Lakshmi cooks up children’s book

NEW YORK — Neela is a young girl who loves cooking with her mom. Saturday is her favorite day of the week. That’s the day they go to the green market.

So begins Padma Lakshmi’s entry into the world of children’s book, “Tomatoes For Neela,” which mixes the author’s memories of family cooking with practical food advice, a nod to farmworkers and even a pair of recipes.

“It is just a very small personal story that centers around a young single mother who also is a recipe writer like me,” says Lakshmi, the host of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Taste the Nation” on Hulu. “It’s just really about teaching children how to cook from an early age, respecting Mother Nature and eating when things are in season.”

Neela and her mom make a sauce using tomatoes bought from the green market and create enough to jar some for winter, saving it to share with grandmother when she next visits from India. In the meantime, the grandmother gazes down from framed photos, present in spirt. Neela carefully writes down all the recipes.

There’s also a lesson in tomato history, with Neela discussing the fruit’s origin in Latin America and that some cultures actually feared them. She learns that different types are good for various dishes.

“Through food, my grandmother and my mother taught me so much about life and culture and being a person in the world. And so I’m hoping that, through this book, I can encourage families to actively cook together, to value the recipes that they’ve been making for their family get togethers and also to remember all of the different people who bring us our food and to be mindful of our environment,” says Lakshmi.

The words are brought to life with beautiful artwork by Juana Martinez-Neal, who was awarded a Caldecott Honor for “Alma and How She Got Her Name.” Lakshmi shared an online folder of family photos to help make Neela and her mom resemble the author and her daughter, while Martinez-Neal tapped into her own memories of going to markets in Peru for fresh produce to recreate a bustling market.