# Is Ottolenghi's Plenty a good first vegetable cookbook? Canonical: https://zestasy.com/wiki/ottolenghi-plenty/ Section: Zestasy Wiki > Books & ideas · Updated: 2026-10-14 · Publisher: Zestasy *Zestasy Wiki: our reference answers. Checked for facts and sources; less curated than the magazine.* It can be, if you like a project and own a well-stocked cupboard. Plenty (2010) made vegetables the star of the plate for a huge number of home cooks, but many recipes have long ingredient lists and several components, which can feel like a lot on a Tuesday. If that sounds daunting, start with his later Ottolenghi Simple, or a technique book, and come back to Plenty for weekends. Yotam Ottolenghi, the Jerusalem-born chef behind a group of London delis and restaurants, began writing a weekly Guardian column called The New Vegetarian in 2006. He is not vegetarian himself, which is part of the charm: the column, and the book that grew out of it, treat vegetables as interesting in their own right rather than as a substitute for anything. [Penguin's page for the book](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1081374/plenty-by-ottolenghi-yotam/9780091933685) describes Plenty as a collection of vegetarian recipes drawn from that column, along with new ones, published by Ebury in 2010. ## What Plenty changed Plenty organised itself around the vegetables: chapters on greens, aubergines, brassicas, roots, squashes, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, pulses, grains, pasta and couscous, and fruit. The food borrowed freely from the Mediterranean and the Middle East, with generous herbs, yoghurt, citrus, toasted nuts and spice blends. It won awards, including Observer Food Monthly's best cookbook in 2011, according to [Wikipedia's profile of Ottolenghi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotam_Ottolenghi), and its style spread into cafés, home kitchens and other cookbooks. If you have eaten a roasted aubergine with yoghurt and pomegranate in the last fifteen years, some of the credit probably belongs here. ## How demanding is it? The honest answer: medium, with peaks. The cooking techniques are rarely difficult. Roasting, frying, dressing, assembling. What makes some recipes feel hard is the shopping and the number of parts. A single dish might want a dressing, a crunchy topping, a herb mix and a sauce, each with a handful of ingredients. That is where the flavour comes from, and also where a weeknight goes to die. Signs Plenty is right for you: - You enjoy cooking as an evening's entertainment, not just a means to dinner. - You already have a decent spice shelf, or are happy to build one. - You like eating vegetables as the main event and want ideas beyond soup. Signs to start elsewhere: - You want fewer than ten ingredients most nights. - You are still learning basics like seasoning, browning and balancing acidity. - You live far from a shop that sells sumac, za'atar or fresh herbs in bulk. ## Gentler ways in **Ottolenghi Simple (2018).** His own answer to exactly this complaint. [Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/253571/ottolenghi-simple-by-yotam-ottolenghi) describes every recipe as simple in at least one way: quick, short on ingredients, made ahead or built from the cupboard. Same flavour logic, fewer moving parts. **A technique book first.** [Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat](https://zestasy.com/books/salt-fat-acid-heat/) teaches the principles that make Ottolenghi's food taste the way it does, so his recipes make more sense afterwards. **Cut the recipe down.** Make the main component and one of the extras. A roasted vegetable with a good yoghurt sauce is already a meal; the third garnish is a bonus, not a requirement. **Then go back to Plenty** for a weekend lunch or a dinner with friends, when a project is the point. ## FAQ ### Is Plenty a vegetarian cookbook? Its recipes are vegetarian, though Ottolenghi himself is not, and the publisher pitches it to everyone. Plenty More (2014) continues in the same spirit. ### Should you buy Plenty or Plenty More first? Plenty is the original and the one most people mean when they talk about the book. Plenty More is a sequel in the same spirit. Either works, and the first is the natural place to start. ### What about Jerusalem? Jerusalem (2012), written with Sami Tamimi, is a different kind of book, built around the food of one city rather than around vegetables. Lovely to read, but not a vegetable primer. ### Are the photographs useful? Very. The photography, by Jonathan Lovekin, does a lot to tell you what you are aiming for, which matters when a dish has several layers. ## Sources - [Penguin: Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1081374/plenty-by-ottolenghi-yotam/9780091933685) - [Penguin Random House: Ottolenghi Simple](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/253571/ottolenghi-simple-by-yotam-ottolenghi) - [Wikipedia: Yotam Ottolenghi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotam_Ottolenghi) ## Related - [Is Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat worth reading?](https://zestasy.com/books/salt-fat-acid-heat/) - [Is Elizabeth David's Italian Food still worth reading?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/elizabeth-david-italian-food/) - [What is An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler?](https://zestasy.com/wiki/an-everlasting-meal/) - [Who was Marcella Hazan, and which of her books should you start with?](https://zestasy.com/books/who-was-marcella-hazan/) - [What are the best food books that aren't cookbooks?](https://zestasy.com/books/food-books-that-arent-cookbooks/) - [All Books & ideas answers in the Wiki](https://zestasy.com/wiki/#books)