I wanted Substack subscribers to be the first to see what’s in store with my about-to-be-published Fresh journals.
The theme of Fresh is to celebrate and promote the use of fresh fruit and vegetables, a subject I’ve had an interest in since my very first newspaper articles and books. I covered that in a previous post here.
Returning to this topic I wanted to try and create something new. To make a publication which was unique by drawing together lots of elements I was interested in.
To start I took my original Australian based seasonal lists and researched what’s best across NZ, USA and UK. Wherever Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter occurs really.
After many months I had global lists of ingredients at their peak. Not just available but outstanding, delicious and incredibly good. Not just one list per season either, but also divided into early, mid and late of each season so readers always know what’s at its best in a detailed way.
I also wrote about each seasonal fruit and vegetable to provide a comprehensive A–Z guide to almost 90 ingredients, including how to choose the best at the market, store them for maximum freshness and make the most of them in the kitchen
Each season also has 100 journal pages to record recipes, discoveries and kitchen memories as the season unfolds, plus elegant botanical illustrations that bring every page to life.
I also write hundreds of cooking ideas drawn from cuisines around the world, these are simple, seasonal and genuinely inspiring for home cooks at every level.
The finished product is a Fresh for each season (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) with a subtitle of Allan Campion’s Seasonal Cooking Guide & Produce Journal.
Each is a 220 page beautifully illustrated produce guide, cooking companion and personal food journal all in one, designed to be used throughout each season and returned to year after year.
It’s been really interesting to get to the end of this long solo project and for others to finally see what has been created. Seeing and hearing these positive reactions has been satisfying and all the reward I need.
From July 25th, 2026 Fresh will be officially launched on Amazon, with both paperback and hardcover editions available. I will do a short post on that day to let all of you know first!
Allan Campion