In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book American readers, gardeners, and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of seventy-five different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and will learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple ''Broccoli Salad'' to the engagingly esoteric ''Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.'' Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for all the vegetables discussed and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned. This is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone, however. There are recipes for ''Cassoulet,'' ''Chicken Gumbo,'' and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of ''Bubble and Squeak'' (fried beef and cabbage). Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book is a joy to read and a pleasure to use in the kitchen. It will introduce you to vegetables you've never met before, develop your friendship with those you know only in passing, and renew your romance with some you've come to take for granted. This edition has a special introduction for American readers, tables of equivalent weights and measures, and a glossary, which make the book as accessible to Americans as it is to those in Grigson's native England.