Veggie Smarts: A Doctor and Farmer Grows and Savors Eight Families of Vegetables

Summary

A nerdy farmer—and doctor with expertise in nutrition—explains how the vast majority of our vegetables come from just eight families of plants, which can guide how we eat them (“eight on my plate”), while recounting his journey of trading in city life to build a thriving organic vegetable farm.

“This endearingly quirky book describes Compton’s love affair with eight families of vegetables for their growing habits, diversity, nutritional value, flavor, texture, and deliciousness, and he offers science, experience, charm, and recipes to prove it. His dietary advice? Eat your veggies!”—Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, New York University and Author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics