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The Kitchen Commune: Meals to Heal and Nourish Everyone at Your Table
Featuring more than 100 family-friendly, crowd-pleasing recipes—including gluten free, grain free, dairy free, paleo, vegan, and more—for everyone. Preparing a meal is an act of love for yourself and the ones you share it with. In this stunning cookbook, Chay Wike, author of the acclaimed home cooking and lifestyle blog The Kitchen Commune , offers a guide to reclaiming your health and nourishing your family and friends with easy, delicious, allergen-friendly recipes for all seasons. With gorgeous photographs and brilliant swaps and tips, the recipes within are endlessly customizable and will inspire readers Cooking without certain ingredients doesn’t have to be restrictive. Chay emphasizes nutrient-dense whole foods that everyone can enjoy, including updates on familiar classics, easy substitutions with ingredients already in your pantry, and flavorful sauces that will make you want to lick your plate clean. Throughout, The Kitchen Commune celebrates the art of eating together. After all, food should be joyful for everyone—and now it can be.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published January 9, 2024
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 4, 2024
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Kitchen Commune is a well written tutorial guide and recipe collection with allergen-friendly cooking (including gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegan, and others) written and curated by Chay Wike. Due out 9th Jan 2024 from Flashpoint, it's 256 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
Most people's social/family lives are spent feeding and breaking bread with the ones they care about. Inclusiveness and genuine hospitality invites readers to make an effort to find delicious, healthy, appealing food which they can share with their friends, even the ones who are on restricted diets because of allergies, autoimmune issues, diabetes, or other self-imposed diets (paleo, vegan, low-carb, etc). This book is a bit of a mix and match, with all the major diets at least mentioned.
The layout is accessible and the recipes are logically arranged: sauces & staples, mornings, salads & small plates, soups & stews, pasta & noodles, veggies, seafood, poultry & meat, and bread baking & sweets. The recipes contain an intro, bullet list of ingredients, and step-by-step preparation instructions. Recipe measurements are given in imperial (American) units. Most of the ingredients will be readily available at any well stocked grocery store. Some few will require specialist retailers or health-food stores.
The photography throughout is plentiful, professionally styled, and appetizing. The author has also included lots of tips for managing groups with multiple dietary considerations.
Well written healthy recipes, none of which are too complex. This would make a very good choice for public library acquisition, home use, and gift giving.Worth noting: there is no nutritional info included in the book, which was a trifle odd.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Kitchen Commune is a well written tutorial guide and recipe collection with allergen-friendly cooking (including gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegan, and others) written and curated by Chay Wike. Due out 9th Jan 2024 from Flashpoint, it's 256 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
Most people's social/family lives are spent feeding and breaking bread with the ones they care about. Inclusiveness and genuine hospitality invites readers to make an effort to find delicious, healthy, appealing food which they can share with their friends, even the ones who are on restricted diets because of allergies, autoimmune issues, diabetes, or other self-imposed diets (paleo, vegan, low-carb, etc). This book is a bit of a mix and match, with all the major diets at least mentioned.
The layout is accessible and the recipes are logically arranged: sauces & staples, mornings, salads & small plates, soups & stews, pasta & noodles, veggies, seafood, poultry & meat, and bread baking & sweets. The recipes contain an intro, bullet list of ingredients, and step-by-step preparation instructions. Recipe measurements are given in imperial (American) units. Most of the ingredients will be readily available at any well stocked grocery store. Some few will require specialist retailers or health-food stores.
The photography throughout is plentiful, professionally styled, and appetizing. The author has also included lots of tips for managing groups with multiple dietary considerations.
Well written healthy recipes, none of which are too complex. This would make a very good choice for public library acquisition, home use, and gift giving.Worth noting: there is no nutritional info included in the book, which was a trifle odd.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
June 17, 2023
Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book for me to review.)
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Featuring more than 100 family-friendly, crowd-pleasing recipes—including gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegan, and more—for everyone. Preparing a meal is an act of love for yourself and the ones you share it with. In this stunning cookbook, Chay Wike, author of the acclaimed home cooking and lifestyle blog The Kitchen Commune, offers a guide to reclaiming your health and nourishing your family and friends with easy, delicious, allergen-friendly recipes for all seasons. With gorgeous photographs and brilliant swaps and tips, the recipes within are endlessly customizable and will inspire readers.
