“Tenderheart delivers on everything we have come to expect and love from the force of nature that is Hetty Lui McKinnon: gorgeous, down to earth, vegetable-driven dishes that strike the most delicious balance between fresh and exciting, and cozy and approachable.

What Tenderheart also reveals are the beautiful stories about Hetty’s family and upbringing that will have you reaching for the tissues before opening up the pantry. Prepare to be utterly moved by this book.”

“A love letter to vegetables and almost a memoir through recipes, this truly special book speaks to the soul as much as to the stomach. I loved it more than I can say!”

“Oh joy, oh joy, oh joy!” 

“At its core, this is a book about vegetables and how to treat them in the kitchen with the love and respect that they deserve. However, there is a deeper parallel story here, told through Hetty Lui McKinnon’s personal journey of love, loss, and grief — and how transformation through healing and grace makes us evolve as people and teaches us how to be better humans.”

“A very moving book about family love and how everyday cooking is built into that. Hetty McKinnon is never sentimental. She truly understands how to nurture – deliciously – with vegetables. When you cook out of this book you can’t not think of that. You feel as if every dish is you make is a tribute to this approach to life.”

“In the stunning pages of Tenderheart, Hetty McKinnon takes readers to the origins of her love for vegetables, teaching us to view them the way she does: brimming with memories and the intractable things life inevitably brings our way—loss, resilience, determination, and joy.

At the center of each recipe is McKinnon’s father, Wai Keung Lui, known in Australia as Ken, and the man who Tenderheart is named for: a generous and affectionate caretaker who made a livelihood working in a wholesale fruit and vegetable market, had a love for photography, and shared with McKinnon a passion for food.

The stories McKinnon weaves about food and family—through her recipes and the narratives that she welcomes us into—allow her father to live on. A wonderful, moving tribute to the people and tastes that indelibly shape us. I will be cooking from Tenderheart for years to come.”