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The Book of Whole Meals: A Seasonal Guide to Assembling Balanced Vegetarian Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners
"It is difficult to imagine a better course for practicing, would-be, or even part-time vegetarians," said The New York Times of Annemarie Colbin's cooking classes. And, in this book, the founder of the successful Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City offers a whole year's worth of her popular classes.
The Book Of Whole Meals
-- Provides a sound holistic nutritional philosophy on which to base your food choices
-- Gives thorough instructions on how to set up a kitchen and a well-stocked pantry
-- Offers varied menus for each dozens of whole breakfasts, lunches; and dinners, using the fruits and vegetables of the season
-- Shows how to make quick meals with leftovers, without sacrificing taste or nutrition
-- Teaches you how to maximize efficiency and grace in the kitchen with time-saving hints for organizing every step of food preparation...and more!
Voted one of ten best cookbooks by New Age Journal readers.
The Book Of Whole Meals
-- Provides a sound holistic nutritional philosophy on which to base your food choices
-- Gives thorough instructions on how to set up a kitchen and a well-stocked pantry
-- Offers varied menus for each dozens of whole breakfasts, lunches; and dinners, using the fruits and vegetables of the season
-- Shows how to make quick meals with leftovers, without sacrificing taste or nutrition
-- Teaches you how to maximize efficiency and grace in the kitchen with time-saving hints for organizing every step of food preparation...and more!
Voted one of ten best cookbooks by New Age Journal readers.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 1, 2018
Tl;Dr: recommend for anyone interested in eating naturally. Comprehensive, informative and a must have for every vegetarian household!!
[quote] "Foreword:
Dear Betty Crocker:
I’ve had varicose veins since I was sixteen. I had two bouts of phlebitis before I was twenty-five.
I took diuretics regularly, had almost constant pain and swelling in my legs.
I couldn’t do the things I enjoyed—even going to museums or on long walks—without suffering.
Almost immediately after eliminating sugar and white flour from my diet and switching to whole foods, the pain stopped.
No more swelling, no more diuretics. No more allergies, colds, no illnesses in two years since I set fire to your cookbook.
I never knew I could feel so good.
Does Betty Crocker ever get letters like that? I doubt it.
But I do, every day in several languages. Always the same story.
Name the disorder and I’ll show you someone, somewhere, who got rid of it by switching to whole foods and cooking from scratch." [/quote]
- William Dafty
I think if I struggle to put a book down then that book must be decent. I finished the theory part of the book within a few days.
This is a brilliant source book on the holistic approach to food. It is set into two sections - theory and practice. This makes it great for people who just want meal plans etc.
This book was writtten not long after the US Government's Select Committee on "Nutrition and Human Needs. Dietary Goals for the United States." It was the 70s. People were starting to question the safety of processed food especially as the mass food industry was booming.
I feel that Colbin realised the need to teach people about eating for health especially when in 1977 she started the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in the kitchen of her Upper West Side apartment. She was a pioneer in this field. She says that when she was a teen she went on a fasting diet with her family and it was the first time she understood that what you eat impacts your health. This was when her interest into how food affects your health really started.
back in the 70s she would have been considered a maverick. In today's world where the health food fads are the norm, I feel she may have got lost among the information.
While this book is dated (and we know more about nutrition than we did in 1979) the information it contains from the life force of food to meal plans. It is extremely comprehensive and interesting. the theories on why it is important that we eat organic, locally grown, natural foods. It explains how to choose your meals, what seasonal ingredients are, and even how to set up your kitchen. The meal plans are set up for seasonal cooking and all the plans tend to use leftover ingredients for future meals.
This is great for beginner cooks, anyone interested in macrobiotics, vegetarianism, and general healthy living. It is great transition book for healthy seasonal eating and health.
Especially as those who aren't into the theory can just start using meal plans.
although as I said it is dated so the recipes at times are dated and some ingredients I just wouldn't use ie corn oil as I try to avoid GM foods.
This is not a glossy, fancy recipe book that has lots of creative "haute-cusine" vegetarian recipes like you find in cookbooks like Yotam Ottolenghi's 'Plenty' but it is a practical guide to cooking natural whole foods as a lifestyle choice.
This is a must have (in my opinion) for everyone who wants to eat clean and feel better.
[quote] "Foreword:
Dear Betty Crocker:
I’ve had varicose veins since I was sixteen. I had two bouts of phlebitis before I was twenty-five.
I took diuretics regularly, had almost constant pain and swelling in my legs.
I couldn’t do the things I enjoyed—even going to museums or on long walks—without suffering.
Almost immediately after eliminating sugar and white flour from my diet and switching to whole foods, the pain stopped.
No more swelling, no more diuretics. No more allergies, colds, no illnesses in two years since I set fire to your cookbook.
I never knew I could feel so good.
Does Betty Crocker ever get letters like that? I doubt it.
But I do, every day in several languages. Always the same story.
Name the disorder and I’ll show you someone, somewhere, who got rid of it by switching to whole foods and cooking from scratch." [/quote]
- William Dafty
I think if I struggle to put a book down then that book must be decent. I finished the theory part of the book within a few days.
This is a brilliant source book on the holistic approach to food. It is set into two sections - theory and practice. This makes it great for people who just want meal plans etc.
This book was writtten not long after the US Government's Select Committee on "Nutrition and Human Needs. Dietary Goals for the United States." It was the 70s. People were starting to question the safety of processed food especially as the mass food industry was booming.
I feel that Colbin realised the need to teach people about eating for health especially when in 1977 she started the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in the kitchen of her Upper West Side apartment. She was a pioneer in this field. She says that when she was a teen she went on a fasting diet with her family and it was the first time she understood that what you eat impacts your health. This was when her interest into how food affects your health really started.
back in the 70s she would have been considered a maverick. In today's world where the health food fads are the norm, I feel she may have got lost among the information.
While this book is dated (and we know more about nutrition than we did in 1979) the information it contains from the life force of food to meal plans. It is extremely comprehensive and interesting. the theories on why it is important that we eat organic, locally grown, natural foods. It explains how to choose your meals, what seasonal ingredients are, and even how to set up your kitchen. The meal plans are set up for seasonal cooking and all the plans tend to use leftover ingredients for future meals.
This is great for beginner cooks, anyone interested in macrobiotics, vegetarianism, and general healthy living. It is great transition book for healthy seasonal eating and health.
Especially as those who aren't into the theory can just start using meal plans.
although as I said it is dated so the recipes at times are dated and some ingredients I just wouldn't use ie corn oil as I try to avoid GM foods.
This is not a glossy, fancy recipe book that has lots of creative "haute-cusine" vegetarian recipes like you find in cookbooks like Yotam Ottolenghi's 'Plenty' but it is a practical guide to cooking natural whole foods as a lifestyle choice.
This is a must have (in my opinion) for everyone who wants to eat clean and feel better.
November 23, 2018
Excellent.
March 29, 2022
Good nutrition advice but extremely bland recipes. Far too many dishes on the menu.
July 9, 2025
Didnt find it so easy to apply
December 11, 2011
One of my favorite cookbooks and go-to references.
April 6, 2013
a classic! When this came out I must have cooked every recipe in the book. A great book to get into natural foods cooking
February 3, 2016
My favorite for planning Regional and Seasonal meals.
I have been using this cookbook for over 35 years, it is an Oldie, but Goodie.
I have been using this cookbook for over 35 years, it is an Oldie, but Goodie.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews