The Book of Whole Meals: A Seasonal Guide to Assembling Balanced Vegetarian Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners [Paperback]

Annemarie Colbin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1985

"It is difficult to imagine a better course for practicing, would-be, or even part-time vegetarians," said The New York Times of Annemarie Colbin's cooking classes. And, in this book, the founder of the successful Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City offers a whole year's worth of her popular classes.

The Book Of Whole Meals
-- Provides a sound holistic nutritional philosophy on which to base your food choices
-- Gives thorough instructions on how to set up a kitchen and a well-stocked pantry
-- Offers varied menus for each season: dozens of whole breakfasts, lunches; and dinners, using the fruits and vegetables of the season
-- Shows how to make quick meals with leftovers, without sacrificing taste or nutrition
-- Teaches you how to maximize efficiency and grace in the kitchen with time-saving hints for organizing every step of food preparation...and more!

Voted one of ten best cookbooks by New Age Journal readers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A pleasure to read."--Vegetarian Times

From the Inside Flap

"It is difficult to imagine a better course for practicing, would-be, or even part-time vegetarians," said The New York Times of Annemarie Colbin's cooking classes. And, in this book, the founder of the successful Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City offers a whole year's worth of her popular classes.

The Book Of Whole Meals
-- Provides a sound holistic nutritional philosophy on which to base your food choices
-- Gives thorough instructions on how to set up a kitchen and a well-stocked pantry
-- Offers varied menus for each season: dozens of whole breakfasts, lunches; and dinners, using the fruits and vegetables of the season
-- Shows how to make quick meals with leftovers, without sacrificing taste or nutrition
-- Teaches you how to maximize efficiency and grace in the kitchen with time-saving hints for organizing every step of food preparation...and more!

Voted one of ten best cookbooks by New Age Journal readers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (October 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345332741
• ISBN-13: 978-0345332745
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Whole Foods

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whole Foods Meals Made The Smart Way, May 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] Julia Padgett (Charleston, SC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Whole Meals: A Seasonal Guide to Assembling Balanced Vegetarian Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners (Paperback)

I recommend this book to anyone interested in macrobiotics, vegetarianism, and general healthy living. The book begins with the theories on why it is important that we eat organic, locally grown, natural foods. It explains how to choose your meals, what those "wierd" natural foods are that were unfamiliar to me before I read this book, and even how to set up your kitchen. The recipes make up the second half of the book. It is divided into winter, spring, summer, and fall with seven complete meal plans for each season. These meals are something you could actually make. Leftovers from dinner are combined or changed into something completely different for lunch and breakfast the next day. In the sidebars of each page are directions for how to prepare the complete meal in the proper order. For example, it might say 1. Cook rice. Go on to soup. 2. Chop vegetables. Go on to tofu. 3. Marinade tofu. Go on to etc. Then the complete recipes are listed on the main part of the page. All the recipes in this book are easily adaptable to your particular tastes. The only thing I don't like about it is there are a few recipes involving fish or eggs. I am a vegan, so I don't use either of these.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic ... A good place to start, September 10, 2001

By 

jumpy1 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Whole Meals: A Seasonal Guide to Assembling Balanced Vegetarian Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners (Paperback)

With this book, I started at the first fall menu and started cooking my way through it. It's been totally doable. The recipes are so simple and laid out with directions of what to do first, second etc. that preparing entire meals with dessert gets faster with time. (She includes a healthy dessert in most of them.) I have noticed a couple mismarkings that would've affected the whole dish if I hadn't caught them, and while some of the recipes are really wonderful, others are just plain yuck! (I know it's health food but sometimes it goes too far!) As for flavor, it's definitely on the side of the old "healthy" stuff. If you're looking for the creative haute-cuisine vegetarian/vegan stuff you can find today, this is not it. However, the meals make me feel good and satisfied. They are so balanced, I find I don't crave sweets afterwards. The suggestions for what to do with the leftovers are really useful. Also, if you are nervous (as I was) about using all of these strange ingredients, the directions are simple enough that you'll become a pro in no time. One more thing - my complexion has really improved since I started using this book.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars different from what i expected..., August 29, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Whole Meals: A Seasonal Guide to Assembling Balanced Vegetarian Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners (Paperback)

this book was not what i expected. it may be a very good book for those who cook or intend to cook 3 meals a day. But when i bought this book, i thought it was about making a full balanced meal at one time. this book is set up a bit differently. it gives instructions to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once. the breakfast needs some bit of dinner leftovers, the dinner requires some part of lunch leftovers and the lunch needs some ingredient from the breakfast. So in order to make one meal, you have to make all 3 meals. so if you just want to come home and cook a single meal of dinner, then this book is not for that.