watermelon

When Kelsey Barnard Clark won the sixteenth season of "Top Chef," set in Kentucky, she clinched victory with a dish that defied fine dining expectations: cornbread and buttermilk with crawfish, boiled peanuts, cucumber and watermelon.

Looking back, she laughs as she recalls explaining to her elementary school teacher that “watermelons were not just red but yellow too.”

They maintained four gardens, growing squash, potatoes, watermelons and oranges, and sold their honey.

As one example, Hattley points to watermelons, a crop known for being sensitive to fluctuations in temperature such as those caused by climate change.

Structured around a dozen recipes, including an Uzbekistani watermelon salad and Russian pirozhki, it’s a memoir, travelogue and cookbook in which those facets add up to a delicious whole.