Terrestrial Guidebooks

Understanding plants and plant healing involves botanical, medical, cultural, and culinary discovery. Whether you're using nuts and seeds to make rich cheeses or deepening your understanding of the current scientific research on the gut-brain connection, you're doing the same thing—communing with nature. Here are a few of our current favorite portals into the wonderful world of botanical medicine and functional foods.

Decolonize Your Diet by Luz Calvo and Catriona R. Esquibel

Oh, did you think superfoods were invented in Los Angeles by a wellness guru? If you answered yes, you need this cookbook. This work is both a deep dive into how colonialism impacted native Central and South American food traditions and how we can cook delicious healing foods and choose ingredients that honor indigenous Americans.

Healing Tonics by Ariana Ayales

The rainforests of Costa Rica are some of the most biodiverse and untouched landscapes on our planet. Ariana Ayales demystifies cherished medicinal jungle plants and offers recipes for indulgent smoothies, tonics, and teas to protect the body from stress and uplift the spirit.

Psychobiotic Revolution by Scott C. Anderson

Sure you've heard of probiotics and maybe even prebiotics, but did you know that the bacteria in your gut can impact your mood? This exciting book examines the groundbreaking new science that may one day lead us to treat psychological complaints with yogurt, kimchi and other psychobiotic delicacies.

This Cheese is Nuts by Julie Piatt

For many the hardest thing about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle is the lack of cheese. The divine Julie Piatt has painstakingly re-created many of our favorite cheeses using nuts, seeds, and active cultures for a cookbook that is part science experiment, part love letter to plants.

Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey

This could either be your first or your last book on how to ferment almost everything. The Shockey's lay out the basic types of fermenting including krauts, kimchis, pickles, and crunchy condiments. If you've been afraid to try fermenting, this is the place to start.