Customer Reviews

Diet for a Small Planet (20th Anniversary Edition)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an amazing book. It has lasted longer on the shelves than many other books of its kind and packs an influential punch.

The secret of "Diet for a Small Planet" is that it contains something for everyone, whether you believe in vegetarianism, the ecological production of the food supply or just want better health.

If you are an animal activist or don't eat meat for religious reasons, Lappe provides valuable info on how to get the proper balance in your diet by matching foods to get all the essential amino acids you need (the building blocks of proteins.)

If you are interested in health, you can use Lappe's book to provide alternative main dishes that are satisfying and lower in fat, higher in fiber. Meat is a major source of saturated fats, beans and rice and other grains provide lots of benefits such as soluable and insoluable fiber, vitamins and minerals.

If you are ecologically minded, and this is the thrust of the book, you can eat comfortably, knowing your dietary items take up less resources to grow.

I don't subscribe to all Lappe's philosophies, yet, this book had and continues to have a major influence on me. Rice and beans or grains and beans are regular items on our table, meatless days outnumber days when meat is on the table, and this is because I read Lappe's book long ago. I am sure I am better for knowing the information here.

In the early 1970s, I left my abusive husband, took my three kids and resumed my education (I was a high school dropout age 28 with three kids). Those were the days of "Earth shoes" that tilted your body into a more upright position, and the "discovery" of yogurt and acid rain. Although I did not realize it at the time, it was the beginning of the renewal of the Woman's movement.

My new friends included a small group of women in their late twenties and early thirties who had left abusive husbands, had small children, and were in the midst of gaining a new awareness that later on took on the sobriquet, "consciousness raising." Among other tools we acquired a number of books including, THE WOMEN'S ROOM and DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET.

DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET is a gem, not because it contains wonderful recipes (it doesn't) but because when you read it, you can get an inside view of a subculture that has disappeared. Sometimes I think the happiest moments of my life occurred in those days. I had no money, but I was in college--a life long dream my mother had and never realized--and with friends who helped me to feel good about myself for the first time in my life. DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET nourished this feeling. DIET explained how the real food chain worked and that everything we ate affected some other life form. We learned that we could eat and hurt others less, and save a few bucks because the meals were cheap.

My kids still laugh at some of the meals I served them based on the recipes in DIET. Over the years, we've had many discussions about which food was worst. They say the "yogurt and barly soup" wins hands down. This book explains how to make awful food and many better veggie books are on the market. However, you won't buy this book for the recipes, you'll buy it for it's insight. Laughing at DIET because it is naive is laughing at the Wright Brothers because they didn't build and fly a Concorde. Read DIET with an unbiased eye and understand it was the food bible for a group of young American women who were "backward" because their society wanted it that way, but believed they could become educated and help change the world for the better--and in spite of all the recent sorrow, the world for women and children is better than it was 30 years ago. PS. I don't know why the advertising says this is a 20th anniversary edition. A copy of this book was floating around 30 years ago. Could it have been printed by the "underground" press??

Oh gosh what can one say about a book that is so insightful and factually sound? I commend Ms. Lappe for pulling together all the data contained in this book. She does not preach nor try to change anyone's mind. The info contained in the book reminded me of that old line "just the facts please." I believe she focused on protein because it is "lack of protein if we don't eat meat" (not vitamins, minerals, iron, etc.) that scare people about giving up meat. Ms. Lappe includes charts and facts and figures -- all kinds of information -- to reassure the reader that plant eaters can in fact get adequate protein from veggies -- minus the artery-clogging fat. Certainly, one gets plenty of vitamins and other nutients from plant/grain foods. Perhaps we bring our personal baggage along when reading such a book. I believe it is wasteful to feed grain to animals when people worldwide are starving and I doubt the earth can continue to support such wastefulness. So I welcome books such as this. Each person should think over the issues then decide. If one decides to stop eating meat or to cut back on the amount eaten, this book is loaded with information to help with food combining in the plant/grain families to make sure one will get the necessary nutrients. The recipes are included to help us along, and I will be referring to them and this book often in the coming weeks (or months!) Ms. Lappe's philosophy gets 5 stars too. I highly recommend this book.

If god was able to recomend a book for how to live, and the bible wasn't available this would do for practical purposes when it comes to the parts about eating. I spent years trying to lose weight to feel beautiful. My vanity guided me to everything from weight watchers, to Jenny, Atkins and Phen Phen. After more faliure, I gave up on my vanity and need for outside approval (it wasn't working anyway) one day I finally said screw it. On the next day I found this book at a yard sale for free. This book gave me practical ways to a happy and healthy body for me and my kids. I've never felt better- it's so simple that I scoff at any way to lose weight that dosen't pretty much say just follow nature's way and don't pig out. I also would like to see a planet that is able to sustain our kids. My old methods of eating would have contributed to the planets demise. I can't save the world, but I can act responsibly for my own peace of mind. This book is a way to make a vegitarian lifestyle appealing, satisfying, and fun. This attack of sanity has now caused me to be a happier & healthier person. (I'm also pretty slender) If your smart this book can give you tips to simplify your eating, feel healthier and thus happier.(it is also likely to save you money on your grocery bill and reduce wasteful packaging on processed foods)

