This book has not been released yet.  We will review as soon as we get it.  Until 2007 she was Madonna’s chef so we are looking forward to it.

This book has great macrobiotic recipes for babies and toddlers and my husband and I love it too. The most useful recipe from the cook book which allows me to get sea vegetables in our family’s diet everyday is the sea veg mix. I use it in everything.

2 tablespoons kelp
¼ cup crushed hiziki
¼ cup crushed arame
¼ cup crushed wakame
1 strip kombu

Crush sea vegetables with your hands and place them in a blender. Grind to a coarse powder. Store in covered jar.  Yield: ¾ cup

Jola

I bought this book about a week ago and I immediately made sauerkraut.  It was easy, quick and tasted great.  I now eat a spoonful of sauerkraut every day and I am healthier for it.  The book has recipes for miso, kimchi, mead, beer, kombucha, sourdough bread and many more.  I look forward to trying many of them this coming winter.  What I liked most of all about this book is the discussions about the history and traditions behind the recipes.  Fermentation is a way of thinking and actively participating in the world we live in.  It is an elemental process that has contributed to the health and longevity of many cultures throughout history.

Amelia

 

Christina Pirello is host of the public television series Christina Cooks and lectures extensively on vegan cooking. This is much more than a cook book. She helps you transition from a standard Western diet to a healthy whole foods diet in a 21-day detoxification and weight-loss program. She includes many recipes but also talks about stress reduction and a balanced lifestyle in an easy going informal style. She looks at the vegan way of life in all its aspects and if you are not yet into this lifestyle you will be after reading this book.

When I first went on a macrobiotic diet I used this book all the time. I still use it and I tried to take a picture of it and upload it to this site to show you how tattered it is from all the use but unfortunately my camera skills were not good enough so I guess you don't get to see the torn up version. This is a macrobiotic cookbook with great explanations of all the basics for anybody just starting out with macrobiotics. What you need in your kitchen, how to cook beans from scratch and many, many easy to follow recipes. Pirello was diagnosed with terminal leukemia at the age of twenty-six and turned to macrobiotics. To the shock of her doctor she went into complete remission. This is not a vegan cookbook. It does include recipes on fish. She has some great explanations on why some foods are good for you and why others are not, how to satisfy a craving for sweets, how certain foods can influence your mood. If you need lots of detail about macrobiotics this is not the book for you but a great companion book nevertheless because it gives you a more relaxed perspective on macrobiotics.
Amelia

This is my favorite dessert cookbook. Not only are all the recipes vegan but she does not use refined sugars or flours. Her sweeteners are maple syrup or barley malt. Thickeners are arrowroot powder or agar flakes. In her book there is a recipe for "The Chocolate Cake to Live For". My whole family loves this cake. I have been making it every birthday, every Thanksgiving and every Christmas for three years now and there is no end in sight. You will see a lot of vegan cookbooks that use refined sugars and flours. Not this one. These are really healthy desserts.
Amelia

She studied at the Kushi Institute and knows what she is talking about and she can talk about it in a way that will get you interested and excited. This book is not just about food, it is also about the philosophy behind macrobiotics. It is about finding inner peace, about boosting your immune system and changing the way you feel. "By practicing macrobiotics," Porter writes, "you will achieve a radiant mind ... By tuning in to the bigger forces, we are freed from former limits; illnesses reverse themselves, unnecessary conflicts disappear and we become peaceful, playful and free." She also includes plenty of interesting recipes to get you going.

A long time ago when I was studying architecture in college one of my favorite books was "A Pattern Language" by Christopher Alexander; a book that helped create patterns for building livable spaces. "WorldChanging" is a pattern book for living in the 21st century. A century when our hope is that sustainability and community will matter. If you are looking for detailed information on any one topic you won't find it here; what you will find is a world of creative ideas and solutions that will make you think and challenge you to develop these ideas further and to come up with your own solutions. Solutions that can help you rethink your life, perhaps start a new business, or give you new perspectives with which to make changes. Read about cow power and carbon trading; find out why the cloned bird doesn't sing and much, much more.
Amelia

