''Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes'', often shortened to ''Vegetable Kingdom'', is a 2020 cookbook by

Bryant Terry Bryant Terry (born 1974) is an African-American vegan chef, food justice activist, and author. He has written four vegan cookbooks and cowrote a book about organic food, organic eating. He won a 2015 James Beard Foundation Award, James Beard Found ...

. It received positive reviews and won an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

. Recipes are based on the cuisines of the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

. 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". 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 Kabocha (; from Japanese カボチャ, 南瓜) is a type of winter squash, a Japanese variety of the species ''Cucurbita maxima.'' It is also called kabocha squash or Japanese pumpkin in North America. In Japan, "''kabocha''" may refer to either ...

. Bryant, who comes from a musical family, has said he considers food and music inseparable and refers to his pairings as "cooking as collage".

Influences

According to

Francis Lam Francis Lam is an American food journalist, cookbook editor, and since 2017 the host of American Public Media's ''The Splendid Table''. Early life and education Lam was born to Chinese immigrant parents living in New Jersey and working in Manha ...

, 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." The recipes are

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

and based around the flavors of the African diaspora.

Reception

The book was one of Splendid Table's Spring Picks in 2020. It received a starred review from ''Publishers Weekly'' and won an

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Instructional. The award has been given out since 2007 and since its conception, T.D. Jakes and Daymond John hold the record for most wins in this c ...

''.'' ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' called it "a stylish, inspiring love letter" to cooking with vegetables. 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." It was named to several "best of" lists, including ''The New Yorker'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'', ''Food & Wine'', and ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

''.

Publication

The hardcover and ebook were released by

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

on February 11, 2020.

References

{{Veganism and vegetarianism 2020 non-fiction books American cookbooks Vegetarian cookbooks Vegan cookbooks Vegan cuisine African diaspora Penguin Books books