This cookbook inspired by a West Cork walled garden will encourage you to eat more veg
Karen Austin, author of a new book, Food for Today, pictured with chilies which are growing in a glasshouse at Lettercollum Gardens, Timoleague, Co. Cork. Pictures: Denis Minihane.
While it’s still dark and cold outside, the year is moving towards spring, bringing with it a longing for fresh, light and healthy food. It’s the time of the year when delving into a new cookbook can reap many rewards, especially when it takes inspiration from an Irish garden and pairs it with flavours from far away. Karen Austin, the co-owner of Clonakilty’s bustling delicatessen and food shop Lettercollum Kitchen Project, has just released her second cookbook, and it’s ideal for anyone who wants to try out nutritious and inventive vegetarian and vegan recipes.
(Impress Printing Works), with photos by Rob Murphy and illustrations by Charlotte Kachelmann, was born out of last year’s lockdown. Well known for its healthy and tasty vegetable-centric food, Lettercollum Kitchen Project has been a constant presence in Austin’s life since she opened it with her partner Con McLoughlin in 2004. When they had to close in early 2021, she had some unexpected bonus time on her hands. While she was initially “a bit lost, not being able to work,” idleness doesn’t come naturally to Austin. She started looking through recipes that she had recorded over years of cooking at home, many of which have made it into production via the shop kitchen, and by the time they reopened their shop at the end of April, she had written the cookbook.
