Boxing Clever: veggie-curious, or just overwhelmed?

Joan Wilmot and Jacqui Jones, authors of the brilliant Boxing Clever Cookbook, share the story behind the book – and what your veg box relationship reveals about you! They spoke to Carolin Waldmann.

People have different responses to getting a veg box. For Joan and Jacqui, receiving enormous boxes of locally grown vegetables – and figuring out what on earth to do with them – prompted The Boxing Clever Cookbook. But rather than simply creating a collection of seasonal recipes, they became interested in the different ways people relate to their boxes and the personalities that emerge when faced with an abundance of vegetables…

That led to the invention of the wonderfully entertaining Sprout Rating – a playful quiz to help you recognise where you are on your veg box journey, and perhaps find your way towards a more fulfilling relationship with it – and your sense of humour.

So, how did the book actually come about?

Joan: My husband, Robin Shohet, and Ben Fuchs organised a forgiveness conference in Findhorn in 1999. Robin knew about Playback Theatre in London, and he wanted a Findhorn Playback group to be created to perform at the conference. This is where the two of us met – during the Playback Theatre training which began in Findhorn in 1998.

A cookbook was my idea originally. Over four weeks I had received abundant boxes of vegetables from the EarthShare* CSA scheme, which were now gently composting because I could not keep up with cooking them. I thought, perhaps I need to give up this worthy cause … OR WRITE A COOKBOOK. Then I thought, there is no way I can do it on my own.

[*Earthshare was the Cullerne Gardens veg box scheme between 1994 and 2011 – the first CSA in Moray.]

Jacqui: I had subscribed to an organic box scheme in Wales, before I moved with my family to Scotland to live in the Woodhead Community in Kinloss. The community grew their own organic vegetables and I cooked two or three times a week for around 13 people, using vegetables from the garden. I was learning about growing and cooking at a much more hands-on level – seeing what was being grown and then finding ways to feed a whole community with it.

Joan: It was then we realised we were both struggling to keep up with the abundance of vegetables, along with the possibilities, challenges and our relationship with the boxes. But it was a beautiful process, from the idea of creating the book to actually publishing it in 2002.

Jacqui Jones and Joan Wilmot, authors of The Boxing Clever Cookbook

And that led to the Sprout Rating?

Jacqui: The abundance became part of the inspiration – what happens when you receive your box? Do you feel excited? Inspired? Overwhelmed?

Joan: Meredith Belbin devised ‘Belbin’s 9 Team Roles’, which are used to identify behavioural strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. A person cannot be perfect at everything, and Belbin Roles allow for certain allowable, forgivable weaknesses.

Jacqui: We used this model as a base for our fun five Sprout Ratings, using Characteristics and Forgivable Faults when it came to receiving the boxes. We based the ratings on people we knew who had different levels of excitement when collecting their box!

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the quiz is that it isn't really about judging yourself. It's about noticing your habits and recognising that our relationship with food can change.

A Cullerne Gardens veg box – Autumn 2026

Can you actually move up the Sprout Rating?

Jacqui: I think people can move up the rating if they wish. It starts with ‘good idea!’ Then you believe in it – slowly. Occasionally you can get behind with the boxes – but it is not a race to change.

Joan: And then, of course, there is the classic: ‘I'll put it in the fridge. We'll use it later.’ Only for ‘later’ to eventually become the wheelie bin.

Jacqui: I've done that! My patient husband puts them in the wheelie bin for me. I can flit between sprout ratings too.

Carolin: So what changed?

Joan: Part of it was simply experience: learning how to cook, becoming more familiar with vegetables and spending time around the growing process itself.

Carolin: It’s great that you don't need to become a gardener, but you can still build a deeper relationship with the seasonal cycles – because you have to! And eventually, perhaps, something shifts.

Jacqui: It is learning to cook from what you have in the box rather than going to a supermarket and choosing vegetables randomly.

The joy of the Sprout Rating is that it doesn't take itself too seriously.

There is the person who is overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of vegetables. They want to be more creative with the box but find it easier to compost than to cook – or they can easily be persuaded to go out for food or get a takeaway instead..

And then there is the person who won't give up the box because that would mean admitting failure, and the box is the highlight of their week. They use up all the vegetables by midweek and are hungry for more. And they show genuine shock when they're told some people struggle with the contents of their box.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the quiz is that it isn't really about judging yourself. It is about noticing your habits and recognising that our relationship with food can change.

The descriptions are funny because they are recognisable. Most of us can probably see a little bit of ourselves somewhere in the Sprout Rating.

From Findhorn to the Soil Association

The book also had a wonderfully unexpected connection with the Soil Association. Through Pam Rodway, who had originally been involved in the project and had connections with the Soil Association, Jacqui and Joan were introduced to its director, Patrick Holden. He contributed a foreword for the book, and he agreed to having the Soil Association logo on the front cover.

And what happened next?

The first print run was around 2,000 copies – a very different world from today's print-on-demand publishing. While Joan and Jacqui still have some copies, today you can order it through Amazon as a print-on-demand book.

The two have worked on a second book – a kind of veg box cookbook goes abroad – including Greek and Mediterranean-inspired recipes. Watch this space!

So, where are you in the Sprout Rating?

• Are you the person who sees a box of vegetables and immediately starts planning meals?

• Or are you overwhelmed by seven different varieties of greens?

• Do you freeze everything ‘for later’?

• Or do you secretly love the vegetable box but occasionally dream of ordering a takeaway?

There’s room for all of us.

And perhaps the real journey isn't simply from One Sprouter to Five Sprouter. It is becoming a little more curious about what’s in the box, where it came from, what we can make with it and what our relationship with food tells us about ourselves.

As Joan puts it: ‘Food is fundamental.’

And sometimes, apparently, it is also very funny.

Ready to get your Sprout Rating?

Carolin Waldmann with Jacqui and Joan