The book offers chapters deftly arranged by fruit and vegetable families as they appear in the markets, such as "The Vegetable Fruits of Summer: Eggplants, Tomatoes, and Peppers" and "A Cool Weather Miscellany," which includes recipes such as Sauteed Artichokes with Potatoes and Garlic Chives and a marvelous "essence-of" soup, Elixir of Fresh Peas. Madison also treats unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, presenting the likes of lamb quarters in a soup made with Sonoma Teleme cheese, and sugar loaf chicory simply grilled and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Recipes for delightful salads like Melon Salad with Thai Basil also appear, as do a selection of pastas and risotto, such as Winter Squash Risotto with Seared Radicchio, and sweets like White Peaches in Lemon Verbena Syrup and Date, Dried Cherry, and Chocolate Nut Torte. With sidebars like Atlanta's All-Organic Market: Late October and color photos throughout of vendors, produce, and many of the dishes, the book offers the perfect match of Madison and the markets. --Arthur Boehm

Product Description
In Local Flavors, bestselling cookbook author Deborah Madison takes readers along as she explores farmers’ markets across the country, sharing stories, recipes, and dozens of market-inspired menus. Her portraits of markets from Maine to Hawaii showcase the bounty of America’s family farms and reveal the sheer pleasure to be found in shopping for and cooking with local foods.

Deborah Madison follows the seasons in her cross-country journey, beginning with the first tender greens of spring and ending with those foods that keep. Recipes such as Chard and Cilantro Soup with Noodle Nests and Lamb’s-Quarters with Sonoma Teleme Cheese launch the market season, followed by such dishes as an Elixir of Fresh Peas or a Radish Sandwich. Recipes for Whole Little Cauliflowers with Crispy Breadcrumbs and White Beans with Black Kale and Savoy Cabbage illustrate the range of the robust crucifers, while herbs and alliums provide the inspiration for a lively Herb Salad, tisanes, and Sweet and Sour Onions with Dried Pluots and Rosemary.
Deborah Madison challenges the conventional view of what’s seasonal. A Young Root Vegetable Braise celebrates that early crop of delicate roots, while Braised Root Vegetables with Black Lentils and Red Wine Sauce offers an elegant centerpiece dish for the heartier roots of winter.

Superlative fresh eggs, along with handmade cheese, are featured players at the markets everywhere, and here they appear in such simple dishes as Fried Eggs with Sizzling Vinegar and Warm Ricotta Custard featuring fresh whole-milk ricotta. Because organically raised poultry and meats have an increasingly important presence in our farmers’ markets, they are included, too, paired with other market produce that highlights their flavors, as in Roast Chicken with Herbs Under the Skin.

Late summer corn and beans inspire Corn Fritters with Aged Cheddar and Arugula and Shelly Beans with Pasta and Sage. When markets are filled with squashes and melons, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, Deborah Madison shows us that they’re perfect ingredients for simple, vibrant dishes, such as Braised Farmers’ Long Eggplant Stuffed with Garlic or Tropical Melon Soup with Coconut Milk. For the happily overwhelmed cook, Platter Salads suggest how to go ahead and use all of the market’s bounty.

Fruits, another vital part of farmers’ markets, are generously featured. Huckleberries, unusual grapes, and figs; stone fruits like plums and peaches; heirloom apples, persimmons; winter citrus and subtropical fruits are all here. Fig Tart with Orange Flower Custard; Peach Shortcake on Ginger Biscuits; a Rustic Tart of Quinces, Apples, and Pears; and a Passion Fruit and Pineapple Compote are just a few of the luscious desserts. And, because the market features more than fresh foods of the moment, recipes based on dried fruits, oils, vinegars, preserves, and other long-keeping foods help the reader continue eating locally once the market season has ended.

By going behind the scenes to speak with the farmers and producers, Deborah Madison connects readers directly with the people who grow their food. Full-color photographs of gorgeous produce, mouthwatering dishes, and evocative scenes from the markets will entice every reader to cook from the farmers’ market as often as possible.

The cookbook is handsomely done, with easy recipes and numbered directions (so helpful when you look away and then need to find your place again). While readers on the coasts or in big cities will have no problem finding the ingredients they need, those in smaller or rural areas will have some difficulty. Ingredients that are regularly called for here include palm sugar, blood oranges, lemon verbena, pineapple sage, chantarelles, orange flower water, and more. Still, the recipes are imaginative, the photography sumptuous, and Madison's enthusiasm for her subject positively contagious.


Great Book for Farmers Market Neighbor. Very Good Read   April 4, 2005
 32 out of 37 found this review helpful

`Local Flavors' by leading vegetarian cookbook author and teacher, Deborah Madison is quite a bit different from her most famous and critically successful book, `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' which I consider a candidate for top ten positioning in anyone's list of cookbooks and easily near the top of your list of vegetarian cookbooks.

As quite loudly proclaimed by the subtitle, this book is really all about regional, seasonal, and organic produce from farmers' markets. As such, it is very close to Jack Bishop's book, `A Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen', as the primary organization of chapters is a cross between the seasons and types of vegetables. This is not quite as awkward as it may seem, as most members of a particular vegetable class, such as the cabbages and the onions typically come into season at about the same time. The book may be either more or less valuable than Bishop's book, depending on how close you live to either a Farmer's Market or a Community Supported Agriculture cooperative. If either is within an hour's drive, this book will be a great resource in making the best of these organizations.

