“[My] culinary life began with salad. A charred broccoli salad, to be specific. Crispy florets tossed with chickpeas and cooling mint, flecked with red chilli pepper and zested lemon peel, bathed in a garlicky caper oil. That salad inspired me to consider possibilities. It ultimately led me here.”


From her salad-delivery days in Sydney to her current career as a food writer and bestselling cookbook author in New York, Hetty Lui McKinnon has long known the power of salads to connect and create community. Salads are meant to be shared; they are what you bring to a gathering of friends or family, the ultimate comfort food.

With Linger, Hetty has come full circle. Rather than delivering salads to members of her community, this time, she has invited friends into her home, to share salads, sweets and stories around her dining room table. Linger documents these intimate gatherings, with vegetable-laden, loosely seasonal menus enjoyed and photographed in real time.

These salads are not just piles of leafy greens—they are beautiful, rich creations. In fact, one of McKinnon’s salad rules is that salads don’t always have to have leaves. Another salad rule? Anything can be a salad.

With over 100 inventive recipes for meal-worthy salads, smaller bites and simple sweets, Hetty invites you to become a part of an unforgettable shared experience of community, food and friendship.
 
Curry Potato and Pea Dumpling Salad
Caprese Salad with Grilled Pineapple
Bibimbap-style Gnocchi with Gochujang Vinaigrette
Rice Paper Spring Roll Salad 
Sunchoke and Cannellini Beans with Never-Ending Tahini Sauce
Peaches and Cream with Chili Crisp
Mushroom, Seaweed, and White Bean Burger Salad
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
HETTY LUI McKINNON is a Chinese Australian cook and
food writer. She is the author of five bestselling cookbooks, includ-
ing her genre-defining Community; Neighborhood; Family; To Asia,
With Love; and, most recently, Tenderheart, which won a James
Beard Award and an IACP Award in 2024. Hetty is a regular con-
tributor to New York Times Cooking and ABC Lifestyle and writes
the popular weekly newsletter To Vegetables, With Love. Born and
raised in Sydney, she now resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Author Residence: Brooklyn, NY

Author Hometown: Sydney, AUS