New Delhi, Nov. 29 -- It takes three page flips to realise that restaurateur Camellia Panjabi's latest book, Vegetables: The Indian Way (Penguin Random House), is not a mere recipe book. The first clue lies here in the contents. The sections are divided on the basis of where vegetables grow: under the ground, under water, on the ground, on shrubs and vines, on trees.

The second lies in the introduction, where she tells us about the refugee beginnings of restaurants in India, and includes anecdotes about liquor laws, before taking us through her journey with restaurants in India and abroad. And the third is in the first chapter called 'Vegetables'. Here Panjabi expands on her categorisation system, talking about how we often combine a roo...