and breadcrumbs, though, and with no problematic results that I can see.
What the above tells me about this book: it is not messing around with the produce. It is asking you to use 2 fucking pounds of chard. That's a lot of chard. Which is great! It's serious about using seasonal, excessive produce as it comes in. I haven't yet made any other recipes, but I plan to make many more, including the rest of the recipes with chard, artichokes, many of the fruit-based desserts, the various risottos, and specifically the Leek, Scallion, and Fennel Gratin and the Green Cauliflower with Parsley and Green Olives.
This is a great resource. Many of the recipes are adaptable to whatever you have (e.g. root vegetable braise, or the aforementioned chard gratin, which is really a greens gratin if you don't have chard). I plan to update as I make more of the recipes.
February 4, 2017
I'm a big fan of Deborah Madison's vegetarian cookbooks. I find her recipes creative and different. This book is mostly vegetarian with that same creativity. She is, as always, educating us on ingredients along the way...
December 29, 2023
A love letter to farmers and farmers markets - and those of us who revel in eating seasonally with wholesome food from people we know. Madison is preaching to the choir with me. I wish more people would take her advice!
February 5, 2018
interesting and good recipes, but the ebook is terribly formatted and I had a lot of trouble reading it!!
March 18, 2018
Lovely, simple recipes made with unique fruits and vegetables.
May 18, 2018
Way too much goat cheese. Also, quite disorganized.
February 12, 2019
Lots of information on various farmers markets and the types of fruits and vegetables you can find at them. Pretty dense but interesting.
July 20, 2020
Recipes for a lot of ingredients I don't typically see at my Farmers Market.
April 23, 2022
great for hard to access heirloom and foraged vegetables. a wide range of interesting recipes but feel rather hard to access
April 3, 2012
I have mixed feelings about this cookbook. It really is a charming book, full of homey shots of farmer's market merchandise and smiling family farmers and their families and customers. And the recipes--most of them sound delightful! some of them are a bit plain for my taste, but probably taste amazing too. The anecdotes and information gathered at the various farm markets around the country was interesting and sometimes informative as well. I love reading about the diversity of food around the country, when provided by individual farmers and producers, instead of consolidated into gigantic homogenized factory farms.
My problem is that these recipes are EXACTLY how I'd eat if I had a choice. IF I didn't have health and dietary restrictions to my diet. Dairy and gluten intertwined with bountiful fresh produce, and just the occasional meat dish. However, gluten and dairy are not my body's friends, and so these recipes, almost all of them with dairy and/or gluten intertwined in them, feel almost cruel to me. Some of them sound so incredibly delicious, and yet very challenging to adjust to a recipe I could safely eat, if possible at all.
So I read through all the recipes. Found 3 or 4 recipes that were simple enough and safe enough for me to try at some point, passed over the less exciting ones, and mourned for the rest that I couldn't have. I'm not sorry I read this, but I think I need to go make myself a safe treat now to comfort me. and take this book back to the library.
My problem is that these recipes are EXACTLY how I'd eat if I had a choice. IF I didn't have health and dietary restrictions to my diet. Dairy and gluten intertwined with bountiful fresh produce, and just the occasional meat dish. However, gluten and dairy are not my body's friends, and so these recipes, almost all of them with dairy and/or gluten intertwined in them, feel almost cruel to me. Some of them sound so incredibly delicious, and yet very challenging to adjust to a recipe I could safely eat, if possible at all.
So I read through all the recipes. Found 3 or 4 recipes that were simple enough and safe enough for me to try at some point, passed over the less exciting ones, and mourned for the rest that I couldn't have. I'm not sorry I read this, but I think I need to go make myself a safe treat now to comfort me. and take this book back to the library.
August 6, 2015
We really enjoyed our tasting and discussion of Local Flavors! With the exception of one attendee who is not a fan of vegetables, we really liked most of the recipes that we tried. These included Cucumber Salad with Chile and Roasted Peanuts, Big Tomato Sandwich, Greens with Red Beans, Cilantro and Feta, White Pizza with Sage, Goat's Milk Panna Cotta and Rustic Almond Truffles with Fruit Center.
We found the recipes to be written clearly for the home cook, and the accompanying text provided engaging background information into farmers markets. Using seasonally available produce made a big impact on the flavor of the recipes, and several of us used ingredients from our own gardens.
Having success with more familiar ingredients has inspired us to stretch our cooking comfort zone and our plant selections for next year's gardens so that we can try more of Madison's recipes.
