A Lucid Dream

REVIEW: Louisa Shafia's Lucid Food

by Felicia D' Ambrosio

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LONG BEFORE "ECO-FRIENDLY" started being stamped in green ink on everything from clothing to cars, there was a driving force that inspired people to waste nothing, repair instead of replace, grow their own food and even rinse and reuse plastic bags. Simple thrift ruled the day — at least until modern consumer culture began teaching us that convenience is king, and that we are far too busy to make dinner.

Louisa Shafia, chef/owner of NYC's Lucid Food Catering, reclaims lost conservation-minded food traditions in her new cookbook, Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Lifestyle (Ten Speed Press). Shafia divides the book by the four seasons, presenting a variety of vegetable-centric recipes for soups, salads, main courses, sweets, smoothies and even remedies like an elderberry cold tincture.

Though the book is not solely vegetarian, Shafia has been both a vegan and vegetarian in her life, and her experience cooking at San Francisco's Millennium vegetarian restaurant is evident. "I don’t eat much animal product," she said in a telephone interview.

"But the truth is, [being vegetarian] isn't realistic for a majority — or even a minority — of people. I’m thinking it’s beside the point to suggest everyone become a vegetarian."

Among few meat-based dishes in the book is fesenjan, a chicken in pomegranate walnut sauce influenced by her Iranian heritage.  Otherwise, the bright, appetizing photos display her vision of healthy, simple preparations, like a charred eggplant and polenta torta, or apricot shortcake with lavender whipped cream.

Interspersed with the recipes are Shafia's essays on sustainable seafood, alternatives to white sugar, unfamiliar ingredients (amaranth? agar-agar?) and how to grow native plants to support local wildlife. Shafia's non-preachy tone and sparkling enthusiasm make the book an inspiring read, and even the converted can learn a thing or two.

Shafia's catering business was very much the product of her working education at Millennium. "I brought those green principles to doing events." she said. "No bottled water, seasonal menus, composting everything." Her book details the very techniques that home cooks can employ to host sustainable dinner parties that still boast extraordinary food.

With holiday entertaining season upon us, Lucid Food also offers recipes for gifting (gingersnap cookies, black walnut-infused cognac, red lentil and Indian spice soup mix), as well as vegetarian dishes suitable for the holiday meals. But no matter the season, the book's biggest gift is its lack of stereotypical self-denying, joylessly “green” environmentalism.

(felicia.dambrosio@citypaper.net)