In her latest cookbook, Deborah Madison, America's leading authority on vegetarian cooking and author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone , reveals the surprising relationships between vegetables, edible flowers, and herbs within the same botanical families, and how understanding these connections can help home cooks see everyday vegetables in new light.

Destined to become the new standard reference for cooking vegetables, Vegetable Literacy , by revered chef Deborah Madison, shows cooks that vegetables within the same family, because of their shared characteristics, can be used interchangeably in cooking. For example, knowing that dill, chervil, cumin, parsley, coriander, anise, and caraway come from the umbellifer family makes it clear why they're such good matches for carrots, also an umbel. With stunning images from the team behind Canal House cookbooks and website, and 150 classic and exquisitely simple recipes, such as Savoy Cabbage on Rye Toast with GruyÈreCheese; Carrots with Caraway Seed, Garlic, and Parsley; and Pan-fried Sunchokes with Walnut Sauce and Sunflower Sprouts; Madison brings this wealth of information together in dishes that highlight a world of complementary flavors.