Kapusta

Vegetable-forward recipes from Eastern Europe that celebrate seasonal, sustainable, low-cost eating and bring humble plant-based cooking into the heart of the kitchen.

Alissa‘s recipes speak to my stomach. I am especially a lifelong fan of cabbage, and her cabbage chapter is fantastic.

Alissa turns the cabbage cliché on its head in this joyful celebration of Eastern European cooking. Come for the food and stay for the stories—every curious cook will take a leaf out of this book.

Kapusta is a word that’s close to my heart, as it brings to mind my favourite dish of young cabbage cooked in buttery dill. The book is just as warm and inviting. Alissa’s writing soothes the soul and her recipes always inspire. Kapusta is filled to the brim with beautiful, imaginative recipes that have the power to revitalise the kitchen, comfort the spirit and shine a fresh light on the world of Eastern European food.

Just like the vegetable for which this book is named, Alissa’s recipes are always full of layers: of flavour, of history, of intention. Kapusta will fill your heart with gladness and your belly with buckwheat.

If the measure of a cookbook's success is whether it inspires you to try the recipes then Kapusta goes one better. It is a book of plenty, a meal in itself.

Alissa Timoshkina is an award-winning food writer, historian and campaigner, best known for the multi-award-winning #CookforUkraine initiative and her cookbooks Kapusta and Salt & Time. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, Vogue and The Economist, and she is a regular voice on BBC radio, podcasts and at major food and literary festivals.