Timothy Pakron Author Talk • Garden Variety: Plant-Focused Recipes Inspired by My Garden

Timothy Pakron is a cookbook author and food blogger from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Pakron graduated from the College of Charleston where he majored in studio art with a concentration in photography. While living in NYC, he created the concept of Mississippi Vegan, which explores the celebration of cooking with plants and mushrooms, while merging his southern roots with his passion for veganism and photography. Since its creation, he has lived in Jackson, MS where he wrote his debut cookbook, Mississippi Vegan, released in 2018. Upon its release, he moved to New Orleans, where he now lives and works, to write his second and latest cookbook, Garden Variety, a collection of recipes greatly inspired by his garden. His work has been featured by NPR, Garden & Gun, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Food & Wine, KCRW, and VegNews. You can follow him on social media (@mississippivegan) where he regularly shares updates from his garden along with his latest recipes.

Garden Variety: Plant-Focused Recipes Inspired by My Garden - Growing up, while Timothy Pakron watched his father tend to his garden, he knew that someday he would want to put down the same kind of roots in a backyard of his own. When he moved to New Orleans after writing his first cookbook, Mississippi Vegan, he made his dream a reality and began growing a cornucopia of plants and produce in the plot of land behind his new home. From fragrant and zesty herbs to all manner of leafy greens, sturdy root vegetables, lush fruit, and more, Timothy now cooks with fresh ingredients from his flourishing garden regularly, letting them inspire his recipes while also guiding him through the seasons in the kitchen. In Garden Variety, he encourages readers to develop a deeper connection with the natural world and shows us how to bring its delicious flavors to our plates.

Timothy’s approach to plant-based cooking is elegant, exciting, and approachable, with a Southern flair. With vibrant vegetable dishes like his Bay Leaf Roasted Corn with miso chive butter and Crispy Okra & Turmeric Rice with fried curry leaves and peanuts, to more hearty dishes like his Garden Gumbo with roasted mushrooms and Oven-Braised Cabbage with black-eyed pea hummus, Garden Variety is full of ingenious recipes that will transform your cooking. With practical tips for roasting and sautéing any vegetable, baking your own rice to keep on hand, making perfectly seasoned beans every time, and leveling up any dish with essential, homemade condiments, Garden Variety makes it simple to cook plant-based from scratch, in addition to being an invaluable resource for how to use seasonal produce. Beautifully photographed by Timothy himself, it is both a work of art and a celebration of the magic of cooking with ingredients from the earth.