Customer Reviews

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

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"Whole Foods Companion" is a wonderful resource about foods from the earth. The author, Dianne Onstad, brings us more information in this revised and expanded edition based on her 1994 success!

Dianne Onstad is involved in nutrition education, as well as in the promotion of organic whole foods. She even has a special interest in living and raw foods.

In this impressive reference book, you will find information such as: Buying Tips, Culinary Uses, Health Benefits, Lore and Legend, and General Information on Fruits; Vegetables; Grains; Legumes; Nuts, Seeds and Oils; and Herbs, Spices and Other Foods. There is also a glossary and an extremely comprehensive index.

Despite not having any photographs, this book is quite extensive and thorough. I tried to find obscure items within this text, such as loquats, and I actually did find them. I, also, tried to find some misinformation, such as health information, and was unable to do so. Onstad has done an excellent job once again!

In today's world where everything is prepackaged, I find books such as "Whole Foods Companion" to be a welcome and refreshing change to becoming a healthier eater.

For anyone interested in understanding more about their food, how to select it, cook it and what health benefits it provides, then this is a fantastic food reference book of encyclopedic proportions!

If you are confused about the world of whole foods and want more information, the new revised and expanded Whole Foods Companion is a great place to start.

The book is organized like an encyclopedia and lists information for more than 400 different plant foods, including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, oils, herbs, spices, and more.

Each entry in the book includes information about the plant's origin, buying tips, culinary uses, and health benefits. Sidebars scattered throughout the book offer lore, legends, and other fun facts. For example, The Egyptians served lentils liberally to children because it was believed that they enlightened their minds, opened their hearts, and made them cheerful. The Greeks and Romans used asparagus to relieve the pain of toothaches and to prevent bee stings.

Of course, there's more relevant information as well, like "Raw broccoli contains almost as much calcium as whole milk and is linked to lowering the risk of cancer" and "Exceedingly nutritious, it [millet] contains an abundance of minerals and vitamins, and the most complete protein of any of the true cereal grains."

Even if you are not a newcomer to whole foods, this book can be useful as well as interesting. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about whole foods but I still refer to this book often and have learned from it. This is a great reference and would be a helpful addition to the whole foods kitchen.

Review from www.vegfamily.com by Cathe Olson

This is a wonderful book! It is authoritative, detailed, well written, and extremely entertaining.

Author Dianne Onstad writes with an insight and understanding of all aspects of whole foods that is simply mind boggling. "Whole Foods Companion" is intended for those interested in eating well, eating better, or simply knowing the benefits of the many fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts-seeds-oils, and herbs and spices that are available to enrich and prolong their lives.

Each is described in detail, including nutritional value, general information, culinary tips and health benefits. Also listed for many of the whole foods is their lore and legend and buying tips for how to purchase them at their best.

Yes, there is more information in this humorous book than the average person will probably ever use, but that should not detract from its value as the best reference available of its kind.

This is my food "bible". I find it facinating enough to read like a novel from cover to cover. The layout and organization of the book makes it an invaluable reference book when you want to know about a particular foods nutritional information & health benefits, history or general culinary uses. I love the 'Legends & Lore' sections as well. I refer to this book almost daily and have had fun at dinner parties sharing information about where foods come from. For anyone who is interested in learning more about the food they put into their bodies, this book is incredible. I have both versions, but the revised and expanded edition is the one to buy-more info and more foods.

This book makes it easy to look up everything food related. Lots of great information that a layman can understand. I bought it for a gift and I'm sure the person in mind is going to be very happy to have it. It is in good condition and arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

This book has an amazing amount of very interesting content, but to navigate through it is very hard in the Kindle edition.
Although the main content page has links to the various sub-sections (Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, etc.), there are no links from the content page of every sub-section to the actual foods (Akee, Ambarella, Apple, Apricot, etc.).
This makes it impossible to reach the page for 'Garlic' in less than 50 clicks! (Even when using the 'find' functionality of the Kindle itself)

For this price, the Kindle edition is definitely in need of an update!