66 Kitchen, Garden, Orchard, World

everyday cookbook for a vegan revolution

Those of you who are regular readers may have noticed my unscheduled absence here. I’ve been away in the Hebrides offering what was probably the last of my 25 years of leading holistic writing retreats, Islands of the Heart, on the beautiful Isle of Iona. The two weeks meant a three-week stay away from here, and with stunning weather, lovely and intensive group sessions, and severe insomnia I didn’t manage to write any Substack pieces; indeed, I barely went online. I will write more on the Fire in the Head pages at some stage.

Life on our subsistence project here continued while I was away under the very hard work of TM, of course, and at what is one of the two busiest times of year (the other being harvest time), much has been sown, planted and weeded. More about that another time too.

For now, I’m pleased to announce the publication, this autumn, of my next book. (My last appeared 5 years ago, and – I was about to say this is a very different book from A Spell in the Forest, but in fact both of these two books are concerned primarily with our relationship to the greater-than-human world.) It is available for pre-order now here and I’d love you to do so. If you can help me spread the word, too, I’d be delighted.

Kitchen, Garden, Orchard, World is intended, as a title, to suggest that nothing happens in isolation, that we are all always in interconnected relationship. I love that we live in what I call ‘a community of kin’, and for me, as we have no need to eat animals, birds or fish or their products and offspring in order to thrive, living on a plant-based diet is congruent with trying to live more compassionately and ecologically. What’s more, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that a vegan diet supports reforestation and rewilding and therefore biodiversity; reduces water stress; reduces pollution of air, earth and water and the resulting climate change; reduces erosion; supports human health; and addresses issues of human starvation. There are an increasing number of vegan athletes, too. And obviously, it doesn’t contribute to animal suffering.

I hear a number of people speak of reducing their meat and dairy consumption, but equally often I hear those people mention an anxiety that they don’t really know how to do that while remaining healthy. The first part of this book explores the what, why and how of such a diet for optimum health (though it is a whole lifestyle rather than merely menu choices). The second half is recipes, simple, delicious and nutritious rather than sophisticated or elaborate (I’m not a chef, just someone who likes food). All the ingredients are easily sourced, certainly in season.

I should add that whatever your current diet and your future intentions, this book will offer food for thought, and new ideas for food. (Like most people, you probably also eat vegan food as part of your diet without thinking about it.)

My book spent much of its life (a span of at least 10 years) scrawled on backs of envelopes and scraps of paper stuffed into big manilla envelopes. I began creating recipes from our veg garden in Devon, always looking for new ways to cook an excess of cabbage, kale and beans, for example. Here in Brittany we grow almost all of our vegetables and protein, as well as fruits and nuts, and eating seasonally means that yes, I’m always needing to find new ways to cook for instance purple sprouting broccoli, our staple for the last couple of months as we enter the ‘hunger gap’ in northern Europe. (Plus we still have a number of stored squash from last year’s abundance to use up.) Already I’m anticipating the broad beans and new potatoes, but both are a few weeks off yet.

You can see more here: https://cinnamonpress.com/kitchen-garden-orchard-world/

Pre-orders would be a fine and lovely thing.

And here’s the opening of the Preface for you:

How one small action could change the world

If you had told me even ten years ago that I’d be writing about food, I’d have laughed. If you’d told me I’d spend quite a lot of my future life growing food, thinking about it, preserving, processing, making and writing up recipes, and cooking them instead of my more ‘creative’ writing, and leading holistic writing retreats, I’d have been horrified.

Things have changed. More and more of us know that climate change is a serious reality that we can no longer ignore. I’ve changed. We have moved to Brittany and a small eco-project that is about sustainability: growing in harmony with the climate, seasons and surrounding ecosystems and biodiversity, and we spend much of our time cultivating the beautiful land we tend, with care.

I’ve also moved from being vegetarian to being vegan.

We, myself and my partner, are thinking about food resilience into the future, for us and our families, friends and neighbours, should that be necessary, and for whoever comes after us. We are bearing in mind how we can minimise damage to the earth. Is there anything more important than how we live on this beautiful, abundant small planet, perfectly and uniquely calibrated for human, other animal, and plant life? And what is more fundamental than what we put into the earth (and water, and air), and into our bodies?

What I offer in this cookbook is a slightly-more-northern version of arguably the healthiest diet in the world: the Mediterranean diet, and my focus is seasonal and local. I’m a food-lover, and I believe that food is a celebration of life, and that good food, cooked with love and shared, is a great source of pleasure and companionship. There is a bond created by the act of sharing food. (I love that the word ‘companion’ comes from ‘cum pane’, those with whom we break bread.) How much better if that food is produced without cruelty, as well as enhancing the health of our ecosystems.

I like cooking but I don’t think of myself as a particularly good cook; this book is definitely not cordon bleu. What I am good at is looking at what we have in garden, fridge or larder, or what’s in season in the local market, and inventing interesting and tasty ways to use that. It’s not an over-statement to say that I also see food as medicine…

© Copyright Roselle Angwin 2026