If you are starting to get worried that our global food system is not what it should be than this book is for you. With a sense of humor Robin Wheeler tells you how to prepare for anything from a few days without power to a global apocalypse. Better safe than sorry is the motto here. You will learn how to save seeds, harvest wild food, make medicines from your garden, store and preserve your food and much, much more. You may even reduce your grocery bill

Alisa Smith's and James MacKinnon's experiment in local eating. For a whole year they ate food sourced within 100 miles of their urban apartment in Vancouer. The most important thing we learn from this book is that by eating locally we create community. It is a struggle that turns into an exploration and finally becomes a celebration around the dinner table. This book has become a phenomenon with people from diverse locations such as Scotland, even Antarctica sharing 100 mile eating stories. Sourcing your food within 100 miles allows you to connect with your immediate environment in a memorable way. You learn to share experiences, to make friends and to learn about your community. Something we should all try.

If you're getting tired of the New York Times Best Seller List perhaps it's time to read something older, maybe something written before you were born. I recommend Lost Horizon written in 1933 by James Hilton. We know that eating in moderation may be one of the keys to longevity but this book is about "everything in moderation even moderation itself". This is a very clever, funny and well written novel about a Himalayan utopia, where by living a life of moderation people live far beyond the normal lifespan; this is the original Shangri-la based on Shambhala, a mystical Buddhist city. A very entertaining book and one of Franklin Roosevelt's favorites. In 1942 he named the presidential retreat, now known as Camp David, Shangri-La. One more interesting titbit of information is that this book was the first ever paperback.

Bad food has a history. Swindled tells it. Through a fascinating mixture of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and even poisoned our food throughout history. In the hands of people and corporations who have prized profits above the health of consumers, food and drink have been tampered with in often horrifying ways--padded, diluted, contaminated, substituted, mislabeled, misnamed, or otherwise faked. Swindled gives a panoramic view of this history, from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to today's food frauds--such as fake organics and the scandal of Chinese babies being fed bogus milk powder.
Wilson concludes, “Buy food fresh, in whole form,” she writes. “Cook it yourself and familiarize yourself with the ingredients that go into proper food, so that when you are served a fake you will know the difference, and have the confidence to complain.”

This beautifully written, engaging, and compelling book tells the story of Gene Baur -- a modern-day hero and trailblazer -- and his remarkable journey of bringing light, peace, health, hope, and sanctuary to thousands of rescued farmed "animal ambassadors," the few who have been incredibly fortunate to call Farm Sanctuary home. In the telling of the founding and mission of Farm Sanctuary, Baur exposes the heart-wrenching truth about the disappearance of the American family farm and its replacement with the horrific evolution of mechanized, factory-style, farmed animal production, which has taken a devastating toll on American farmers, our land, our environment, our health, and the individual animals who suffer disgusting, unspeakable abuses at the hands of humans in the process of becoming "food."

It is also a story of courage, compassion, and hope. Through his revelations, Baur reveals the unique personalities of these animals, whom we come to see as the individuals they are, and in the process, compels us to explore our own hearts of compassion and seek practical ways to create and support positive social change.

A 1949 non-fiction book written by American ecologist and environmentalist Aldo Leopold Describing the land around Leopold's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin and his thoughts on developing a "land ethic," it was edited and published by his son, Luna, a year after Leopold's death from a heart attack. The collection of essays is considered to be a landmark book in the American conservation movement.
The book has had over two million copies printed and has been translated into nine languages. It is perhaps best known for the following quote, which defines his land ethic: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." The concept of a trophic cascade is put forth in the chapter Thinking Like a Mountain, wherein Leopold realizes that killing a predator wolf carries serious implications for the rest of the ecosystem.

The new book by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, the author of VegNews’ Cookbook of the Year, The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table promises that “whether you’re hosting a formal dinner for eight, taking one dish to a buffet-style potluck, or preparing a romantic meal for two, your vegan and non-vegan friends alike will enjoy delicious, in-season dishes for every occasion.”.

Nancy Mehagian’s culinary memoir, Siren’s Feast contains over 40 recipes as well as being a travel, adventure, and spiritual journey. This Forest Stewardship Council certified “green” book is a finalist in the National Best Books 2008 Awards.