Summer Reading

By Janet Ruth Falon

Foods That Harm Foods That Heal

In summertime I naturally gravitate toward more healthful foods, partly because such great produce is available, partly because I'm especially body-conscious, and partly because I've found that my more active summertime lifestyle is better fueled by lighter victuals; for instance, lasagna right before a bike ride doesn't go down as well — or more important, stay down as well — as fruit salad.

So just as I rearrange my clothes closet, making the lighter items more accessible, I mentally shift my cookbooks, bringing to the forefront those with recipes for foods that are somehow less dense, and which rely on fresh and seasonal ingredients.

It's also a good time of year to invest in a new cookbook or two, especially if you want to expand your culinary horizons. An appropriate place to start might be Lowfat Cooking for Dummies, by Lynn Fischer (IDG Books, $19.99), which is at least as much reference book as cookbook. Although not quite a perfect beach book, Dummies is a snappy read with lots of tips and I-didn't-know-that info dealing with myths and truths about fat, reading labels, setting up a lowfat kitchen, and nifty things like 10 terrific Web sites on healthful eating — and 150 recipes. A companion booklet, Healthy Eating On-The-Go for Dummies, small enough to be tucked into a backpack — even one crammed with a doggie bag — is a nice bonus. And people who want to go the next step should check out Nutrition for Dummies, by Carol Ann Rinzler (IDG Books, $19.99), which is highly readable and crammed with how-to's rather than theory; how bad can a book be if it lists breast milk, chocolate and hot peppers as three of 10 "magic foods"?

Eat Fresh Stay Healthy

Another good beginner book is Eat Fresh, Stay Healthy: An A-to-Z Guide to Buying and Cooking Fruits and Vegetables, by Tony Tantillo and Sam Gugino (Macmillan, $25). Going on the assumption that most folks don't know how to creatively down the recommended five or six daily servings of fruits and vegetables, the authors spotlight 50 different types of produce, organized alphabetically from apples to zucchini, and share a history of each as well as seasonable availability, nutritional content, preparation pointers and how to select, handle and store each.

And if you're ready to take a full plunge into what the author calls "alternative cooking," check out The First Book of Vegetarian Cooking, by Dionne Stevens, N.D. (Prima Publishing, $24). Although the recipes throughout the book look great, the reason to buy this book is the end section called "Added Touches," which details wonderful basics such as how to prepare seitan and reconstitute TVP (textured vegetable protein), and how to make all sorts of dairy substitutes — cream cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt — from tofu. The "Ingredient Exchange" section is similarly useful, with recipes for making substitutes for honey, cocoa, Worcestershire sauce, etc., and there's also cutting-edge nutritional information and sensible weight-loss tips.

Similarly comprehensive is The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, by Diana Shaw (Clarkson Potter, $22.50), in which the author — not a strict vegetarian — approaches vegetarian cooking as a new American cuisine rather than a cuisine marked solely by the absence of meat. Shaw, who refers to herself as a "cook" rather than a "chef," makes the majority of the 600-plus recipes look eminently doable, and here, too, the appendix includes essential information including a wonderful section explaining how different cooking methods work, such as blanching, braising and pressure-cooking. She's also big-hearted enough to recommend other useful books.

One of these years I'm going to get it together to do a bike trip that'll include Provence and Greece, but until then I can cook from Mediterranean Cooking the Healthful Way, by Marlena Spieler (Prima Publishing, $18). A quirky travel guide almost as much as a cookbook, it contains recipes from Italy, France, Spain, Israel and Greece, all healthed up. I'm particularly fond of the chapter called "Street Food," which includes recipes for convivial snacks and little meals eaten in markets and other informal al fresco venues.

If the previously mentioned book is sensual, then this one — Simply Heavenly! The Monastery Vegetarian Cookbook (Macmillan, $19.95) — is ascetic. Written by Abbot George Burke, an avowed vegan who serves as both spiritual and culinary advisor for Holy Protection Orthodox Monastery in Nebraska, this tome presents a whopping 1,400 recipes for vegans in the hopes that variety and taste will keep them on the "right" path. Wisely, the author tries to jazz up the recipes by taking ingredients such as soy, wheat gluten and brown rice, and transforming them into an appealing array that includes down-home Southern, Cajun and "comfort" foods.

Claire's Classic American Vegitarian Cooking

A New Haven restaurant, rather than a monastery, provides the inspiration for Claire's Classic American Vegetarian Cooking, by Claire Criscuolo (Dutton, $24.95). I like the concept of this book: it provides down-homey recipe alternatives for non-meat eaters who want their own food counterparts for all-American events like Fourth of July picnics.

Vegetarian Times: Low-Fat and Fast, by the editors of the eponymous magazine (Macmillan, $15), is a no-fuss book featuring 150 quick-to-prepare, carbohydrate-rich, meatless meals. Each recipe is supposed to take 30 minutes or less to get from pantry to table, which should have great appeal. Also, the cooking techniques employ healthful changes such as cutting back on eggs, using lowfat cheeses, sauteing with olive oil instead of butter, and replacing frying with grilling, broiling, roasting and steaming.

And then there's Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal: An A-Z Guide to Safe and Healthy Eating (Reader's Digest, $30), which is not a cookbook but a terrifically thorough reference book that starts with "acne" and ends with "zwieback." In between it lists more than 400 foods — with information about their benefits and drawbacks — and health concerns, accompanied by a list of foods or beverages that have some impact. It belongs on the shelf next to Joy of Cooking. And when I say this book is a foodie-hypochondriac's dream, I mean that with great admiration.