Whole Foods Companion: A Guide for Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, and Lovers of Natural Food [Paperback]

Dianne Onstad (Author), Diane Orstad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

A definitive guide to the rapidly expanding world of whole foods, this book offers buying tips, culinary uses, health benefits and nutritional tables. It includes detailed entries on hundreds of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, herbs and spices, nuts, seeds and oils, and also shows how to shop for, prepare, store and preserve whole foods. It is intended for chefs, nutritionists, gardeners, herbalists and vegetarians.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You can do a lot of things to improve your health, but none is more important than good nutrition, and none will do much good without it. In the face of massive confusion over conflicting claims about the nutritional value of different foods currently on the market, this book is an invaluable and detailed guide to natural foods that answers a lot of questions for newcomers and old hats, too. It is a perfect companion to your cookbooks, and ought to be required reading for restaurant chefs everywhere. No mere collection of dry nutritional information, Whole Foods Companion also goes into the origins and naming of different foods and explains some of the legends and traditions with which they have been associated. Dianne Onstad explains in great depth the benefits of eating whole foods. After reading this book, you won't look at commercially canned vegetables without thinking of what you're missing by eating them instead of real food.

From Publishers Weekly

Dianne Onstad's The Whole Foods Companion: A Guide for Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers & Lovers of Natural Food provides an encyclopedic guide to hundreds of natural foods. The book is arranged alphabetically within subject categories (fruits from "akee" to "wood apple"; vegetables from "arracacha" to "yautia"). There are also chapters on Grains; Legumes; Herbs and Spices; and Nuts, Seeds and Oils. Onstad explains how to find, fix store and preserve whole foods and describes health benefits, lore and legends. With 100 illustrations and 360 tables, this is a boon for health-directed foodies.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930031830
• ISBN-13: 978-0930031831
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dianne Onstad is actively involved in nutrition education and the promotion of organic whole foods, with a special interest in living and raw foods. She is the author of five books, including The Vitamin Companion, The Mineral Companion, and A Cup of Sunshine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I absolutely love this book, April 17, 2003

By 

Nati Beltran (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whole Foods Companion: A Guide for Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, and Lovers of Natural Food (Paperback)

This is an amazing book that should be in everydody's reference section. It makes it great fun to learn about the foods you are eating with old legends and historical tid-bits. It really motiveates me to continue to eat whole foods and is filled with great information of the nutritional and medicinal uses of each food. My background includes Physics, natural foods culinary school, nutrition and herbalism and I must say that this book never ceases to impress me in the breath and depth of the author's knowledge. If you must buy one book this year, buy this one and learn about why and how our food can keep us healthful. Happy eating.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really great book!, January 19, 2003

By 

merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whole Foods Companion: A Guide for Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, and Lovers of Natural Food (Paperback)

This has it all - vegetables, grains, even herbs. It has lengends/lore, as well as the nutritional facts. I really love this book - very complete, not so dry that you hate picking it up. I find myself just browsing through for no real reason. Great book!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "MUST HAVE!" reference book!, November 22, 1998

By 

Scott Strong, Seattle ([e-mail]) (Lynnwood, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whole Foods Companion: A Guide for Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, and Lovers of Natural Food (Hardcover)

No kitchen, personal or professional, should be without this book. One can easily find information. Each subject is dealt with in an easy to read fashion, and quite completely I should add. When you feel that you "want to know", this is the place to go. An excellent investment, and I have found it makes a great gift too!