New Leon cookbook to Conran Octopus

Octopus Publishing imprint Conran Octopus has acquired Leon Fast & Free from the "healthy" fast food retailer Leon.

Alison Starling, publisher at Octopus, acquired world rights from Antony Topping at Greene & Heaton. It will be published on 12th January 2017 at £25.

Leon Fast & Free, by chef and food writer Jane Baxter and Leon co-founder John Vincent, is the latest title from the brand. The book provides more than 150 recipes that are all free of gluten, dairy and refined sugar. Many of the recipes are also vegetarian, vegan or paleon (Leon’s version of paleo). All the recipes are created to be "fast as well as free" and the emphasis throughout is on "free-from food with great flavour".

Baxter is the co-author of Leon Fast Vegetarian with Leon co-founder Henry Dimbleby and Leon Happy Salads with John Vincent. She also co-authored The Riverford Farm Cook Book, which won Best First Book at the Guild of Food Writers’ Awards. She spends her time catering, consulting on food matters and hosting food events in unusual locations. Vincent, Leon’s co-founder, wrote Leon Naturally Fast Food with Dimbleby, Leon Family & Friends with Kay Plunkett-Hogge and Leon Happy Salads with Baxter (all published by Octopus).

By January 2017 Leon will have 44 restaurants, including several outside London. Its kitchenware range of more than 40 products launches in 47 John Lewis stores this September.

Starling said: “It is always hugely enjoyable working with John Vincent, Jane Baxter and the Leon team and this book in particular feels such a natural fit for Leon, proving it is possible to follow a free-from diet and eat genuinely delicious food.”

Vincent said: "This is the book I have wanted to write for the last 12 years. From the beginning we have felt that we could achieve the nirvana of food that tastes good, does you good and leaves you feeling great. We have always wanted to create a safe and joyful playground in which people can enjoy food with alacrity and without fear or guilt...This book is our way of allowing people to do this. It could shape up to our best cookbook yet”.