In 1978 Grigson wrote "Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book". Reviewing the book in the first edition of "Petits Propos Culinaires", Jane Davidson wrote "Erudition and commonsense are not always bedfellows. In this book they snuggle happily together. ... it is light on the eye and invigorating to the imagination." Writing about the first edition, the food writer Robin McDouall said in "The Times" that the book was "worthy to stand on the shelf by her "Fish Cookery" and her "Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery"—praise could go no higher". He commented that the cuisines of many countries were covered, but the main ones were French, Greek, Turkish and Arab. In "The New York Times" Mimi Sheraton wrote that the book was a "large, handsome volume helpful shopping, storing and cooking information on all the vegetables included in recipes, and the range of dishes is worldwide if strongest on European specialties". Sheraton remarked on the "especially good lentil recipes, wonderful fragrant and bracing soups, and intriguing preparations for lesserknown vegetables such as chayote squash, Jerusalem artichokes and hop shoots". Wilshaw, reviewing the paperback edition for "The Guardian", praised Grigson's "warm and erudite style ... an encyclopaedic account of vegetables, their history and their place in modern kitchens". In 1986 "The Guardian" polled its readers to discover their most indispensable cookery books; "Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book" took the second place, behind Elizabeth David's "French Provincial Cooking" but ahead of other books by David and by Madhur Jaffrey, Delia Smith, Claudia Roden and Julia Child.