James Beard Top Pick Cookbook Author and Chef Amy Chaplin Makes Farm-Fresh Veggies the Stars of Her First Book

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Shambhala Publications Inc

Jul 22, 2015, 03:00 ET


Boston, MA (PRWEB) July 22, 2015 -- Many cookbooks aspire to foster local buying habits, encouraging readers to join CSA’s and support local farmers markets. A new award-winning cookbook by New York private chef Amy Chaplin is not only inspired by CSA’s and locally grown fruits and vegetables, it’s written by a whole foods chef and recipe-developer who has devoted her life, since childhood, to creating dishes out of the freshest ingredients that have been grown with reverence for the environment.

Chaplin’s book, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen (her first), recently received a top pick by the James Beard Foundation, awarding her a 2015 James Beard Award in the vegetarian category. Inspired by her experience as a professional chef in New York (Angelica Kitchen), Paris and Sydney, by her vegetarian childhood, and by her regular visits to her local farmers market (Green Market, Union Square in NYC), Chaplin’s new book beat out such favorites as Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty More and the powerhouse team of Mark Scarbrough and Bruce Weinstein, authors of Vegetarian Dinner Parties—both were finalists for the same award as Chaplin. Her book was also recently awarded a 2015 IACP Cookbook Award, and was a finalist for the prestigious Julia Child First Book Award.

As a child growing up in a hand-built, mud-brick house, Chaplin was involved in everything her ecologically-minded, self-sustaining parents did, from beekeeping, making tofu, grinding wheat for flour, to brewing ginger beer. Now, as a private chef living in New York’s East Village, Chaplin’s custom-made organic diets and recipes have become popular among a growing number of health-conscious celebrity clients, including Natalie Portman and Liv Tyler. Her cookbook shares recipes she’s developed over a twenty-year career, and celebrates vegetarian cuisine at its brightest and most delicious with seasonal recipes for omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike.

In a recent interview in the British newspaper, The Telegraph, Chaplin said, “I am always seeking ingredients that match the integrity of the produce I grew up with and honoring it with recipes that bring out its best qualities. I knew I wanted to eat food that tasted great and nourished my body (with indulgences, of course!) while having a minimal environmental impact.” Locally grown and harvested organic vegetables are not just fresher and free of pesticides, they use less energy to get to your table and that means less pollution and a smaller carbon footprint. In a recent television interview, Chaplin remarked, “There are so many reasons to support locally-grown food, from their absolute beauty and freshness and flavor of the vegetables you find at your local farmers market, but also for ecological reasons. It is so important to reduce the miles between ourselves and where the food is grown.”

In addition to scrumptious and addictive everyday recipes—like her much-talked about roasted acorn and delicata squash salad with wheat berries, her squash blossom orecchiette, or her tempeh portobello mushroom burgers—Chaplin’s award-winning cookbook also contains resources for finding local produce and pantry items. Illustrated with gorgeous photographs by commercial photographer Johnny Miller, and designed by former art director at Martha Stewart Living, Stephen Johnson, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen will inspire home cooks everywhere to shop a little closer to home.

Chaplin recently became a featured chef and recipe developer for Marley Spoon, the New York home-delivery venture founded by Martha Stewart Living former Editorial Director Jennifer Aaronson, and her delicious and healthful meals are now available online.

“Chaplin has earned a cult following teaching New Yorkers how to eat wisely and well, stocking their pantries and creating custom organic diets. Now she’s doing the same for home cooks everywhere with her new book.”—the Wall Street Journal

“Seasonal and wholesome in the true sense of the word . . . food that aims to make you as radiant as Chaplin herself.”—the Miami Herald

CREDENTIALS: Amy Chaplin is a private chef working in New York, and a regular contributor to the Food Network’s “HealthyEats” blog. Her and her work have appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, the New York Times, SELF, and Natural Health magazine, and she has been profiled in Martha Stewart Living as the “Goddess of healthy delights.” A native of Australia, over the last two decades Chaplin has worked as a chef in Amsterdam, London, Sydney and New York. At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen is her first book. Find out more at: amychaplin.com.

AUTHOR AVAILABILITY: New York City, by phone or arrangement

To request a review copy or to arrange an interview with the author, please contact:publicity(at)roostbooks(dot)com or (617) 424-0030, ext. 232.

At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen by Amy Chaplin | Photographs by Johnny Miller
ISBN: 978-1-61180-085-2 | Hardcover | $40.00 US $40.00 CAN | 8.25 x 10.25 | 400 pp
Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc. | Boston & London
Distributed by Penguin Random House

Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc., is an independent lifestyle press founded in 2012 publishing books to inspire the healthy, handmade and homemade in our everyday lives. Find out more at: RoostBooks.com.

Steven Pomije, Shambhala Publications Inc, +1 720-799-8248, [email protected]