Very Good Salads

SEASONAL SALADS, DIPS, BREAD & MORE FOR SHARING

LOUISA ALLAN AND SHUKI ROSENBOIM

Very Good Salads is a seasonal cookbook lled with salad and dips to accompany one very good falafel recipe.

Very Good Falafel is a falafel bar in Melbourne, Australia, with a cult following. Every day, queues of locals wait patiently for a falafel plate or pita pocket lled with their choice of rotating salads, classic dips, and—of course—chickpea falafel, all served with a side of pickles and bread. It’s simple, classic fare, but food that has earned owners Shuki and Louisa a place in Melbourne restaurant royalty.

Very Good Salads shares the original, much-lauded falafel recipe for the rst time, along with the café’s most popular salads that change with the seasons. Making the very best of fresh produce, recipes include Israeli- and Mediterraneanfocused salads that are as good on their own as they are stued into bread with a side of tahini. With an emphasis on vegetarian and vegan dishes, each salad makes use of the whole vegetable, with classic and less-expected pairings such as watermelon salad with za’atar, radish, and fried pita; peaches, basil, and hazelnut; and grilled leek with pomegranate, walnuts, spring onion, mint, dill, and lemon zest. There are also larger oerings such as silver-beet rice cake and stued tomatoes with saron rice and dried mint. In addition, the book shares recipes for traditional dips and the ultimate pita recipe that produces awless bread to stu or serve alongside share plates.

After years selling homemade dips, sauces, and falafels at farmers’ markets around Victoria, Louisa Allan and Shuki Rosenboim grew so popular that they set up a permanent shop on Melbourne’s vibrant Sydney Road—and they’ve never looked back. Their small café has become a Melbourne institution. With a cult following and legendary falafel status, Louisa and Shuki are two of the city’s most popular food creators.

COOKING

224 pages, 7½ x 9½" 100 color photographs Hardcover • 9781922417862 $27.50 USD, $36.95 CAD October 4, 2022 Rights: US/Can, Latin America, Asia

SMITH STREET BOOKS