You may know me as a cookbook publisher, but I have a second love

Last summer, I went to the Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin on a little recon mission to browse the children’s books for inspiration for my publishing house’s first children’s book, Seed to Supper.

Looking at the table full of new books but also lots of my kids’ old favourites, I found myself suddenly tearing up. It’s like my heart was being squeezed.

You may know me as a cookbook publisher and food writer, but my second, secret, love is children’s books, especially ones with intricately illustrated worlds that you can escape into, just for a little while. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

The most bittersweet thing about parenting is that the last time you hoist your child onto your hip, take them to the playground or hold their hand while walking down the street, you don’t know it’s the last time. Standing at that table, looking at those books, I would have given anything for just one more bedtime story.

My daughter and son are 19 and 16 now, so it’s been at least 10 years since we read our last bedtime story. All the books are stashed in the attic, but I couldn’t bear to put the most beloved ones away. Those still sit on our bookshelf in the living room. I pull them down every now and then, flip through the pages and feel that same squeeze on my heart.

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In a full-circle moment we launched Seed to Supper in Hodges Figgis last week, so I’ve been thinking about children’s books a lot lately. Here are some of my food-related favourites.

Stone Soup

This classic folk tale actually inspired the idea for Blasta Books. Like the hungry strangers who arrived in a village with only a pot and a few stones but ended up with a feast thanks to the contributions of all the villagers, Blasta Books began with little more than an appetite and a big idea but I needed the help of a community to get it off the ground. You can watch our original short promo video (2:30 mins) about the story and the first four Blasta authors here.

Each Peach Pear Plum

A progression of nursery-rhyme characters are captured in Janet Ahlberg’s charming illustrations, which are packed with details of an idyllic, pastoral domestic life, ending with the entire cast sitting down together to share a plum pie in the orchard. It’s even been turned into a rap.

Strega Nona

My daughter loved this story of Strega Nona¹, her magic pasta pot and her hapless helper, Big Anthony, so much that she would fall asleep with the book in her cot and cuddle it as if it was a stuffed toy.

Little Pea

‘Candy. That’s what you have to eat for dinner every night when you’re a pea. Candy. Candy. Candy.’ In a subversive twist, Little Pea has to force down five pieces of candy before he can get spinach for dessert. To this day, we still say the closing lines – ‘Yum, yum, extra yum’ – in my family when something is extra delicious.

The Runaway Dinner

Here’s Allan Ahlberg again (from Each Peach Pear Plum). Forget about kids not wanting to eat their food – this book is all about the food itself that doesn’t want to be eaten. A little odd? Quite, but fun all the same.

Blueberries for Sal

My favourite part of this book are the illustrations at the front and back of the book of Sal’s mother canning blueberries – thinking ahead to winter even in the middle of a Maine summer. There’s also a Blueberries for Sal Cookbook now.

George and Martha

Another one from my own childhood that I read to my kids. This book has five stories, but my favourite is the first one, ‘Split Pea Soup’, about the lengths friends will go to for each other.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

After a tiger shows up and eats and drinks everything in the house – down to all the water in the tap and even all of Daddy’s beer – there’s nothing for it but for the family to go to a café for sausages, chips and ice cream. Best of all, you can see the author’s actual kitchen that inspired the deliciously retro illustrations. It’s on display at the National Centre for Children’s Books in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

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Seed to Supper: The Journey of Your Food from the Ground Up by Michelle Darmody is out now, published by Nine Bean Rows (€20)

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About me

I’m Kristin Jensen, the founder, publisher and editor at Blasta Books and Nine Bean Rows. Before I started my publishing house, I was a freelance editor and food writer for over 20 years and I’ve co-authored three books. I pretty much eat, sleep and breathe books and food. You can also find me on Instagram @edibleireland.📚

1. Strega Nona has been banned from a number of children’s libraries in the US for depicting magic, witches and witchcraft in a positive light. I can’t even.