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Amazon.com Review

Do we really need more recipes for beef stew, polenta, and ratatouille? If they’re the work of famed restaurateur and “food activist” Alice Waters, undoubtedly. In The Art of Simple Food, Waters offers 200-plus recipes for these and other simple but savory dishes, like Spicy Cauliflower Soup, Fava Bean Purée, and Braised Chicken Legs, as well as dessert formulas for the likes of Nectarine and Blueberry Crisp and Tangerine Ice. In addition, readers learn (or become reacquainted with) the Waters mantra: eat locally and sustainably; eat seasonally; shop at farmers markets. These are the rules by which she approaches food and cooking, and hopes we will too. Organized largely by techniques, the book is a kind of primer, designed to free readers from recipe reliance.

Some readers may look askance at advice that they search out sources for locally produced food, for example, given the everyday exigencies of shopping and getting meals on the table. Yet it is precisely the need to “remake” our relationship to food that, Waters contends, determines the ultimate success of all our cooking and dining, not to mention our health and that of the planet. This relatively small book has a large message, and good everyday recipes to back it up. –Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The delicious dishes described in the latest cookbook from Chez Panisse founder Waters, such as a four-ingredient Soda Bread and Cauliflower Salad with Olives and Capers, are simple indeed, though the book’s structure is complex, if intuitive. After a useful discussion of ingredients and equipment come chapters on techniques, such as making broth and soup. Each of these includes three or four recipes that rely on the technique described, which can lead to repetition (still preferable to a lack of guidance): a chapter on roasting contains two pages of instructions on roasting a chicken (including a hint to salt it a day in advance for juicy results), followed by a recipe for Roast Chicken that is simply an abbreviated version of those two pages. The final third of the book divides many more recipes traditionally into salads, pasta and so forth. Waters taps an almost endless supply of ideas for appealing and fresh yet low-stress dishes: Zucchini Ragout with Bacon and Tomato, Onion Custard Pie, Chocolate Crackle Cookies with almonds and a little brandy. Whether explaining why salting food properly is key or describing the steps to creating the ideal Grilled Cheese Sandwich, she continues to prove herself one of our best modern-day food writers. (Oct.)
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Review

She had me at the macaroni and cheese. Before I received Ellie Krieger’s new cookbook, I had never heard of her or Healthy Appetite, the Food Network show she hosts. But in my preliminary flip through the book I stopped at the photo of Macaroni and Four Cheeses and knew I had found a healthful-eating philosophy I could embrace. Krieger’s smart, sensible approach to diet uses healthful fats, whole grains and plenty of fruits and vegetables in recipes for beloved comfort foods. –The Baltimore Sun

Ellie Krieger, host of the Food Network’s show “Healthy Appetite,” advances her sensible and appealing approach to nutrition in “The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life”. Krieger, a registered dietitian, eschews processed foods - including the fat-free and sugar-free products that are the mainstays of many so-called healthy regimens. Her straightforward recipes emphasize fresh produce and meats, whole grains and judicious amounts of real ingredients, such as good cheese and olive oil that are full of flavor and nutrients. –Newsday (New York)

You’d think a book titled The Food You Crave would be all about meat loaf, mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. Think again. According to author Ellie Krieger, the foods we really crave are fresh, healthy, nutritious. The beauty of this cookbook is that she’s found a way to turn all those old-time comfort foods into healthy, nutritious meals — providing all the flavor and satisfaction without all the fat and guilt. Krieger does it by using loads of fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats such as olive oil, whole-wheat flours, nonfat yogurts and the like. And the results are delicious. –The Kansas City Star

Among the rash of “healthy eating” cookbooks appearing since New Year’s, one stands out: Ellie Krieger’s new book, “The Food You Crave”. Krieger recognizes the stress and guilt baggage associated with diets; her book emphasizes the joy of eating. Although the title may seem to be the antithesis of a healthful diet, the “craved-for-foods” fit nicely with Krieger’s two-part method: prepare old favorites in a healthier way, and follow the “Usually-Sometimes-Rarely” philosophy. –El Paso Times

If you’ve planned to change the way you eat for 2008, a new book, “The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life” by Ellie Krieger is a must for your cookbook collection. Ms. Krieger’s name may be familiar to devotees of TV Food Network’s “Healthy Appetite” show. She’s a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition from Columbia University. Her accomplishments aside, she’s one good cook as evidenced by the numerous recipes in her new book that sent my taste buds tingling. All recipes include nutritional information along with tips that will help make each recipe a success in your kitchen. Color photography of many of the dishes made me want to jump from my desk and into my kitchen. This book is a keeper when I’m looking for ways to please the family while keeping to my plan of improving the way I eat. –Anne Patterson Braly, Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)

