If you have been following Lost in Cheeseland for a number of years, you are no stranger to Jessie Kanelos Weiner’s work — she is among the many talented expats I have featured on Franco File Fridays and have had the great fortune of collaborating with her on a story for the New York Times T Magazine last year (about pastry, of course!). Now, I’m excited to share the American watercolor illustrator’s biggest project to date: Edible Paradise: a Coloring Book of Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables.
Beyond its therapeutic merits, readers can use Edible Paradise as a guide to seasonal eating, coloring it in as they go along. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this book represents food activism, but it gently reintroduces a topical subject like seasonal eating in a fun, approachable, interactive way. Jessie hopes it will engage readers young and old to take a second look at nature and what they put into their bodies. Perhaps it is even the bridge between screen time and nature. Although Jessie’s work as a watercolorist is often literal and interpretational, this book was an exercise in dreaming up nature’s psychedelic details. And the richest part of the book is that it gets…