Cooking without certain ingredients doesn’t have to be restrictive. Chay emphasizes nutrient-dense whole foods that everyone can enjoy, including updates on familiar classics, easy substitutions with ingredients already in your pantry, and flavorful sauces that will make you want to lick your plate clean. Throughout, The Kitchen Commune celebrates the art of eating together. After all, food should be joyful for everyone—and now it can be.
As someone from a family that eats weirdly (alkaline, orthorexic unless there is ice cream involved…and it must be FRENCH vanilla), has more allergies than I can count plus a coeliac, this book would work wonderfully. (I no longer host family dinners as they are ridiculous at times!)
This is a great book to get the most out of your meals: not just calories, but nutrients and all that good stuff for you in the food that you are using as fuel. The sauces are particularly yummy looking: much like on “Only Murders in the Building” I could live on dips and sauces instead of dinner. Great for healthy, family meals. If you cannot find a recipe here that works for you and your family, well … your family is weirder and needier than mine!
*********************************************************
Featuring more than 100 family-friendly, crowd-pleasing recipes—including gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegan, and more—for everyone. Preparing a meal is an act of love for yourself and the ones you share it with. In this stunning cookbook, Chay Wike, author of the acclaimed home cooking and lifestyle blog The Kitchen Commune, offers a guide to reclaiming your health and nourishing your family and friends with easy, delicious, allergen-friendly recipes for all seasons. With gorgeous photographs and brilliant swaps and tips, the recipes within are endlessly customizable and will inspire readers.
Cooking without certain ingredients doesn’t have to be restrictive. Chay emphasizes nutrient-dense whole foods that everyone can enjoy, including updates on familiar classics, easy substitutions with ingredients already in your pantry, and flavorful sauces that will make you want to lick your plate clean. Throughout, The Kitchen Commune celebrates the art of eating together. After all, food should be joyful for everyone—and now it can be.
As someone from a family that eats weirdly (alkaline, orthorexic unless there is ice cream involved…and it must be FRENCH vanilla), has more allergies than I can count plus a coeliac, this book would work wonderfully. (I no longer host family dinners as they are ridiculous at times!)
This is a great book to get the most out of your meals: not just calories, but nutrients and all that good stuff for you in the food that you are using as fuel. The sauces are particularly yummy looking: much like on “Only Murders in the Building” I could live on dips and sauces instead of dinner. Great for healthy, family meals. If you cannot find a recipe here that works for you and your family, well … your family is weirder and needier than mine!
June 23, 2023
This book falls into the trap of so many healthy cookbooks— the author claims her recipes will work for everyone but they are very specific to her needs. In this case, she eats primarily dairy free (though she cooks with large quantities of ghee), gluten free and rather paleo (though she includes items like brown rice and beans). She has suggestions for how to feed traditional eaters but not how to adjust for people with other needs such as vegans, keto folks, or those with other allergies than hers. This sort of thing always strikes me as ironic in a cookbook for “everyone at the table.”
Also, there is no nutritional information for the recipes, which is annoying in any cookbook but especially so in a cookbook centered on health as so many people need to track sodium, fiber, protein, fats, carbs, calories, sugars, or some combination of these for health reasons.
Some readers may be turned off by the price of some of her ingredients (healthy food does tend to run higher) and the amount of work required.
Now the good news. There are lots of beautiful photos (for slightly more than half the recipes, I’d say), they do seem very healthy in the realm of these dietary restrictions, they use whole food ingredients, and they often sounded very tasty.
If you eat like the author, this will be a wonderful resource. Even if you don’t, if you have her tastes —quality rather gourmet dishes with ingredients like lamb, bison, fresh salmon and lots of ghee and maple syrup — you’ll probably love these recipes. Others may want to preview the book to see if it’s a good fit.
I read a digital review copy of this book via NetGalley.
Also, there is no nutritional information for the recipes, which is annoying in any cookbook but especially so in a cookbook centered on health as so many people need to track sodium, fiber, protein, fats, carbs, calories, sugars, or some combination of these for health reasons.
Some readers may be turned off by the price of some of her ingredients (healthy food does tend to run higher) and the amount of work required.
Now the good news. There are lots of beautiful photos (for slightly more than half the recipes, I’d say), they do seem very healthy in the realm of these dietary restrictions, they use whole food ingredients, and they often sounded very tasty.
If you eat like the author, this will be a wonderful resource. Even if you don’t, if you have her tastes —quality rather gourmet dishes with ingredients like lamb, bison, fresh salmon and lots of ghee and maple syrup — you’ll probably love these recipes. Others may want to preview the book to see if it’s a good fit.