Ellie Krieger has a simple philosophy about healthy eating - it shouldn’t hurt. That’s the message behind the Food Network star’s recent cookbook, The Food You Crave - that a healthy diet can taste and look satisfying. And her recipes make her case. Krieger calls for sensible cuts and swaps, the sort of changes that are easy to live with. For example, the New York Breakfast uses full-fat whipped cream cheese, which has the same calories as the low-fat version but tastes better. The book is nicely illustrated and contains plenty of tips for giving your own recipes a healthy overhaul. –The Associated Press

For those who pledged to start the new year eating more healthful food but don’t want to forfeit flavor, has Ellie Krieger got the book for you. The host of the Food Network’s Healthy Appetite, she has written The Food You Crave and that title shows she understands. She knows that turkey burgers aren’t for everyone and a good chicken or pasta recipe is worth its weight in gold. But she has managed to use ingredients we love — pasta, sugar and even a tiny bit of red meat — strategically so you get the flavor but the overall recipe is still on the healthy side. Krieger’s book, subtitled Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life offers 200 recipes and I could print anyone on these pages without a second thought. They look good in the color photographs, have ingredient lists that sound great and calorie and fat counts that are entirely reasonable for those watching what they eat. From soups to sides to desserts, she offers a variety of dishes with an endless array of wonderful ingredients. It’s a fine place to start as having healthful food at your fingertips is important when life gets hectic. –The Providence Journal (RI)

Healthy recipes, good-looking food. Ellie Krieger has a simple philosophy about healthy eating: It shouldn’t hurt. That’s the message behind the Food Network star’s recent cookbook, The Food You Crave. A healthy diet can taste and look satisfying, and her recipes prove it. The book is nicely illustrated and contains plenty of tips for giving your own recipes a healthy overhaul. –St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

Product Description

Do you think that healthy food couldn’t possibly taste good? Does the idea of “eating healthy” conjure up images of roughage and steamed vegetables? Author Ellie Krieger, host of Food Network’s Healthy Appetite, will change all that. A registered dietitian, Ellie is also a lover and proponent of good, fresh food, simply but deliciously prepared. And she’s not about denial–no nonfat foods here, because when you take the fat out of natural foods, in go the chemicals. Don’t deny yourself butter–use a pat of it, but put it front and center on those mashed potatoes, so you can revel in it with all your senses. The Food You Crave is all you’ll need to change the way you eat and change the way you feel. It contains 200 recipes that cover every meal of the day and every craving you might have. Every recipe contains a complete nutritional breakdown, as well as tips on ingredients and techniques that will keep you eating smart and eating well.

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Amazon.com Review

A classic tome of gastronomic science and lore, On Food and Cooking delivers an erudite discussion of table ingredients and their interactions with our bodies. Following the historical, literary, scientific and practical treatment of foodstuffs from dairy to meat to vegetables, McGee explains the nature of digestion and hunger before tackling basic ingredient components, cooking methods and utensils. He explains what happens when food spoils, why eggs are so nutritious and how alcohol makes us drunk. As fascinating as it is comprehensive, this is as practical, interesting and necessary for the cook as for the scholar.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Before antioxidants, extra-virgin olive oil and supermarket sushi commanded public obsession, the first edition of this book swept readers and cooks into the everyday magic of the kitchen: it became an overnight classic. Now, 20 years later, McGee has taken his slightly outdated volume and turned it into a stunning masterpiece that combines science, linguistics, history, poetry and, of course, gastronomy. He dances from the spicy flavor of Hawaiian seaweed to the scientific method of creating no-stir peanut butter, quoting Chinese poet Shu Xi and biblical proverbs along the way. McGee’s conversational style—rich with exclamation points and everyday examples—allows him to explain complex chemical reactions, like caramelization, without dumbing them down. His book will also be hailed as groundbreaking in its breakdown of taste and flavor. Though several cookbooks have begun to answer the questions of why certain foods go well together, McGee draws on recent agricultural research, neuroscience reviews and chemical publications to chart the different flavor chemicals in herbs and spices, fruits and vegetables. Odd synergies appear, like the creation of fruity esters in dry-cured ham—the same that occur naturally in melons! McGee also corrects the European bias of the first edition, moving beyond the Mediterranean to discuss the foods of Asia and Mexico. Almost every single page of this edition has been rewritten, but the book retains the same light touch as the original. McGee has successfully revised the bible of food science—and produced a fascinating, charming text.
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