Book Review: James Wong's Homegrown Revolution by James Wong

This book has introduced me to so many different food plants. Some I've known forever, but hadn't realised that they had edible parts, such as the berries of Fuchsia or tubers of Dahlia. Others I'd never heard of before this book such as electric daisies and Peruvian mint marigold.

I really like the layout of the book, which I think flows really well. with food groups split into separate chapters such as: leaves and greens, fruiting veg and grains buried treasure, experimental herbs, spices and flavours, and dessert fruit. These  Inter spliced with sections on tips and tricks, natural sweeteners, and natural colours. I wasn't sure that I've be able to read a book like this from front to back, being that it covers the growing, harvesting and eating of each plant, but James has a wonderful vocabulary and before I knew it vast portions of the book had been devoured.

I also liked the recipes that are scattered through the book and find it a shame that they didn't have a separate contents page, which would really assist in finding them again. There are loads of interesting facts and ideas in this book, such as the idea of keeping carnivorous plants in the greenhouse to control pests. Something else that I hadn't realised was that chop suey has a literal English meaning of 'bits and pieces' - there are points of interest scattered throughout this book as well as interesting illustrations and photographs of the plants themselves.

You'll find everything you need to know about growing and harvesting the plants discussed all within the pages of this book. I enjoyed reading it and think that our 'must try' of the book is the red strawberry popcorn as I think it'll be a great educational tool for our niece and nephew. Give it a go and let me know if you try anything from the book!