Low-Fat Soul [Paperback]

Jonell Nash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 1997

Is your mouth watering for great African-American food, but your conscience keeps reminding you to worry about fat, sodium, and calories? Now you can feed your soul the best Southern, Creole, Cajun, or Island cooking without worrying whether it's good for you--it is! In Low-Fat Soul, Essence magazine food editor Jonell Nash has created wonderful recipes that reflect the way we want to cook and eat today.
Indulge yourself with a rich, hot, and spicy Creole Seafood and Sausage Gumbo ladled over steaming bowls of rice. Reawaken summer memories of naturally sweet Creamy Corn Pudding lying golden on your plate next to Crispy Baked Chicken. Enjoy getting your fingers sticky as you devour Hot Buffalo Chicken Rolls as tangy as the classic, winged version. Or enjoy that slice of Heavenly Sweet Potato Pie--without the guilt!
Low-Fat Soul brings you dozens of easy-to-make meals for every day, holiday fare, and elegant dinner parties. Its wide range of dishes cuts across regional cuisines from the Carolinas to the Texas Gulf, from the Caribbean to New Orleans, but at-a-glance seasoning suggestions let you individualize dishes to accommodate your family's preferences. Plus, Jonell Nash's easy tips help you modify your own family recipes to strip away fat while keeping the flavor--and the soul--intact.
Nothing says "home" more powerfully than the dishes we all grew up enjoying. Now you can continue this important cultural legacy in Jonell Nash's brilliant low-fat adaptations: the traditions and flavors you don't want to live without in authentic tasting versions you can live with--in good health.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Soul food is the culinary proof of a people's ability to take lemons and make lemonade. Brought to America in shackles and fed on scraps and leftovers from their masters' tables, African slaves took pigs' cheeks, hocks, and tails, supplemented them with what they could catch (possum, rabbit, or squirrel) and what they could grow (okra, greens, or lima beans, for example), and worked a kind of culinary alchemy, creating a cuisine that was both filling and tasty. No one worried in those days about too much fat or sugar in their diets, since field work had a tendency to burn off excess calories in a hurry. Times have changed since then, however, and modern lifestyles don't do as well with soul food's high-fat, high-calorie content. Enter Low-Fat Soul, the answer to every health-conscious, soul-food-loving cook's prayer.

Low-Fat Soul offers up an exciting blend of old and new: Hoppin-John and Moroccan Vegetable Stew, catfish that's oven-fried instead of deep-fried, Southern Cornbread Dressing with half the calories and all the flavor, and much more. Sometimes it's the ingredients that have changed, and sometimes it's the cooking method, but the more things change, the more they stay the same. Low-Fat Soul helps you keep the traditions and the flavors--the soul--of your favorite dishes and stay healthy at the same time.

From Publishers Weekly

With a smart, high-spirited and chatty style, Nash, the food editor of Essence magazine, "shapes up" traditional African American recipes, contending that the "soul" in soul food?from gumbo to fried chicken with black-eyed peas and biscuits?is less a result of high-fat ingredients than "a flava" that can be re-created without jeopardizing one's health. Recipes born in Africa, the Caribbean and in the South's plantation days (when fatty foods cheaply fueled slaves) are modernized as Nash replaces such standbys as lard with vegetable oils and liberal lashings of savory ingredients such as chiles, onions and garlic. Newly healthful recipes include Seafood and Sausage Gumbo (the roux made with vegetable oil rather than animal fat); Honey-Pineapple Glazed Yams (butter-free); classic Southern "fish fry" updated to an oven-baked Friday Night Catfish with Tangy Tartar Sauce (made with yogurt); Skinless Fried Chicken (marinated in nonfat buttermilk); and dessert staples like Heavenly Sweet Potato Pie (in which baking, not boiling, the sweet potatoes preserves their flavor). Each of the over 130 recipes is accompanied by caloric and nutritional sidebars. Overall, Nash presents a spirited, informative update of a beloved American cuisine.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: One World/Ballantine; 1 edition (November 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345413636
• ISBN-13: 978-0345413635
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,650,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely the best cookbook I have ever used., September 22, 1999

By 

Lisa Rhodes ([e-mail] (Cardiff by the Sea, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Low-Fat Soul (Paperback)

When I reached my thirties and had to start watching my weight, I despaired that I would have to give up the Southern cooking so dear to my heart. Jonell Nash, in "Low-Fat Soul," proved to me that all good recipes from down South do not need to start with the words "First take two tablespoons of bacon grease..." I have prepared almost half of the recipes in this book and can honestly say that not only are they good but have now become some of my household's favorites. They range from simple to prepare dishes like Daddy's Chicken Spaghetti or Smothered Cabbage to "company" dishes like Baked Stuffed Red Snapper (which is also easy to prepare but don't tell that to your guests, just let them ooh and aah.) In addition to those mentioned above, three of my personal favorites are the Buffalo Chicken Roll-Ups,the Peanutty Noodles and the Collards with Sun-Dried Tomatoes. Each recipe comes with some comment by Ms.Nash and every section begins with helpfuls hints on ways to cut down on fat and calories. This book is for every Southerner (current or expatriate) who wants to eat healthy and keep their weight down.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS BOOK NOW AND EAT WELL TONIGHT!, January 17, 2000

By 

R. Mansfield (Qo'noS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Low-Fat Soul (Paperback)

This is a MUST ADD to any one's kitchen who considers themselves a true soul food cook. This book helps you cut back on fat and salt (that we love!) but keep the rich flavors and traditions our grandmomma's passed down. Everything was simple and easy to follow and the recipes didn't require a special trip to the grocery store to find odd items that you never have in your kitchen - like most cook books. It even helped get my brain started on ideas to modify some of our family favorites that weren't included. P.S. You MUST check out the chocolate cake recipe!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great cookbook for heart sugery husband, January 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Low-Fat Soul (Paperback)

When my husband had a quadruple bypass surgery last April, we were both in a "teachable moment". The follow-up care included stern warnings about salt, fat, and cholesterol in his diet. He grew up in the South, where the typical "agricultural diet" is heavy on all of the above. So this book was a godsend: tasty Southern cooking in a much healthier form. Using more spices, I manage to limit salt and fat even more than the recipes suggest. They are a great start.