Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables

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Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons is accessible for the beginning cook to the master chef. His relaxed but carefully mastered view on vegetables brings out each of their rich and delicious greatness. I'm thrilled to see such a wonderful Pacific Northwest cookbook that can work for any region of the country and will make a great gift for anyone, no matter their food restrictions.   Recommended By Kim T., Powells.com

Joshua McFadden, a favorite here in Portland, is both a farmer and a chef. He brings us the best of both worlds by combining seasonal veggies with intriguing, full-flavored meals. He teaches us to cook like the chefs do: by embracing each vegetable in season and when the season is over, move on to the next tasty and timely veg. Six Seasons is a beautiful cookbook and one that will keep you from getting into a cooking rut. While this isn’t a vegetarian cookbook, the meat recipes are certainly in the minority. Oh yeah, six seasons? Summer is broken into three seasons, which, when you think about it, makes total sense.   Recommended By Tracey T., Powells.com

A new way to look at (and cook with) vegetables through the seasons, with 225 vegetable-centric recipes with an exciting modern sensibility from a brilliant young chef and former vegetable farmer who makes vegetables taste delicious in ways we haven't experienced before.

• Winner, James Beard Award for Best Book in Vegetable-Focused Cooking
• Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Bon Appétit, Food Network Magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, USA Today, Seattle Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Library Journal, Eater, and more
• Featured in The Strategist ’s Nonobvious Wedding Gift Guide

Joshua McFadden, chef and owner of renowned trattoria Ava Gene’s in Portland, Oregon, is a vegetable whisperer. After years racking up culinary cred at New York City restaurants like Lupa, Momofuku, and Blue Hill, he managed the trailblazing Four Season Farm in coastal Maine, where he developed an appreciation for every part of the plant and learned to coax the best from vegetables at each stage of their lives.

In Six Seasons, his first book, McFadden channels both farmer and chef, highlighting the evolving attributes of vegetables throughout their growing seasons—an arc from spring to early summer to midsummer to the bursting harvest of late summer, then ebbing into autumn and, finally, the earthy, mellow sweetness of winter. Each chapter begins with recipes featuring raw vegetables at the start of their season. As weeks progress, McFadden turns up the heat—grilling and steaming, then moving on to sautés, pan roasts, braises, and stews. His ingenuity is on display in 225 revelatory recipes that celebrate flavor at its peak.

"Joshua [understands] vegetables from the perspective of both a farmer and chef. His mouthwatering and terrific solutions...get the most out of vegetables from their beginning to their last act on our plates." —David Chang, chef/owner of Momofuku

"A must-have cookbook that stands out from the crowd of vegetable-centric cookbooks....This cookbook deserves to become a well-thumbed, vital addition to any kitchen." —Publishers Weekly, ★ Starred Review

“If you’re finding pantry cooking to mean too many uninspired pots of beans, might I suggest Six Seasons. [It] both highlights a perfectly ripe plant . . . and shows you how to transform slightly less peak-season produce (yes, the cabbage lurking in the back of your fridge right now counts) with heat, spice, acid, and fat.” —Epicurious

“Never before have I seen so many fascinating, delicious, easy recipes in one book. . . . [Six Seasons is] about as close to a perfect cookbook as I have seen . . . a book beginner and seasoned cooks alike will reach for repeatedly.” —Lucky Peach

Joshua McFadden is a bringing fresh energy to Berny Farm, a historic fifty-acre gem in Springdale, Oregon. Here, he's building a unique agricultural complex where farming, food, and design come together in creative collaborations. When he's not working the land, Joshua is a sought-after consultant in the food world—helping to craft packaged and prepared foods, launch brands from the ground up, and rethink what fast-casual and fast food can be. Joshua’s first book, Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, co-written with Martha Holmberg, earned him a James Beard Award in 2018. His second, Grains for Every Season: Rethinking Our Way with Grains, was a James Beard Award finalist in 2021. Follow him on Instagram at @jj__mc.

Martha Holmberg is a food writer who has authored or co-authored nine cookbooks. Modern Sauces was a James Beard Award finalist. Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, written with chef Joshua McFadden, won the James Beard Award, and Grains for Every Season, also with McFadden, was a James Beard Award finalist. Holmberg was the editor in chief of Fine Cooking magazine for a decade, the food editor of The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon, and the founder of MIX magazine. She studied cooking at La Varenne in Paris, where she worked for several years as a private chef. Holmberg lives in Spokane, Washington. Follow her on Instagram @marthaholmberg.