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Crave Eat Heal
Plant-based whole food recipes to satisfy every craving
Annie Oliverio

Front Table Books/Cedar Fort, Inc.
April 2015/ ISBN 978-1462115556
Nonfiction / Health/Nutrition

Reviewed by Leslie C. Halpern

 

This beautiful hardcover cookbook blends together two distinctly different ideas: satisfying food cravings and preparing healthy, plant-based recipes. The author divides the book into chapters by the type of craving the food will satisfy. So whether you’re craving something chocolate, comforting, crunchy, salty, sweet, spicy, etc., this book attempts to satisfy that need. Helpful information at the back of the book, including Ingredient and Equipment Resource List, Measuring Equivalents, and an Index, follow the thirteen chapters with “Craving” recipes.

The author, who claims she had terrible eating habits as a child and young adult, was inspired by the movie Super Size Me and the book Fast Food Nation to give up refined sugars and fast food. Her brother’s terminal cancer diagnosis also prompted Oliverio to thoroughly research the link between animal products and cancer. After reading the book, The China Study, she also gave up eating fish, seafood, and dairy. So over the years, she developed a plant-based diet able to satisfy those cravings of her youth in accordance with her adult mindset of today.

The front of the book includes a section with an explanation of the more unusual ingredients, such as agar agar, chia seeds, goji berries, hemp seeds, kuzu powder, maca, and teff. Although most of the recipes seem fairly simple and straightforward, locating some of these ingredients might be a challenge, depending upon where you live. Health food stores, alternative groceries, ethnic markets, and online shopping may be necessary for tracking down some of the items.

Because cravings don’t go by any set schedule, the chapters describe how to satisfy desires for specific tastes and textures, rather than grouping recipes into a more traditional way, such as by type of meal or occasion. Craving carbs? Try Orange Pecan Mini Banana Breads. Need something cool to refresh you on a hot afternoon? There’s Hibiscus-Cherry Cooler. Are you desperate for something creamy? Prepare some Pecan Pie Pudding. Craving warmth? You might enjoy White Bean Salad With Creamy Italian Dressing. And for those wanting to go green, they can make Nectarine of the Gods Overnight Smoothie Bowl.

Filled with mouth-watering photographs of the prepared dishes, Crave Eat Heal should satisfy any craving in a more healthful way – just like the subtitle promises.

Reviewer Leslie C. Halpern is the author of Passionate About Their Work: 151 Celebrities, Artists, and Experts on Creativity, Rub, Scrub, Clean the Tub: Funny Children's Poems About Self-Image, and Shakes, Cakes, Frosted Flakes: Funny Children's Poems About Table Manners.
Reviewed 2015
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