I read a digital review copy of this book via NetGalley.
February 7, 2024
Special diets are the norm today, and it is certainly a challenge to keep up with them and still feed your family and friends good meals. The Kitchen Commune: Meals to Heal and Nourish Everyone at Your Table by Chay Wike is loaded with ideas that conform with special diets and still taste good. The first chapters are dedicated to stocking the kitchen and other organizing tips to make it easier to prepare the recipes.
This is a well-written cookbook and interesting to read. Many of the recipes are appealing to everyone – those on regular diets and also those on special diets. The recipes are mostly easy, and they are presented in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed first, followed by step-by-step instructions. The author has also added notes, tips, and helps at the beginning of each recipe.
Many of the recipes do call for specialty ingredients which may require shopping for ingredients at specialty and/or health food stores. Most families with special need diets already shop for those items.
One of the best things about this book is that there are beautiful, professional photographs of most of the recipes, which helps cooks decide what to make next.
All told, this cookbook is great for healthy cooks and those who cook for people on special diets.
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.
This is a well-written cookbook and interesting to read. Many of the recipes are appealing to everyone – those on regular diets and also those on special diets. The recipes are mostly easy, and they are presented in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed first, followed by step-by-step instructions. The author has also added notes, tips, and helps at the beginning of each recipe.
Many of the recipes do call for specialty ingredients which may require shopping for ingredients at specialty and/or health food stores. Most families with special need diets already shop for those items.
One of the best things about this book is that there are beautiful, professional photographs of most of the recipes, which helps cooks decide what to make next.
All told, this cookbook is great for healthy cooks and those who cook for people on special diets.
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.
July 13, 2023
This is a lovely cookbook with insights from the author. I've never encountered her blog, but I have followed a similar path to finding a way of eating that works for me. I appreciated hearing a bit about her personal story. She also begins the book with "10 principles of the Kitchen Commune" that I found helpful and are very similar to how I approach food, so I felt from the beginning that I would find something of value in the book. She also has a helpful list and explanation of some useful pantry ingredients to keep on hand to make meals that are inclusive to a range of dietary needs (gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, paleo, etc.).
I tried several of the recipes, including a delightful vinaigrette recipe from her grandmother, vanilla berry compote, wild blueberry muffins, and red lentil mulligatawny soup. All were great! And I have many more I'd like to try.
I plan to purchase a hard copy when it comes out (and I'm very particular about the cookbooks I purchase to keep as space in my kitchen is at a premium!), and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for some creative ways to be an inclusive cook!
Thank you to NetGalley and Flashpoint Publishers for the ARC!
I tried several of the recipes, including a delightful vinaigrette recipe from her grandmother, vanilla berry compote, wild blueberry muffins, and red lentil mulligatawny soup. All were great! And I have many more I'd like to try.
I plan to purchase a hard copy when it comes out (and I'm very particular about the cookbooks I purchase to keep as space in my kitchen is at a premium!), and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for some creative ways to be an inclusive cook!
Thank you to NetGalley and Flashpoint Publishers for the ARC!
August 14, 2023
My family's health and happiness is important to me. I'm a good cook but with food prices going up every time you visit the grocery store, it's hard to try new, healthy recipes without breaking my budget. And of course, they have to taste good too. One of my goals this year is to learn more about how I can accomplish all of this in my home kitchen. Enter THE KITCHEN COMMUNE.
While I have not tried every recipe, yet, the ones I have prepared have met with 5 star reviews from my picky taste testers. The recipes were not intimidating and I didn't have to spend extra on ingredients I will never use again. My family has already declared several of them "favorites" and I've made them often enough that the word has spread outside my kitchen that this cookbook has earned a place of honor in kitchens across my neighborhood. I won't lend mine so they have to get their own. That's the best recommendation I could make......you cannot borrow my book!
While I have not tried every recipe, yet, the ones I have prepared have met with 5 star reviews from my picky taste testers. The recipes were not intimidating and I didn't have to spend extra on ingredients I will never use again. My family has already declared several of them "favorites" and I've made them often enough that the word has spread outside my kitchen that this cookbook has earned a place of honor in kitchens across my neighborhood. I won't lend mine so they have to get their own. That's the best recommendation I could make......you cannot borrow my book!
