Food, Photography, Flora and Funky Fumes

The Garden Chef

Yes, your summer terrace dinner in that one fancy restaurant started in a dirty garden. If the ingredients are fresh, chances are that the vegetables were grown in a local garden or at a local farm. The Garden Chef goes to those gardens to trace back along the route from the plates to the plants. Traditional kitchen gardens, allotments, polytunnels and raised beds, aeroponic roof gardens, greenhouses, and urban community farms and micro farms––The Garden Chef shows the various ways the most delicious recipes were rooted and offers recipes as well as beautiful images to draw inspiration from.

Forty of the world’s best chefs share their stories about how they cook with ingredients that grow in their gardens, including Michel & Sébastien Bras, Manoella Buffara, Magnus Nilsson, Matt Orlando, Simon Rogan, Ben Shewry, and Alice Waters. Going from the dirt straight to the dish, you don’t even need to wash your hands (jk, please do).

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Vertical Garden Design

In case you didn’t know, horizontal gardens are a thing of the past. In the era of high-life and inner city housing, the only way is up. Luckily, Vertical Garden Design offers everything you need to know to prepare your garden to go vertical.

A vertical garden is more than simply putting an ivy against a wall. Much like a traditional garden, it requires depth, planning and versatility. This book helps with all of that and more. Besides a collection of photos made of the most beautiful vertical gardens in the world, it also offers guides for creating your own, interviews with the world’s leading vertical garden architects, and a booklet with frequently asked questions about construction and maintenance. Perfect way to get started or to help you move your garden in the right direction (which is up).

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The Photographer in the Garden

As soon as your vertical (or horizontal) garden is in its full bloom and glory, it’s time to gram it of course! No better way to draw inspiration than from books. Especially if that book contains all the photography masters of the past decades.

Flowers and greenery have often been the decors to illustrious shoots of course, but never were they treated as the sole subject like in this book. Editors Jamie M. Allen and Sarah Anne McNear collected over 100 years of photographs of gardens made by both unknown and iconic photographers including Anna Atkins, Karl Blossfeldt, Eugène Atget, Edward Steichen, Imogen Cunningham, Stephen Shore, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Collier Schorr.

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Stoned Beyond Belief

Amsterdam is known for a few things: our canals, our football, our Red Light District, our books(!) and of course the weed. With the tolerant policies during the second half of the twentieth century, stoners from all over the world went on a pilgrimage to Mokum for the best cannabis. You won’t easily find us stoned out of our mind at MENDO, but we do love great books. Needless to say, Hip-hop phenomenon and tv-personality Action Bronson’s newest book was a great addition to the collection.

“The ultimate love letter to the world’s most magical plant.” The follow up to his bestseller F*ck That’s Delicious in which he examined his favorite foodstops and dishes in the world. In Stoned Beyond Belief, Bronsoliño dives into the world of his most beloved herb. With recipes, illustrations, photos and stories revolving around weed, you better prepare for some munchies.

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