Hi everyone, meet Tenderheart, my new cookbook.
Over the past two years, I have been quietly working on this book, and if the title reveals anything, it is that this tome is very dear to my heart. Featuring 22 chapters, each one devoted to one of my favourite vegetables, the recipes capture how I love to cook main meal veggies at home for my family - with emphasis on practicality, accessibility and economy, with a unequivocal commitment to big flavours and diverse textures. The recipes are 100% me, heavily pantry-led, with globally-inspired flavours that reflect the Cantonese food of my youth, the multicultural influences of Australian cuisine, the culinary epiphanies that come from living in New York, and the tastes of a life spend wandering and wondering.
I describe Tenderheart as an egalitarian vegetable book. It is for everyone, not only for those who can afford to acquire farmer’s market produce. With this book, I aim to show every home cook how to use everyday vegetables to create flavorful, comforting, repertoire dishes. The book is not hyper seasonal which is perhaps unexpected in a vegetable book, but this is an important aspect which sets it apart from other vegetable books on the market - my Tenderheart ethos is simple, eat seasonally if you can, but if circumstances or cravings require you to step outside of those boundaries, that is completely ok. I am the first to admit, I eat all the vegetables, all year round.
Along with vegetables, at the centre of Tenderheart is the story of how I became to love vegetables and fruits - my dad. I won’t give too much away here, but I hope it touches you and helps others who have lost, grieved and have learnt to find joy and purpose in the memories.
There are 180 new recipes, my biggest book yet! Tenderheart is my vegetable bible, and I hope it will soon be yours.
For everyone who pre-orders, there is a massive pre-order bonus - you will receive two bonus chapters - GREEN BEAN and CORN - along with complimentary 6-month membership to CHOY LOVE CLUB, the as-yet-unlaunched paid subscription area of my newsletter which I’ll be launching next year. Tenderheart will be released in Australia on 27 September 2022 and is available for pre-order now. Once you have pre-ordered, visit my website to fill in your purchase details here and I will email you the bonus chapters.
I want to also personally address my large audience outside of Australia. The US and international edition will be released in May 2023 and I know that feels like a lonnnnnnng time to wait. In reality, it IS a long time, and I can understand the frustration/disappointment. However this is due to the fact I have two different publishers in each territory (rather than one, which is what most authors work with). I do this so my US/International edition is published with that audience in mind. We re-edit the US edition, to ensure that measurements and terminology are perfect. With precision takes time. But I hope to share more from the book such as sneak peaks and recipes, to alleviate the pain of waiting. That being said, the US edition will be available for pre-order very soon - stay tuned for news in the next few weeks. And when that happens, you will be eligible for the bonus chapters too, which will fill some space until the book is released Stateside and elsewhere in the world.
Thank you everyone, thanks for always supporting my work and being a part of my community. If you have any questions about Tenderheart, please comment here and I’ll get back to you! Back to regular newsletter programming next week, with a new recipe.
Hetty xo
I'm looking forward to your book for several reasons, because it's about vegetables, and because it's about your relationship with your father. Half British. half Belgian/French, my childhood was spent in SE Asia where my British father spent much of his career. After his retirement, he started an organic fruit farm in Thailand. Quite independently, and much earlier, I found my own way into food, writing about food as a sideline to science-writing, and eventually working with small-farm non-profits in the US. Though not a vegetarian -- I still like dairy and eggs - I eat mostly vegetables. Ties to family and childhood friends from Asia have also taken me to Australia, where I found an open-hearted and creative approach to food that's very appealing. There's no canonical Australian cuisine, so it's all in the making, and I look to you as as someone helping to shape a new way of eating for the world.
I'm delighted by this release and having it join TO ASIA, WITH LOVE on my shelf!!!