I first picked up this book in a second-hand store in 1985...it was the 1975 edition, which I still have, even though I bought the edition Ms. Lappe put out in 1985 sometime later. When I began reading, I was astonished at all that I didn't know, and, unlike some other reviewers here, I found it interesting, even compelling and certainly consciousness-raising. My husband and I had spent the first six years of our marriage eating anything and everything, getting fat and feeling lousy. Something had to give. Once I understood the theory of protein complementarity, which I subsequently learned not to take deadly seriously, and then had acquired some very large glass jars and visited my first natural foods co-op, our lives changed dramatically. Being a gourmet cook, I did have to make some adjustments, as Ms. Lappe uses an extremely light hand with seasonings, but her research was sound and her recipes gave me the "push" I needed to change the way I shopped and cooked and the way we and our toddlers were eating. Twenty years later, I still use the book, as well as another classic, Laurel's Kitchen, and our family consists of four healthy, lean lacto-ovo vegetarian adults. I still have a fond recollection of my early days with my now tattered, rubber-banded copy of Diet for a Small Planet and a sense of gratitude for Ms. Lappe's wake up call which endures today.

At the time of the first edition, this book was the best thought out and researched of all. The concept of protein complements, among others, is crucial to making a vegetarian diet work for any length of time. I tried to work with several others, and still have their books which I use occasionally. This one has stuck we me over three continents and as many decades. In times when I wasn't totally vegetarian it still provided a welcome change and a reminder that I wasn't reliant on the local meat market. Of all the books this has the philosophy and practicality to stay with one as a viable guide to a vegetarian lifestyle.

With this edition my wife and children have discovered, for quite different reasons (one from concerns about ecology, pollution, additives, GMOs, etc., the other from a more 'economic manipulation of peoples food habits' as well as nutrition) this book once again and found it as relevant now. They were thunderstruck to see my yellowed, fingermarked, and well-worn, copies with notes of variations I had tried. The beauty of the open-ended concept here is understated, but crucial. It has given us a stronger nutritional base as well as contributed to our growth as a family.

For someone new to this area this contains some of the most sound nutritional, philosophical, and economic, reasoning I've seen in print. Over time it becomes quite easy to adapt conventional recipes to the methodology in this book. As a guide for your cuisine and your life it is very good indeed.

Lappe's original book converted me to vegetarianism in college in the early seventies. This is a very convincing argument for responsible eating. Her book was the first to my knowledge that explicitly set out how what we eat in this country affects others abroad. The most frightening aspect of our meat-eating habits then, as now, was the deforestation of huge tracts of land to make more room for raising meat sources.

Additionally, this book opened my eyes to the difference between subsistence living in 'third world' countries, as opposed to poverty in those same countries producing goods for Americans.

This book is literate and convincing for those willing to open their minds to a different world view. It's 'in your face' without being 'down your throat'.

Excellent introductory essay goes into nutritional reasons why meat is not necessary, followed by practical recipes for everyday use. For anyone who ever thought vegetarianism would take too much time and effort. Special attention is paid to getting enough protein and B vitamins-two of the reasons most often cited by those who claim they can't do without meat. Aside from issues of cruelty and health, eating meat is just a waste of our planet's limited resources. This book offers simple step-by-step instructions on how to minimize your "ecological footprint" without giving up taste.

It was some twenty years ago that I was given the first edition of this excellent book, and have since bought the updated version since my copies get lent out so much I needed to have one copy on hand.

We are laco-ova vegetarians which means we have some free range hens which we have that weed the gardens and also provide us with eggs, and I buy raw milk from a friend and make yogurt. Although I am now learning how to do this with soy milk as well.

Diet For A Small Planet is in tune with our lifestyle, which is based on live light on the earth but also eat healthy and happy.

The one recipe in this book that we make so often and is a winner at potlucks and gatherings with friends is the Potato Egg Bake, which is better than any potato dish we have ever had. The Buttermilk, mushrooms and seasoning make it a winner with men who are often the pucky eaters.

The other aspect of the book that I respect is the author explaining in a none preachy way how eating low on the food chain actually gets us closer to the nutriants the soil gives us. The book also explians why eating vegetarian is less expense in the long run, and that contrary to some beliefs such a lifestyle is very delicious and easier than running out for fast food. And having grown up in a hunting family and one involved with raising black angus I can tell you that raising l lb of all nutricious non-meat food is more cost effective to the earth than raising l lb of beef, chicken, lamb, pork etc.

This is one of those books you need in your home library, as it will remain a great source of information for years to come. And how nice to have a book written in a style that doesn't slam meat eaters, but simply tries to educate and inform.

I encountered this book in my mom's cookbook collection in the early 80's. I was particularly drawn to the Peanut Butter Balls recipe... I was an experimental young "tween" and decided to try it. Today I got an unbelievable craving for these treats and decided to look online to see if this book still existed so I could find the recipe. I had to laugh at the reviews of this book... that the recipes tasted "earthy" and such. This Peanut Butter Balls recipe is a winner! If you get the book, you must try it! Happy to hear the book had a much larger purpose without me knowing it at the tender age of 13. I'll consider getting a copy as these are issues I'm concerned about today. Don't think I'll be trying the yogurt barley soup recipe, however... ;)