Cooking, Food & Wine The Tipsy Vegan By John Schlimm Lifelong Books, $17.00 164 pages For a growing number of vegans, eating an entirely plantbased diet does not mean a lifetime of tasteless tofu, uninspired legumes and endless salads. Whether choosing to avoid animal products for reasons of health, animal welfare or planet sustainability, for dietary vegans there are numerous menu options that are both delicious, satisfying, and even, as is aptly illustrated in this enjoyable little cookbook, fun! Using ingredients found in most American kitchens and liquor cabinets, Schlimm — an author of several cookbooks and descendent of Peter Straub, founder of Pennsylvania’s Straub Brewery — has put together a winning collection of 75 recipes that feature beer or alcohol in the ingredient list. Each of the eight cleverly titled chapters — including Plastered Party Starters, Boozy Soups, Sloshed Suppers and Drunken Desserts — includes a starter cocktail and several appetizing dishes that will please vegans and non-vegans alike. The accompanying photography and breezy writing style are also appealing. Cheers to a cookbook that brings a collection of vegan dishes from the marginal to the mainstream! Linda Frederiksen Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet By Jack Norris & Virginia Messina Da Capo Lifelong Books, $17.00 284 pages Registered dieticians Jack Norris and Virginia Messina teamed up to create Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet. Their book is aimed at helping people to make “more compassionate food choices” and making veganism easier for the modern diet. Vegan for Life doesn’t just cover the basics of a plant-based diet and reasonable plans for the health of the entire family; it spends a lot of time debunking myths related to veganism. In addition, it also guides the new or experienced vegan through understanding nutrient and supplement needs, making the transition to veganism, veganism during pregnancy, for children and teens, and for aging adults. It also covers the advantages of a vegan diet and how to manage health problems, such as weight management and diabetes, us-
ing soy in a vegan diet and sports nutrition while eating a vegetable-based diet. One of the glaring downsides of the book was its slant toward the negatives of the industrial farming model while blatantly ignoring the existence of organics, pasture-based systems, free-range and sustainable agriculture. Aside from that, if you’re an animal lover, this book may be helpful in helping you find a more compassionate way to eat. Axie Barclay Thrive Foods: 200 Plant-Based Recipes for Peak Health By Brendan Brazier Da Capo Lifelong Books, $20.00 352 pages Brendan Brazier is a former Ironman triathlete and this is the third book in his Thrive series. In this book, Brazier introduces his nutritional philosophy and presents an onslaught of mind-blowing ratios and statistics that are designed to serve as powerful motivators in improving not only our personal health, but limiting the strain our choices have on the environment. We’ve all heard that we need to eat our leafy greens, but we’re much more likely to do it when we understand why. Chapters four and five break down the components of good nutrition and list the nutrientdense whole foods our bodies need to thrive. The range of recipes in the book is wide enough to suit anyone wanting to incorporate more whole foods into their diet. Athletic readers will appreciate the inclusion of many nutritional drinks, bars and energy gels. Many of the recipes are raw, but include instructions for a cooked version. At the end of the book, you will find a helpful glossary and a list of the author’s favorite restaurants throughout the U.S. and Canada that offer dishes within the parameters of his standpoint. Portland’s own Blossoming Lotus boasts a spot on the list, and several of their recipes are featured as well. So much more than a cookbook, Thrive Foods will stay on your kitchen shelf as a handy nutritional reference. Alicea Swett My Family Table By John Besh Andrews McMeel Publishing, $35.00 264 pages It’s so heartwarming to see books, particularly cookbooks, designed to bring families together. All too often, when families are discussed, it is in a way of dysfunc-
tion, pain, suffering, bitterness and deep wounds, but there is also great joy, healing, security, love and purpose in families. In My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking, the chapters are designed not by the meal as much as by the gathering. For example, the Sunday Supper or School Nights chapters give mouthwatering recipes for such occasions that are simple and comforting. For the preparer(s), this large cookbook displays several recipes per page, offering not only pictures of the meal being directed, but also how the event might look with families enjoying the specific event; not in a fake food-commercial kind of way, but like an authentic family photo album. The pictures add their own flavor to this well-rounded cookbook. It would work great as a coffee table book, especially as a conversation starter, but would also display nicely on your kitchen countertop or in your library. More importantly though, it would work best being used to start those family gatherings and create those moments of joy with your own family. M. Chris Johnson The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends By Lynne Rossetto Kasper & Sally Swift Clarkson Potter, $35.00 338 pages The only thing missing from How to Eat Weekends is a round of Stump the Cook. Because the theme is weekends “when the pressure is off and … you get to slow down and dig into cooking in a different way,” there are sumptuous menus from around the world and for special celebrations. There are tips that you would expect from the host and producer of the Splendid Table: wine pairings, culinary tools and techniques, shopping and preparation game plans, choosing and setting the table, and how to be a perfect host. But the key ingredients in this book are the recipes from soups to sweets, with meat and vegetarian dishes tucked in the middle. Kasper and Swift season generously with “Cook to Cook” side notes, as well as quotes from Voltaire to Amy Sedaris about food and accompaniments. Oh, and if you want to know how to put together a meal from five random ingredients from your fridge, you are going to have to call into the Splendid Table or email Lynne Rossetto Kasper, because you are not going to get that here. Sue Phelps Simply Fresh: Casual Dining at Home By Jeff Morgan Andrews McMeel Publishing, $25.00 204 pages
Simply Fresh: Casual Dining at Home is a cookbook that offers meals that are simple and fresh. The book is organized like a meal, starting with fresh alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks for summer fun, then moving through appetizers, brunch, salads and soups and on through to desserts. On almost every page, a handy tip on preparing that recipe or event is presented for added success. California Club Quesadilla, Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon or maybe an Avocado Turkey Burger — options abound with most ingredients right in your kitchen or at your local grocery store. There’s no need to hunt down unique items at specialty stores. The French Toast with Oats and Coriander is a personal and surprising new favorite! The recipes are mouthwatering in and of themselves. But the pictures accompanying the recipes add such a zest and flavor to the whole book, it would make a wonderful coffee table book or could be left out on the kitchen counter to peruse when you’re not sure what to make for dinner. Thanks to author Jeff Morgan, I have a new favorite cookbook and a whole new world of flavorbursting meals to prepare! M. Chris Johnson Made in America: Our Best Chefs Reinvent Comfort Food By Lucy Lean Welcome Books, $45.00 320 pages I am always a bit averse to reviewing cookbooks written by restaurant chefs/ owners. They seem to forget they are writing to home cooks. Mercifully, author Lucy Lean took care not to fall into this category. In fact, this book is excellent — similar to watching Food Network, as millions do — with no interest in getting into their kitchens. This is a serious book for foodies and average home cooks alike. Even if you don’t intend to test any of the recipes, this book reads like watching “Iron Chef” – very entertaining. The author interviewed chefs and asked them for their comfort food recipes. She introduces each recipe with a page about the chef and the recipe, and her excellent writing is a pleasure to read, not just scan. Quarter- to full-page gorgeous photos of the chef, the dish and a shot or two in the kitchen fill the space between the texts. Many recipes are for dedicated cooks; however, many others any home cook can reproduce. Very few recipes will make you hunt for special ingredients, but some will keep you in the kitchen for hours working on three separate preparations before assembling. Although received from many chefs, all recipes are uniform, re-written by the author and easy to follow with step-
Read more Cook ing, Food & Wine Rev iews online at w w w.portlandbookrev iew.com. March - April 2012
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