Cookbook Idea

[Guest guest]

O.K., this is not a vegan cookbook. However, it is all about veggies and

fruits and could be a good jumping off point for ideas. A friend submitted

a recipe and that is how I came to know about it. The other good point is

that it is about seasonal foods and thus gives one ideas for what is

available at any given time. It is also about supporting locally grown

foods, local farmers and so forth.

 

Thought some of you might be interested. If not, delete here <g>

 

Oh, the friend isn't making any money off this book, nor am I!

 

Lynda

 

Simply in Season, A World Community Cookbook

Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert

 

Website: http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/

 

Info from Amazon:

 

# Spiral-bound: 352 pages

# Publisher: Herald Press (PA); Spiral edition (June 17,

2005)

# Language: English

# ISBN: 0836192974

 

Amazon price for the spiral-bound edition: $13.59

Amazon price for the paperback edition: $11.19

(I'd recommend the spiral bound edition, which has heavy

plastic covers.)

 

'Simply in Season' is the third 'World Community Cookbook'

produced by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). The

others were 'The More-with-Less Cookbook' (emphasis on

economical recipes) and 'Extending the Table' (recipes from

around the world).

 

'Simply in Season', as you will guess from the title, is

wholly about cooking and eating seasonal - and therefore at

least potentially local - foods.

 

After an initial 'Fruit and Vegetable Guide', the book is

arranged by season, and each season has recipes for:

 

Breads and Breakfast

Soups

Salads

Sides

Main Dishes

Desserts

Extras

 

After the spring, summer, autumn and winter sections,

there's an 'all seasons' section with some useful all-year

recipes (pie crusts and the like).

 

This is not a vegetarian cookbook as it includes seasonal

meat (lamb in spring) and other meats, but many of the

recipes do not call for meat.

 

Basically, it's how to use the fruits of your garden or

other local and seasonal foods (maybe bought from a

farmstand, farmers market, or CSA). It's the best cookbook

of this type that I have ever read - and they've got the

seasons right. I hate it when I read an ostensibly seasonal

recipe that includes, for example, fresh peas plus fresh

tomatoes. At least in my neck of the woods, the two are

definitely not happening at once. But 'Simply in Season' is

actually accurate about what foods are in season when.

 

The recipes emphasize healthful cooking and healthful foods.

Recipes were sent in by contributors, then each recipe was

tested at least two (and usually more) times by testers.

The authors spent nearly two years collecting 1600 recipes

from more than 450 contributors, then winnowed the recipes

down to the best 307 - and those are included in this

cookbook. Contributor(s) for each recipe are identified by

name and location.

 

'Simply in Season' is particularly strong in having recipes

for unusual seasonal foods: ground cherries, persimmons,

rhubarb, and the like. Lots of zucchini recipes, of course.

The recipes almost all sound VERY good to me, and the level

of difficulty is about right: I'm not willing to spend an

awful lot of time cooking these days. Many of the recipes

enable you to make the main dish from/with your garden's

bounty - this is always helpful to me. And it has some

splendid sounding desserts too!

 

Like the preceding two cookbooks from MCC, the book also

includes little homilies and 'stories' which - in this case

- are mainly about the virtues of growing and eating local

food. A few of the 'stories' are explicitly

'religious', but the majority are not. If you object to

anything even vaguely spiritual, this may not be the

cookbook for you, although really: you could just ignore

those parts. For myself, I'm glad to see anything published

that may help to inform people about the reasons to support

local farmers and sustainable farming. Eat local food,

change the world!

 

I recommend 'Simply in Season' most highly - especially to

gardeners, but also to everyone who wants good, healthy, and

delicious food.