"Fresh Food Nation" is at the intersection of a big need and a big trend. The need is for recipes, techniques, and inspiration for fresh produce, especially vegetables. The trend is the growing desire to eat local and connect with the source of our food--not just because locally grown food is fresher and tastier, but because it offers emotional, environmental, and food safety benefits.

CSAs (community-supported agriculture organizations)are the latest wave in the rising tide of eating local. Having a share in a CSA is a more intimate and committed way of cooking with super-fresh fruits, vegetables, and even dairy products, poultry, meat, and bread. Regardless of whether you are a CSA member, frequent your local farmer's market, or buy produce at the market, Fresh Food Nation offers simple, delicious, intriguing recipes for seasonal, fresh produce.

"Fresh Food Nation" at its heart is a great basic vegetable and fruit recipe book, but it is wrapped in a very timely and relevant concept--eating with the bounty of the season, family farming, coming together to distribute food to the community--making it, in essence, the new "community" cookbook.