Part of my modest reaction to this book is based on the fact that I live within 10 to 40 minutes drive of seven different permanent or semi-permanent `farmer's market' organizations, and I believe but three of those seven sites' produce comes primarily from things grown by the chap behind the table, or a close family member of the chap behind the table. And, it is precisely this direct contact with the farmer that Madison believes is so valuable to the Farmer's Market experience. Even with these seven locations, the only produce from all these sites together which is truly local is the corn, the apples, the strawberries, some peaches, and some of the tomatoes. Almost all the other produce comes from Florida, California, or South America, with some summer stone fruits from the Carolinas and Georgia. So, almost everything Madison explains about getting the most out of your Farmer's Market experience is wasted on me.

Madison's most important service in this book aside from the seasonally organized recipes is the clarification of what is the value of our patronizing Farmer's Markets. It is definitely not price. I strongly concur on this, as my local corn farmer's stand charges 50% more than my favorite megamart, in spite of the fact that the stand is a mere 35 yards from the cornfields. The real values are from acquiring exquisitely fresh produce (a REALLY big issue with corn and tomatoes) which is, if so advertised, free of artificial pesticides and free of treatment by herbicides or, with chickens, treatment with growth hormones or antibiotics. Additional values accrue from the fact that while the farmer gets about 9% of the sale of the produce at the megamart, they get 100% of the sale at a Farmer's Market, less the fee to rent the stand and the time required to truck in the goods and set up the stand at some ungodly hour of the morning.

The value is also not in the acquisition of the most attractive produce. I often thought that the poor looking produce at farm stands was due to the absence of artificial fertilizer and pesticides. It turns out that the real reason may be due to the fact that the farmer is selling things at the stands that may fall below the standards of his commercial distributors.

I think Madison's second most important contribution to her readers with this book is the advice to plan to stay a fair length of time at the market to get the lay of the land and talk to the vendors and to fellow customers. I really think this is a pretty good measure of how well the producers know their stuff. Nothing turns me off of a store faster than asking a question of a salesperson and they simply have no clue of what you speak, and volunteer no opportunity to speak to the store owner or some other potential expert. This is clearly a sign that this store is not a store or stand with which I want to do business. And, I am often surprised at how few merchants are aware of this fact. Within a block of one another there are three Italian delis in Little Italy in Manhattan with very similar wares. They even look a lot alike. Two are practically empty of customers. The third, DiPalo's, is crowded enough to require you to take a number when you enter the little store. This is because the DiPalo family members behind the counter really know what they are talking about and go out of their way to be sure you get what you want.

Getting back to the book, I will suggest that you take a by on this one unless you are within acceptable driving distance of a genuine Farmer's Market. Many of the recipes and subjects are covered in much greater detail in `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' and, when I went to actually make one of the recipes, I found a fairly serious lapse in the instructions which neglected to tell me how to prep an onion for the cooking. If I would have followed directions literally, I would have put an unpeeled onion in a pot of hot olive oil.

On the positive side, I give Ms. Madison good marks for covering eggs and cheese and poultry in addition to the veggies. The bibliography and sources are slanted toward Farmers' Markets, but there is still a fair overlap to `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone'.

If you are close to a Farmer's Market and fully intend to spend time there OR if you are an inveterate foodie who must have every title by important cookbook authors, then buy this book. Otherwise, buy `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' or `The Savory Way'.



Great Cookbook for Everyone!   July 23, 2002
 29 out of 29 found this review helpful

I have to admit that Deborah Madison is my favorite cook (Alice Waters comes in second). I have all of her cookbooks and give them to family members as gifts. In her last two major cookbooks, Deborah seems to have gotten to the heart of cooking. Her recipes are straight forward, the combinations of flavors well planned and the results fantastic. I've tried many of the recipes in this cookbook and would repeat every one. The ease of these recipes lends itself to experimenting with what's in season and what's growing in my garden. This is a book for someone who loves food from the earth. Most, but not all, of the recipes are vegetarian. This is one of my top 5 cookbooks!


Well written and engaging   August 7, 2002
 22 out of 22 found this review helpful

Unlike a lot of cookbooks, this was a delight to read. I find Deborah Madison to be a good observer, and the subject matter benefits from her keen eye--and ear. She certainly finds creative ways to exploit the typical farmer's market fare. The only significant flaw with this book is that Ms. Madison simply tries to cover too much ground--literally and figuratively. Many of the ingredients are obviously regional in nature and availability, and are therefore beyond the reach of many readers. Still, this is a finely crafted volume and the author should be commended for elevating the subject matter to a very high level. Well done!


Deborah hits a home run again!   August 19, 2002
 8 out of 11 found this review helpful

I just purchased this new cookbook by Deborah and I am not disappointed. Deborah Madison comes across as a teasured friend in all of her cookbooks. You can't help but trust all of her tips and recipes because she is so passionate about fresh, healthy food. In Local Flavors, she packs the book with so much information about shopping and enjoying farmers markets. Buying and using fruits & vegetables in season is not only practical, but ensures you are getting the most delicious produce. This book is for all who believe in "eating by the seasons" and for those who support locally grown foods!