This cookbook was a big hit!
Each month we'll ask you to make two recipes from a designated cookbook: we'll choose the first recipe and ask you to make it at home; you choose the second and bring it to our discussion to share.We'll meet to discuss both recipes and to sample the one you chose. We'll have a potluck of tasty treats! This month's selection is Local Flavors by Deborah Madison, and our recipe choice is Big Tomato Sandwich. Copies of the book are available at Maze.
When:
Sunday, September 8, 2013 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
We found the recipes to be written clearly for the home cook, and the accompanying text provided engaging background information into farmers markets. Using seasonally available produce made a big impact on the flavor of the recipes, and several of us used ingredients from our own gardens.
Having success with more familiar ingredients has inspired us to stretch our cooking comfort zone and our plant selections for next year's gardens so that we can try more of Madison's recipes.
This cookbook was a big hit!
Each month we'll ask you to make two recipes from a designated cookbook: we'll choose the first recipe and ask you to make it at home; you choose the second and bring it to our discussion to share.We'll meet to discuss both recipes and to sample the one you chose. We'll have a potluck of tasty treats! This month's selection is Local Flavors by Deborah Madison, and our recipe choice is Big Tomato Sandwich. Copies of the book are available at Maze.
When:
Sunday, September 8, 2013 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
August 29, 2007
I like this book fine, but I have deducted a star for two reasons:
1. It has one major shortcoming - the index is scanty. There have been many times I have gone to the index looking for a recipe that I knew was in the book, and simply could not find it after looking under a number of different keywords.
2. I am not a fan of cookbooks that are too specific. You will never find a recipe called "500 Shrimp Recipes" on my shelves - unless your daddy is a shrimper in the bayou, you can't afford the shelf space for a book like that. Give me a good, general purpose, "desert island" cookbook any time. However, I have decided to spare the shelf space for this, because Madison's stories about her travels to America's farmers' markets are so much fun to read!
1. It has one major shortcoming - the index is scanty. There have been many times I have gone to the index looking for a recipe that I knew was in the book, and simply could not find it after looking under a number of different keywords.
2. I am not a fan of cookbooks that are too specific. You will never find a recipe called "500 Shrimp Recipes" on my shelves - unless your daddy is a shrimper in the bayou, you can't afford the shelf space for a book like that. Give me a good, general purpose, "desert island" cookbook any time. However, I have decided to spare the shelf space for this, because Madison's stories about her travels to America's farmers' markets are so much fun to read!
June 10, 2008
This book has some good recipes in it, but it is nearly just as much a showcase of different farmer's markets around the country - which is less useful (but interesting nonetheless) to those of us stuck in one location. Also, the author is from the southwest. Here in Midwest farm country we don't see many avocados or mangoes at the local farmer's markets. So keep those caveats in mind when looking this one over for recipes - especially if you are trying to cook like a local-vore. I still liked the book, and will probably purchase it (hopefully I can find a used copy...) The pie crust recipe mentioned in the back is just what I had been looking for as well, so that was another selling point. (the recipe includes an egg yolk, which makes a great crust)
September 3, 2008
My husband bought this recently after a trip to a culinary bookstore. We joined a veggie CSA this summer and have been both amused and frustrated by the variety of veggies we receive, but have either no idea what they are, how to prepare them, or what they might go well with.
The author gives a seasonal view of what to expect throughout the year at local farmer's markets, gives an in-depth look at about a dozen throughout the states (although heavily slanted to the West Coast, particularly California and New Mexico) and fairly simple recipes (my favorite part!) for each category (e.g., root vegetables, stone fruit, etc.).
The author gives a seasonal view of what to expect throughout the year at local farmer's markets, gives an in-depth look at about a dozen throughout the states (although heavily slanted to the West Coast, particularly California and New Mexico) and fairly simple recipes (my favorite part!) for each category (e.g., root vegetables, stone fruit, etc.).
June 3, 2009
This book is actually a 3.5. It's beautiful. It has a wonderful concept; eat fresh, local food, in season and see all this wonderful world has to offer.
The problem? Well, maybe just my farmer's market. I don't know about you, but there are no morels here. Hardly ever any squash blossoms. And as for rose geranium leaves? Haven't even heard of them. I think her markets (or garden) are just a bit more varied then mine. So a lot of the receipes seem a bit far reaching. The ones with readily avaliable ingredients, well those look great. But it's not likely a cookbook I'd use on a weekly basis.