February 3, 2024
This cookbook is like the go-to for the need-to-please-all-that-are-eating cookbook. Such a user-friendly and mouth-watering set of stories and recipes, I was excited to go through a well defined book. When I paged through and want to make almost every single thing, I knew this was one of the good ones. And the pics - yeah, it worked well to attract a cook like me!
There are recipes that are vegan, grain-free, dairy-free, anything really that has some sort of restrictions, you can find a recipe to make. Creative dishes alongside basic you-should-know items, like simpler breads or just tortillas, this book's got you. I'm so ready to make the gochujang wings. Food porn, I tell ya.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
There are recipes that are vegan, grain-free, dairy-free, anything really that has some sort of restrictions, you can find a recipe to make. Creative dishes alongside basic you-should-know items, like simpler breads or just tortillas, this book's got you. I'm so ready to make the gochujang wings. Food porn, I tell ya.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
June 27, 2023
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I like the idea of this book in principal, but I wasn't wowed by the recipes. There's a variety of recipes in this book focused on anecdotes or information about making people feel welcome and eating together. The book has some nice pictures, but doesn't talk about modifications to the recipes for different diets. There recipes themselves are fairly straightforward and easy to understand.
Overall not for me, but I can see how this might be a nice book for others who host.
I like the idea of this book in principal, but I wasn't wowed by the recipes. There's a variety of recipes in this book focused on anecdotes or information about making people feel welcome and eating together. The book has some nice pictures, but doesn't talk about modifications to the recipes for different diets. There recipes themselves are fairly straightforward and easy to understand.
Overall not for me, but I can see how this might be a nice book for others who host.
January 4, 2024
I hadn’t heard of the author or her blog prior to reviewing this book. I will definitely be checking it out because this was an amazing cookbook. My goal for the year is to work in cutting down/out inflammatory ingredients from my diet. This book is a great resource! Honestly it doesn’t feel like it is any sort of special diet (until you look at the ingredient list) from the pictures. You definitely won’t be missing anything by trying these!
January 4, 2024
Great recipes, lovely photos, and easy to find ingredients make this a visually appealing cookbook. I was genuinely excited reading this book deciding which recipes were must-tries for me. Also appealing is that these recipes are allergen-free, but not boring and easy to substitute ingredients. Especially great is the chapter on sauces---so many options for adding a special zing to your recipes.
Thank you Netgalley and Flashpoint for the ARC!
Thank you Netgalley and Flashpoint for the ARC!
January 10, 2024
A fairly good addition to the world of niche diet cookbooks, The Kitchen Commune has a wide array of recipes. Many are unique to Chay Wike's personal diet; there is, for example, much more ghee used in this than any other "dairy free" cookbook I've ever encountered. If you happen to have a similar diet to Wike's, it is doubtless a helpful book; but I, personally, was less than wowed.
*I received an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions herein are my own.*
*I received an eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions herein are my own.*
November 22, 2023
This took me a long while to read as my ARC did not translate to kindle well, but I am so glad that I persevered. We ,as a family, have a number of food related issues and this book had just made my life so much easier and given me so many ideas of new recipes I can prepare. Can't wait to buy a hard copy.
August 28, 2023
I absolutely love the recipes in this book. They feel doable for me with my upper-intermediate level of cooking ability, and they were exactly what I was looking for. I have options for traditional ways of making many of them, if I would like, or some combination of the dietary options the author includes with ease.
We are working with three adults with food restrictions and two children who are sensitive eaters, and I know that they will eat many items from this cookbook.
We are working with three adults with food restrictions and two children who are sensitive eaters, and I know that they will eat many items from this cookbook.
January 5, 2024
An interesting book with lots of cool recipes. I liked that this book focused on allergen free cooking but that each recipe was easy to substitute if you wanted to use other ingredients or make simpler. 4/5
January 9, 2024
It present itself that meals are a gathering of many appetites and taste. She was unfortunately diagnose with multiple ailments and decided to get back her health naturally. The results are a variety of delicious and careful minded meals that gives you a savory visualize feasts.
November 6, 2023
Beautiful photos and lots of interesting recipies.
November 25, 2023
Delicious sounding recipes great photography a guide to cooking healthy appetizing meals.Will be trying many recipes from this lovely cookbook.#netgalley #flashpoint
May 27, 2024
Reshaping habits for health is what this book is all about but in a truly taste conscious way. Yum!
December 27, 2025
Got a few good ideas from the book. Beautiful pictures.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews