The cover for my first book. The image is of a green sunflower that I took.
Work on my first book: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora is almost done, and I finally have some material to share with you. Every week I share an article or special recipe with you, but, over the past three years, I wrote and tested an extra 200 or so recipes, and took thousands of images—most of which I’ve been keeping close to my chest. I thought I’d take this week to share with you a bit of the process of how my first book came to be, and what to expect.
The original image the cover was derived from.
The concept
I’ve been writing this website for about 8 years, but it wasn’t until after Lucia’s closed in 2018 that I started working full time on a book proposal. The biggest question I had to grapple at first was an important one: “what’s it going to be about?”. Many people know me for my work with mushrooms (my first wild food love) so it probably came as a surprise when I shared that I was writing a book without a single mushroom recipe in it.
An unfortunate outtake. I really love this dish, but, the manuscript I originally sent was massive: almost 1.5 books, instead of 1.
Flora, Fungi, and Fauna
I could’ve written a book on mushrooms, but I decided to split up my world into three pieces to ensure that everything has room to be given it’s due when the time comes. So, I pitched a three-book series: Flora, Fungi, and Fauna, or vegetables, mushrooms, and meat, the names inspired by the tasting menus I worked on when I was at Heartland with Chef Lenny Russo.
The titles for my books were inspired by the names of the tasting menus we used to run at Heartland, with the addition of Fungi.
Working on the book has been a journey, and almost 3 years have passed since I started jotting down the outline I presented to the publisher Chelsea Green. I thought it would be relatively straight-forward, I mean, I have hard drives filled with hundreds of folders of recipes from life in the kitchen, along with menus, ideas, outlines, and images numbering in the tens of thousands. Easy right? Not exactly. Once I started really working on the book, I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw (thanks for the perfectionist tic, Mom) so I re-wrote something almost completely new over the coming years.
Angelica flowers.
Lessons wild plants taught me
Flora is the vegetable portion of my life, but it’s a lot more than that, it’s a statement about lessons that natures taught me. Being a chef in a restaurant taught me how to cook, and you might think that having purveyors and farmers bring anything you want with the flick of a finger on an Iphone might mean you have access to all the foods available, and in a way you do. But, in a way you don’t.
An alternate cover image I took.
Being locked in a kitchen is also a sort of isolation from nature. It might surprise you that I’d been harvesting wild food for years before I met my first pumpkin growing in a garden. When I saw a thick, odd-looking vine, I didn’t know what it was, since there was no fruit. The vine was beautiful though, and I remember just kneeling down and holding the fairytale end of the shoots in my hand thinking that they looked delicious. They are.
Squash vines and shoots are a good example of how studying wild plants changed how I look at garden vegetables.
I quickly learned I could eat squash shoots, and it was the start of a relationship with nature I never expected, but squash were just the beginning—one of many rabbit holes I followed that are woven into the book. I started to see that the foraging intuition I’d nurtured wasn’t just about wild plants, it was a lens I could look at anything through and ask the all important question: “Can I eat that?”.
Research and commercial harvesting (2019)
Freed of the chains of the restaurant, I had more time to research than I did before. I searched out things I thought were interesting, rare and novel, but also useful—stuff I just like to eat. I was outside every day, more than I’d ever been in my life, completely immersed in my own world, following wherever the passion pointed me.
Chef Jonathan Gans and I. Image by Mathew Hintz.
I also harvested more plants, in a greater variety than I ever had while I supplied the Bachelor Farmer during the 2019 growing season. My work and collaboration with Chef Jonathan Gans helping to push my creative vines out in new directions, where they took hold and made fruit of their own.
The first rough draft of the cover I made as a proof of concept. Fall 2020 didn’t work out, obviously.
Here and there I had breakthroughs and bursts of inspiration, moments that helped me articulate some of the concepts and higher level ideas in the book. One was at a grill-out where I was serving people little green cakes made from plants. Someone asked my if there were artichokes in the cakes, which struck me as odd. I didn’t think anything of it until a second person came up and mentioned the same thing to me. “Why would people think these green patties tasted like artichokes?” I thought.
Clockwise, left to right: unripe sunflower, prickly lettuce flowers and sunchoke, cardoon, galinsoga, artichoke, sunflower seeds. All of these plants are members of the Asteraceae, and will share a bit of common flavor because of it.
Plant families and the flavors they share
It dawned on me that the green cakes tasted like artichokes to people because I’d made them all out of Galinsoga, which is in the same family (Asteraceae). Then I remembered that sunflower sprouts and cold-pressed sunflower oil taste similarly.I ended up writing a keynote speech on the how related plants can carry flavors as a sort of botanical heritage, and the abbreviated essay of it in the book is one of my favorite parts.
From there, it was only a matter of time until I started trying to understand how I could use botany and Linnean nomenclature not only as a way to efficiently categorize plants, but as a way to understand some of their flavors. There are two shorter essays on culinary application of botany for both understanding and combining flavors in the book.
Vegetable soup with Apiaceae is a lesson in how to apply a little knowledge of botany to simple flavor combinations.
What’s in it (Chapters)
Leafy Greens
A big selection of things to do with leafy greens, with deeper dives into some of my favorites. Instead of going down the line, plant by plant when many plants are interchangeable in recipes, I suggest a few options, and note where specific species may be traditionally used or were the inspiration for particular dishes.
Herbs and aromatics
My idea of what constitutes an “herb” is more broad than an herb garden. I cover a few interesting herbs like lovage and prickly ash, but also things like spruce tips, cedar cones, and almond-scented meadowsweet flowers, along with a particular herb you can use to make wild vanilla extract.
Garden Vegetables
Interesting and time tested things I like to do with garden vegetables, as well as things I’ve developed for them based on inspiration from my study of wild plants.
Nuts, Grains and Starches
I cover a few of my favorites in depth here: wild rice, black walnuts, hickory nuts, and a couple new items I haven’t discussed before. There’s recipes, but also different ways of using the whole plant, leaves, or unripe versions of the fruits, as well as light discussions of harvesting and processing.
Basic Stats
- 180 recipes divided between: leafy greens, herbs, vegetables, nuts and starches
- 230-240 original images
After going through the process, part of me lets out a heavy sigh when I see the stats of the book, knowing what went into it. My original manuscript ended up getting massive, and we had to cut 25,000 words, about 70 images, as well as the entire chapter on fruit. In order to come out with the 180 recipes and roughly 240 images it will contain, I started with the following:
- 1300 image options, whittled down from the ~ 12,000 I took
- 250 recipes
- 110,000 words
- 2 years of my life
Pre-order Links
I’m still finishing up an extra 20 or so images to fill spaces we identified after seeing the layout and page design, so there’s still a little work to be done, but you can see the pre-order pages below. The official publishing date is June 17, 2021.
Special thanks to those who have been reading for many years through the ups and downs of my restaurant work. The gentle nudges and hints of “where’s the book?” helped push me in the right direction. I appreciate all of you very much.
Alan
How lovely! Of course, I preordered this!
Congratulation! I’m looking forward to it. I can’t believe though that they went with that cover image instead of that gorgeous photo that you posted above! Maybe in the 2nd edition.
Oh yeah, believe me, coming up with the cover was interesting. Unfortunately in my contract I don’t have final say on the cover, so I have to pick my battles. 🙂
I agree, I love your proposed cover…no idea what it is but looks yummy. I will still buy the book, but the colors on the cover turn me off…I guess it might stand out on a store bookshelf.
I don’t legally have final say on the cover, so I have more important things to do than fight them on it. I learned some important lessons doing the book though.
Congratulations on what will surely be a beautiful book! I can’t wait to receive my copy.
Can’t wait to get my hands on this!
Well, now you can add a fourth book: Fruit!
I am so excited for you! Congratulations
Thank you.
Just when I thought my foraging book collection was complete and I was done buying…thanks alot 🙂
That looks terrific Alan, and seems really different from other wild food books that have been published – a really unique angle, and one that makes SO MUCH sense. Thank you for giving us a glimpse on the process… wow!
I look forward to Alan Burgo’s Book of Flora. Heading to Chelsea Green now to pre-order
it’s not yet available to pre-order from Chelsea Green!
I know. I wanted to let everyone know as soon as I had some material to share, but it should be up on their site soon.
I will check their site regularly as I prefer to order from the publisher. Thank you for the clarification (I see 2 new places added since yesterday!). My apologies for misspelling your last name. 🙁
So looking forward to reading this; what a great accomplishment!
Hallelujahs!, Amazing and marvelous work. I am so intrigued and ready to order multiples. There will be nothing like it until your next book appears. I trust you will survive that too. I feel blessed to know you and your creative cooking, but seems cooking does not do justice to describe what you create and how you do it!
Thanks for everything.
As a forager who teaches how to cook with wild plants, I have been inspired to create my own dishes from several of your shared recipes. I pre-ordered your book and am looking forward to more inspirational experiments!
Thanks Karen
This looks awesome Alan! I’m definitely getting a copy
Hope you’re well John. I miss seeing friends at work the most.
Can’t wait, a beautiful concept!
Why is it not on the Chelsea Green’s website?
I love everything but the cover, it looks old fashioned and not yummy, it does not look like the book has anything to do with food. Tell them again! Hope the cover can still be changed!
Best of luck and I am glad you have material for your second book ;~)
It’s not on the website yet, but it will be soon. I wanted to give everyone a heads up as soon as I was legally able to share the cover and some pre-release material. The cover is abstract, for sure, it’s reminiscent of a few sample covers I sent them of other books that would be representative of my work, like Faviken and works by Phaidon press. Something like a plate of food just wouldn’t cut it. If you’ve written a book before, you may know it can be a dense and complicated process.
I definitely want this, and the rest of them when available. Thank you for all the work that went into it. Now why would you have to cut 25,000 words and 70 images? If it was good information I am sure we would all be happy to buy it.
I also preordered. Thank you for doing the work that went into this. I am tingling actually in anticipation. Especially for your next two on mushrooms and meats. I have dearly enjoyed your blogs.
Thanks Joseph.
My suggestion to do an event with a great organization ,that is OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD with book signing.Farm dinner somewhere in Minesota or Wisconsin.
We’ll see how things play out. It’s going to be interesting. Originally I had a tour planned across the country but IDK what the year will look like now.
Your process (of writing/composing) sounds wonderful and exciting.
What herb were you referring to for wild vanilla extract ?
Thanks Louis. The herb in question stays with me until the book comes out. I deal with a lot of content poaching here.
I am so excited to see a book such as this. I have been foraging for years in the Cascades of WA state…thank you for your creation. I am preordering now.
Thank you.
Awesome and cannot wait!! All my Saturdays are better for receiving your blog post each week and checking out your insta regularly!
Super happy to support you now and in advance of the next 2 ventures!!!
And yes, sell the chopped-out pages as a 4th book!!!!!
Thanks Anne! Yeah there’s probably going be a stand-alone fruit entry.
Congratulations Alan!
I’m sure this will be a great success and a must read for all your many followers.
Thanks Tim. It’s been a ride.
Second Marion and Cal.
Wonderful Alan! I’ve been following you for awhile and love to experiment with some of the ‘vegetables’ you suggest. Can’t wait to get your book!
Thanks Mary, I appreciate that very much.
Beautiful imagery. I enjoy your blog. Wondering though, how often people confuse you with actor Jai Courtney. Resemblance is uncanny. Good luck with all your endeavors.
LOL. I hadn’t heard of him. Usually I get Jimmy Fallon.
I’m excited to see you have a book coming out. I, too, prefer your multi-floral covers. I hope those photos are in the book. You are a splendid photographer along with everything else – you’re a regular Renaissance Man. I’ve lived in Louisiana, Minnesota and Alaska and it is amazing how much of your gathering applies to all three areas. Different things in different areas (alas, no hickory nuts in Alaska, or morels in Louisiana) but lots to apply to each one.
Congratulations Alan! I’m an outlier, I actually like the cover. All foraging books have collages of wild plants on their covers. Your book cover with a single image in two tones stands apart from the others. It’s….botanical-looking. And the plant shown makes reference to one of the essays in the book, yes? The meditation on plant families and flavors? So, in my mind, the cover speaks to the fact that yours is more than simply a foraging book, and one I am very much looking forward to!
Nice work Allan! I just put in my preorder as well! Thanks for doing what you do!
Dave