The problem? Well, maybe just my farmer's market. I don't know about you, but there are no morels here. Hardly ever any squash blossoms. And as for rose geranium leaves? Haven't even heard of them. I think her markets (or garden) are just a bit more varied then mine. So a lot of the receipes seem a bit far reaching. The ones with readily avaliable ingredients, well those look great. But it's not likely a cookbook I'd use on a weekly basis.
February 9, 2008
Adding to my one-note-ness lately (Pollan, Kingsolver, Smith and MacKinnon) with this from Madison ... plus I love her Greens cookbook ... I'm already afraid I have to add this to the "buy it ... now!" list and am looking for a used copy (though Madison is re-releasing this book in May, 2008 for far less than the current edition costs (the new one may only be in paperback, though). Will then consider it "read" enough to move from the "currently reading" list (because how much does one truly "read" a cookbook, anyway?).
May 26, 2010
This book was fine...great for someone if they are looking for a bunch of different recipes involving vegetables and a lot of information about how great farmers markets are. I was looking for more information about the health benefits of local, organic produce, as well as knowing what is in season when. She was very adamant about how even though a certain vegetable or fruit typically grows in "spring", "spring weather in Arizona is January, while is is June in New England. I wanted more specific information. Probably a fine book, but just not what I was looking for!
May 31, 2012
I love this cookbook - for reading as well as for the recipes. I get so inspired each time I go through it. Indispensable during the summer months when I need a little bit of inspiration with the small mountain of produce that I bring home from the farmers' market. Sometimes you just want to try something new with that bag of Swiss chard (try the Chard and cilantro soup with noodle nests) or a quick cucumber and onion pickle recipe. There's even a chapter on eggs and cheese (must try the fried eggs with sizzling vinegar soon!) and a few recipes including beef, chicken, and lamb.
August 28, 2007
I enjoyed this book from a visual point of view; it was very pretty, the photos were outstanding.
The recipes looked good; some were too complex for me, but that's my failing, not the book's.
Unfortunately for this Canadian reader, this book is US-based, and so things that are "local" and "in season" for the author and the various markets she visits are not at all local or in season for me. And that's too bad for me.
The recipes looked good; some were too complex for me, but that's my failing, not the book's.
Unfortunately for this Canadian reader, this book is US-based, and so things that are "local" and "in season" for the author and the various markets she visits are not at all local or in season for me. And that's too bad for me.
December 15, 2007
A A terrific book, full of recipes and information about cooking locally; lots of information about farmers, farming, farmers' markets; absolutely fascinating. A must for any locavore! I am so excited b/c there are TONS of recipes; I should just buy this book b/c the amt of recipes in here I want to cook is out of control. Not strictly vegetarian, but most of the recipes are. Yum yum, and oh, YUM!
October 20, 2010
I'm delighted by this cookbook. It's a good read, and the recipes seem quite doable. Most importantly, for my purposes at least, she does focus on seasonality, so while there are exceptions, for the most part recipes feature ingredients that are in season together. Hooray!
Updated to add: while I genuinely enjoyed this cookbook, I kept it for two years and made maybe 2 recipes from it. It's lovely but not all that useful.
Updated to add: while I genuinely enjoyed this cookbook, I kept it for two years and made maybe 2 recipes from it. It's lovely but not all that useful.
Want to read
October 28, 2008So far I've made the eggplant gratin from this book. Now granted, I began with the ultimate test, because I hate eggplant. But this book claimed that farmers' market eggplant is soooo much better than supermarket eggplant, and I wanted to give that a try.
The census? It was absolutely delicious, except for the eggplant.
Update: well, the farmers markets are all closed: but I'm looking forward to joining a CSA next April, and picking this back up.
The census? It was absolutely delicious, except for the eggplant.
Update: well, the farmers markets are all closed: but I'm looking forward to joining a CSA next April, and picking this back up.
Read
November 7, 2009Yay!!! Cookbooks!!! I love Local Flavors!! It is a fresh food lover's dream come true! It has great recipes, but most of all, it reminds me of cooking healthy, great tasting whole food recipes for the people that I love!
Check it! Check it! It also reminds me of my times with DBC Natural Holistic Health Center and my friends and fellow whole food eaters!
Fav. recipe in here is the a tomato and avocado salad. Yum!
Check it! Check it! It also reminds me of my times with DBC Natural Holistic Health Center and my friends and fellow whole food eaters!
Fav. recipe in here is the a tomato and avocado salad. Yum!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews