Book Giveaway! New Edition of Leda’s Food Memoir

I’m delighted to announce that the new, updated edition of Botany, Ballet, & Dinner from Scratch: A Memoir with Recipes is now available in both paperback and digital forms…and that there is a book giveaway of both versions this week!

This was my first book, and it includes some intensely personal essays, the story of my local food challenge year (eating only foods raised within 250 miles of my apartment in Brooklyn, NY), as well as favorite family recipes.

Here’s what chef, forager, and food stylist extraordinaire Mia Wasilevich has to say about it:

“Personal, visceral, intimate, natural and authentic. All these words describe Leda’s book. You can literally taste melancholy in one dish and joy in another. Food is nothing without context, both the context of the environment in which they are sourced and also where they fit in our memories. This lexicon of memories with cherished recipes interwoven immerses you in an enchanted story-land where you can peek into the world of art and ballet, off-the-beaten-path travel, as well as secret gardens and heartbreak.

Leda’s life is as rich and textured as her recipes. Although her stories are most likely exotic and far from many people’s common experiences, there’s something deeply identifiable and familiar, too. The longing to be free and in nature and to be sustainable and be able to cook and preserve in a modern world resonates.”

This new edition has more recipes, photographs, and some updates…including how I ended up marrying the man I’d written about in one of the chapters, and how the local food movement has changed for the better since I did The 250 (but still has a long way to go). It also answers how I got started with wild edibles, and how I went from a professional dance career to teaching botany.

Interested?

Here’s your link to the paperback book giveaway, and here’s your link if you’d prefer the digital.

Upcoming Workshops and Events

“Fantastic. Informative. Top-notch. Lovely time.” - NYC foraging tour participant

The Forager’s Feast: How to Identify, Gather, and Prepare Wild Edibles is part field guide covering 50 plants, mushrooms, and seaweeds with a widespread distribution, and part cookbook for turning these wild edibles into delectable dishes.

“Leda Meredith is, in my opinion, the Foraging Goddess, and the next best thing to this book would be to share a field expedition with her! I highly recommend The Forager’s Feast to anyone who has a love of the wild foods.” - Amazon review by Susan C.

Northeast Foraging: 120 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Beach Plums to Wineberries

“A book that wild food gatherers of all skill levels will want to own.” - Sam Thayer