Almost Vegan - Except for the Bread?

Lucy Waverman's article, Lucy Waverman's top foreign cookbooks of 2009 is a mite confusing in several ways. Since the article was in Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, foreign has a different meaning than what most Americans would think.

And then there's this description:

As vegan cooking becomes mainstream, Terry Walters, in her excellent book, makes the case for interesting recipes using the right ingredients. She is all about good health, and her thesis is that you should eat food that is nourishing, never processed and has no animal association. This is essentially a vegan cookbook (she does use a baguette in one recipe), though it is never stated. Walters emphasizes taste and easy cooking methods. The recipes we tested were relatively straightforward, pure in content and with generally available ingredients. If you are interested in the vegan movement, this is a good place to start.

Wait. It's not vegan because it uses a baguette? Is this an insult to all intelligent vegans?

Baguettes, like many breads, do normally require yeast in the recipe. Yeasts are not animals, of course. They are fungi, in the same kingdom as mushrooms. If you can possibly believe that yeasts are too alive to eat, then so are plants and you've done yourself out of all food.

Anyway, back to Terry Walters.

Clean Food
A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You

More than a cookbook, Clean Food is a feast for the senses that will nourish mind, body, soul…and the planet, too. With more than 200 fresh, seasonal, and tempting vegan recipes, it will help everyone eat the way the want: close to the source.

From the White House kitchen to fast food restaurants, everyone’s discussing "the sustainable diet." But what exactly does that mean? Terry Walters explains it all, and shows us how to eat seasonal, unprocessed, and locally-grown foods that are good for us and the environment.

Walters’s emphasizes tastes as much as ingredients in delicious recipes that include whole grains, vegetables, legumes, sea vegetables, nuts, and seeds, and range from Crispy Chickpea Fritters to Spicy Thai Tempeh with Cashews to a vegan and sugar-free Chocolate Lover's Tart that's absolutely luscious! Since they're arranged from spring to winter (with a chapter for “anytime at all”), it's easy to find the right meals for every season of the year.

Terry's dynamic personality shines through on every page, particularly in her extensive introduction to the world of whole foods (which includes a glossary of ingredients). This is certain to be the cookbook of this and every season—the one that will help us make positive, sustainable, and yet delicious changes to the way we eat every day.

Terry Walters is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor who empowers individuals to make positive physiological changes through one-on-one health and nutrition counseling, whole food cooking instruction, workshops, public speaking engagements, and programs designed to support and facilitate change to a healthier life. Terry draws from extensive educational and life experiences including training from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition, The Natural Gourmet Cookery School, The Kushi Institute, and the Chopra Center. She lives in Avon, Connecticut.

Sterling Publishing
304 page hardcover
List price: $30.00 US
$35.00 Canadian