Going back to basics with Darina Allen's new book

Darina Allen is on a mission. In her new 600-page book, she’s calling on us all to grow our own food, writes Ciara McDonnell

D rawing on over thirty years of growing at Ballymaloe, Darina Allen’s latest book Grow, Cook, Nourish is the ultimate handbook for anybody who wants to start their own kitchen garden. “This may be the most important book that I have ever written because at this point in time it’s where we are with food,” she says from her base at the world-famous cookery school.

The collection of 500 recipes took Allen two and a half years to write, and is a passion project for the doyenne of Irish food.