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Spices of Life: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Great Health

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`Spices of Life' by notable cookbook author, Nina Simonds is a `high end' cooking for health recipe sampler similar to those done by Kathleen Daelemans and Andrew Weil / Rosie Daley, with the added attraction of a strong dose of Asian holistic medical lore.

This is a very liberating book in that a quick run through the recipes gives one the sense that if we make and eat these recipes, there is nothing of which we are depriving ourselves. And, unlike a similar collection of `healthy' recipes from the Mediterranean, most of these recipes have exotic tastes of ginger, fish sauces, tamarind, Kaffir lime, lemongrass added to the strong but familiar tastes of garlic and chilis. All this is backed by the strong assurance arising from the Alfred A. Knopf cookbook publishing team, headed by the renowned culinary editor, Judith Jones, the midwife of great cookbooks from Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and Lydia Bastianich.

All this means is that the book is very attractive to look at and enjoyable to read. It also means that the selection of recipes is a lot broader than you may find in the average healthy eating cookbook. They all shout exceptions to the playful quote from New Yorker food writer, Calvin Trillin who says `Health Food makes me sick.'. I confess that I often find myself agreeing with Herr Trillin on this point, as I do with most of his observations.

The chapters in this book are:

`Something to graze on' with recipes for snacks plus lots of advice on the belief that eating little but often is a very good idea. Recipes include soybeans, vegetables and dips, pickled carrots and glazed onions.
`Appetizers that make a meal' gives grilled shrimp, turkey sate, vegetarian dumplings, spinach pie, pot stickers, vegetarian samosas, spinach salad, a mushroom frittata, salmon sushi and pork in lettuce wraps.
`Homey Soups' gives a very accurate Chinese chicken broth, miso soup, Cantonese corn chowder, onion and garlic soup, tomato soup, Vietnamese Hot and Sour Scallop Soup, and Indian Seafood Chowder.
`Hearty Stews and Braises' has a nice mix of both Mediterranean and Asian chicken, seafood, lamb, turkey, and beef braises. French technique is foremost here, as braising is such a distinctively European technique.
`Main Dish Salads' gives us traditional recipes such as Salade Nicoise and slaws, plus a lot of combined grilled meat and vegetable combinations.
`Pleasures from the Garden' has lots of vegetable dishes using roasting, pickling, steaming, stir-frying, grilling, and raw food combinations.
`Versatile stir-fries and sautes' includes classics such as Kung Pao Chicken, Pork Lo Mein, and Pad Thai plus stir-frys of greens, beans, mushrooms, beet and peppers, shrimp, salmon, and scallops and asparagus
`East-West Barbecue' is not all about true barbecue recipes, but about smoked and grilled dishes, plus marinades, rubs, and dishes you would eat with classic barbecue such as salsas and wraps.
`Irresistible vegetarian' gives recipes that are commonly seen as vegetarian substitutes for mean and other animal protein. It features beans, tempeh, tofu, miso, and noodles.
`Satisfying stapes: noodles, rice, and other grains' gives, recipes for rice, noodles and other grains plus barbecued pork, Vietnamese Rainbow salad, couscous, and Kung Pao scallops over noodles.
`Light and sumptuous sweets' strikes me as the rewards for eating healthy dishes for most of the day. The molasses spice cookies, for example have every bit as much sugar as a recipe from Maida Heatter. It's only bow to good health is a substitution of corn oil for butter for most of the fat, although butter is still present, albeit in a reduced role.

Most recipes include some marginalia on the healthful benefits of a main ingredient such as yogurt, ginger, cucumbers, green beans, and the like. You get the idea. These little tips fit the `buffet' treatment of healthy eating advice. You can read and take counsel from these tips, or ignore them and just cook the recipes. Each chapter also ends with a little essay by one or more advocates of various doctrines of healthy eating. Some have a scientific basis and some represent traditional doctrines that are a based more on folklore than on science.

Unfortunately, scientific method does not work well with holistic medicine. Science, even with the extremely powerful computers and multivariate statistical models available today, simply cannot easily formulate or address `big questions' such as all the elements that contribute to healthy living. What science can do is demonstrate the value of vitamins, exercise, and omega-3 fatty acids and the hazards of smoking, obesity, and eating too much refined sugar. A perfect example of the effects of science's tunnel vision is the shifts in the reputation of eggs and butter in one's diet.

Equally unfortunately, the folklore-based bodies of holistic wisdom may endorse foods and activities that are as much influenced by myth as by observation of talented primitive natural scientists. The doctrines of macrobiotics, I believe, have been shown to overlook some important health issues. Fortunately for the value of this book, the author samples lots of different opinions, with the scientific point of view being represented by holistic advocates such as Raymond Weil and the folklore camp being represented by, for example, Indian holistic doctrines of Ayurveda, which seem to be based almost entirely on common sense.

One great virtue of the book is that it is like a walk through a health conference gallery of vendors hawking their particular brand of advice. If one catches your attention, you can check them out in more detail by finding their works in the bibliography.

The main drawback of this approach is that the organization of recipes is not as clean as you may like in a good `ready reference' cookbook. Salads and grilled dishes appear in many different chapters and several pairs of dishes in two different chapters seem to overlap one another a bit too much.

I still recommend this book, as this is as painless a way I have seen for learning new ideas and inspirations for good living.

This book was not my first introduction to Nina Simonds' recipes. I have a very dog-eared copy of Asian Noodles from which I make about ½ dozen recipes on a regular basis and another ½ dozen or so less frequently. Spices of Life provides an expansion of the recipe file for the Nina Simonds pantry. Her recipes are clearly written, easy to follow, and always a success. A very good description of her ingredients list is given in "Basic Staples (with some substitutions)," this is something I wished for with the Asian Noodles book. Now I always have the staples on hand and often I need only pick up a few fresh ingredients at the store, or pull them out of the fridge, to put together a wonderful meal. Everyone in my family including my 4-year-old has a favorite recipe from a Nina Simonds cookbook.

I welcome this book on healthy cooking which doesn't simply forbid some foods and scold us for lazy eating so much as it encourages living and eating healthy through easy-to-prepare, family-friendly, delicious recipes. Thank you, Ms. Simonds, for another wonderful cookbook!

The first recipe that fell open when I picked up this book was for Basic White Rice. This has long been a staple of my diet. Some people start thinking about a meal and wonder how they are going to fix the potato, others start with noodles. I start with rice.

Then the second sentence under Basic White Rice says that she prefers the fluffy long grain varieties such a basmati and jasmine. I buy jasmine in 25 pound bags. Then after the basic rice comes Fried Rice, two kinds of Pilaf, Herbal Rice and some more.

The difference in this book is that the follows the guidelines of the Department of Health and Human Services in the formation of a healthy diet. Instead of the basic guidelines, the book uses the guidelines as a start for the development of delicious as well as healthy dishes.

The author spent years in the orient learning their culture which strangely enough tends to followed the HHS recomendations fairly closely.

You will try one recipe after another and be impressed with the results. There are lots of veggies but you you will eat in delight at the flavors and textures and not because they are good for you. The recipes are easy enough for any night and special enough for company.

Nina Simonds' cookbooks are all fresh, useful, and inspiring-- this one is certainly no exception. The recipes are simple and delicious and the nutritional tips are great. I learned a lot from this book and have passed it along to friends as well. It makes a great gift for foodies.

So far I have made several things from this book and cant get enough! I cook for my friends and am always trying to come up with new recipes to try when I came across this book and had to buy it one the spot. The recipes are easy to prepare, the ingredients are not hard to find either. I am going to get her other cookbooks, if they are anything like this one I will be so happy. There is a section in this book that has come amazing marinades and surprize you do not need to marinate them overnight. Highly recommend this cookbook escpecially if you are into the Asian Fusion genre.

If you are seeking recipes and information about an array of spices, and herbs, you will find this selection too narrow. There are a handful of European-style recipes that feature Mediterranean herbs, but most are fundamentally Asian. South America, Native North America, and many other cuisines full of exciting flavors are entirely unrepresented. You will, however, find numerous recipes containing ginger, as well as the key spices in Indian curries.

The health claims presented by a series of enthusiasts are a rehash of what is now common knowledge among most of us who have been paying attention to nutrition news over the last decade. Claims are unsubstantiated and, even if substantiated elsewhere, are mixed with those for which claims have been entirely inconclusive, at best.

If you really need a new recipe for ginger cookies or rhubarb-berry crisp, or maybe Asian-style bbq ribs, this is the book for you. Or perhaps if you are rather new to healthful Eastern cuisine, this is a nice introduction.