Book Review – One Magic Square

by Lolo Houbein (Jacana) ISBN 9781770099111

This is the most useful and most beautiful book of the year. For experienced gardeners it is full of practical tips, but for people aspiring to grow their own vegetables, like me, it is a godsend!

Houbein takes you step by step from planning your vegetable garden on a square metre to a successful harvest with minimum effort.

She convinces you that growing your own vegetables does not need to be time consuming and you only need limited space. She shows you how important it is to reconnect with the soil and to reduce your carbon-footprint.

‘To start growing your own food without delay, put down this book, go out in the garden and select a spot in the sun’, is her first advice. From salad plots to curry plots: each chapter has its own design and the book is full of basic recipes.

Houbein grew up in Holland during the war and since surviving the hunger winter of 1944 she realised the importance of food self-sufficiency. Houbein has won several awards for her novels.

For One Magic Square she was shortlisted for ‘Best Food Book’ in the Le Cordon Bleu Awards 2010 and named ‘Most innovative Cook Book in Australia’ in the International Gourmand Awards 2009.

Pauline Vijverberg
5/5