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'Harry Potter' star Bonnie Wright on the Hogwarts snack she wishes was real

Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in
Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, says one of her favorite meals is roasted vegetables and a nut roast, a vegetarian dish made of ground or chopped nuts, chopped vegetables and herbs. (Photo: Getty; designed by Quinn Lemmers)

Because food connects us all, Yahoo Life is serving up a heaping plateful of table talk with people who are passionate about what's on their menu in Deglazed, a series about food.

Before Bonnie Wright played the youngest Weasley child, Ginny, in the Harry Potter films, she recalls reading the J.K. Rowling book series and imagining what the sweet treats contained in their pages might taste like.

"When we were making the films, even, the big thing was Butterbeer, which we had obviously never had," Wright tells Yahoo Life. "But then when they had the theme park [Universal's the Wizarding World of Harry Potter], they actually made Butterbeer, which was so wild for us to actually try something Harry Potter-related."

While the 31-year-old actress says the frozen variety of Butterbeer is her favorite, she was surprised by the taste. "It's pretty sugary," she says. "I don't know that I could drink the whole cup."

But there's another Harry Potter treat Wright wishes was real: chocolate frogs.

"If I had a chocolate frog that jumped around, I'd like that," she says. (While the Wizarding World of Harry Potter does sell chocolate frog candies, they do not magically come alive.)

Wright spoke with Yahoo Life while promoting her book Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet and shares that she's a vegetarian who has never eaten red meat. Her favorite main dish? Nut roast, a vegetarian dish made of ground or chopped nuts, chopped vegetables and herbs.

"In England, a Sunday roast dinner is quite a traditional meal," says Wright. "We would roast vegetables and stuff like that and it would be a big lunch you'd have in the middle of the day with your family. Now, I roast vegetables and sometimes fish, but I don't eat meat, so mainly just vegetables and a nut roast as the protein-y part."

Wright, who loves throwing dinner parties, says she embraces the chaos that comes with entertaining.

Wright says she chose to write her book, Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet, after feeling
Wright says she chose to write her book, Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet, after feeling "terrified" by headlines about climate change. (Photo: Kacie Tomita)

"I'm never someone who's organized enough to have everything ready when people arrive," she shares, "but I always think that's kind of fun because then people get involved in the making process and it becomes a bit more like a group effort."

She adds: "I also like the idea of a potluck where each person brings their own part of the meal. My idea of a good dinner party is when it's collaborative and people get more involved in the spread of food."

So what's her go-to potluck dish?

"I like cooking things that are really colorful," Wright explains. "There's a dip in my book that's made from beets and cannellini beans so it's this really bright pink and a lot of fun: It's party colors."

Wright says she tackled a book on sustainability because she found the "overwhelming issues of the climate crisis in headlines in newspapers" to be "terrifying."

In her book, Wright calls food and cooking her greatest form of meditation. (Photo: Mariner Books)
In her book, Wright calls food and cooking her greatest form of meditation. (Photo: Mariner Books)

"How do I personally do something about it?" she says. "I wrote the book after I, for quite a few years, had been developing at-home practices to feel more connected in a tangible way to these issues, whether that was storing my food better or composting my food scraps or being more informed in the consumer choices I was making or learning how to mend things."

While the entire book reads like a cookbook, perfect for flipping through section-by-section and choosing ways to help the environment, the food within its pages is special to Wright. "I find food to be a really enjoyable way to connect to the issue," she says, "because you get to taste the amazing things that nature provides us with just water, earth and sun."

Wright shares that one of her favorite ways to incorporate more locally-grown vegetables into her menu is by roasting "a big tray of vegetables" and then eating them in "different ways throughout the week," she explains, "like on a veggie burger or over a salad or for breakfast with an egg. I love roasting a big tray of seasonal vegetables."

But Wright, who married her long-time boyfriend Andrew Lococo earlier this year, also has a sweet tooth.

"I love baking any type of cake," she says. "A dinner party wouldn't be a proper dinner party without sweets at the end."

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