Eat To Live is a book that Jess read when she first became vegan. It also is the book that her mom read that set her on her vegan-ish journey (she is 95% vegan). So, they were both really excited about the Eat To Live Cookbook coming out. Jess grabbed it off of the shelf the first time she saw it. With a $30 price tag, she probably should have looked through the book a bit more before buying it (her own admission).
The book starts off with a brief introduction to the "nutratarian" way of eating. It's basically a summary of the original Eat To Live book without all of the scientific details. Jess really enjoyed reading this. She felt that it was easy to understand and that it paints a clearer picture to the layman than Eat to Live does. Dr. Furman suggests eating a whole foods, plant based diet with a large amount of leafy greens. He does allow small amounts of dairy and meat, but advises that they be used as condiments rather than the main dish. There is a separate and small section of recipes that include these items at the back of the book. Jess and I, of course, payed this section no mind.
When it comes to the heart of the book (the recipes), the handful that we tried were hit-and-miss. They seem to suffer from the same malady that plagues most cookbooks published by doctors and nutritionists rather than chefs and connoisseurs; the recipes place all emphasis on being healthful and occasionally forget about what qualities are required to make a delicious dish. In addition, some of the recipes are bewilderingly non-traditional. Don't get me wrong, I love to be experimental and try new things, but some of the serving suggestions in the Eat To Live Cookbook were just a bit too much. How about serving Spaghetti Squash Primavera over shredded lettuce? We tried it out of curiosity. You should not. I will say, though, that the lettuce at least added some texture to the primavera which was mushy and texture-free when cooked as the book directed.
There were recipes that we enjoyed quite a bit. "Cheesy" Kale Soup has earned a spot in our favorite recipe binder, in fact. The great recipe to lackluster recipe ratio was just too low for our liking, though, and along with the expensive nature of a lot of the recipes (cashew butter and Mediterranean pine nuts are priced at a premium!) we couldn't continue with the cookbook as long as we had planned.
We would have loved to suggest purchasing the Eat To Live Cookbook as we would love to suggest all of the vegan books and cookbooks out there, but unfortunately we cannot. There are other cookbooks available that offer more delicious food while being just as healthy. The original Eat To Live is great and one of the formative books to Jess's veganism, so if you're looking for some vegan reading and don't absolutely need the new recipes go ahead and pick that up instead.
Justin Timberlake hosted SNL this past weekend which I've found to be a pretty good indicator that it's going to be an entertaining episode. Justin has been featured in a huge portion of the most memorable sketches to come out of SNL in the past few years. He's shown us all how to love a mother, how to give the most memorable gifts, and how to conduct oneself around the ladies.
One memorable sketch from 2007 had Justin dressed in an enormous, foam cup o' soup suit. They rehashed that premise with the latest episode, but rather than a cup o' soup, Justin donned a suit fashioned to look like a giant brick of tofu! He danced and sang to encourage passers-by to "Bring it on down to Veganville", the new vegan restaurant on the block.
Not only was veganism featured on television, but it was funny! And not only was it funny, but the sketch ended with veganism winning over the sausage-peddling rival!
Kudos to SNL and Justin. I'll keep my fingers crossed that his next appearance on SNL will likewise include a nod to those of us with a kinder diet.
The day has finally come. The Cooking Channel has at last featured a special—first aired a few weeks ago—all about the benefits of a vegan diet. It’s about time! Well, let’s plop ourselves down on the couch and enjoy some How To Live To 100 With Jason Wrobel. This ought to be great, right? Right? …right?
I really, really wanted to like this show, but in the end, there were too many elements that turned me off and I came away feeling like it was a poor representation of a vegan diet and culture. As a matter of fact, my first complaint is that the show seemed to go out of its way to avoid saying that it was proposing a vegan diet. The V-word was only used once in the entire show and it was used derogatorily when Jason’s “neighbor” called him “vegan boy”. I know it was just a jest, but the show could have benefited from at least one instance of “vegan” being used in a positive tone.
All the recipes, of course, are vegan, but the show makes it seem coincidental. The foods are presented as having health benefits from their antioxidant-rich ingredients. This is fantastic, but the health benefits of a vegan diet cannot be summed up in the foods that it includes. Equally important are the foods that a vegan diet excludes. The foods highlighted in the show all sounded delicious and healthy, but if they’re eaten as a side to a double cheeseburger or a 24 oz. steak, the benefits are sure to be slim.
Aside from the show’s issues regarding the presentation of veganism, I found the show was just too difficult to enjoy. Jason Wrobel has an on-screen personality that is just too over-the-top. The jokes were seldom clever and he punctuated the poor jokes with outrageous expressions that did nothing but prompt my eyes to roll. Wrobel has said in interviews that his intent was to create a “cooking show meets sitcom”. It all comes off as trying far too hard, though. Especially disappointing is that this ineffectual humor element ends up consuming so much screen time that the recipe segments seemed to take a sideline to Wrobel being a ham. I for one prefer my cooking shows to be cooking shows and my sitcoms to be sitcoms.
So, my excitement over a vegan television show on the Cooking Channel has been tempered by the realization that I don’t actually enjoy the show, but in the end, it is an important step for veganism. With luck, How To Live To 100 will be at least successful enough to motivate additional vegan shows in the future. And for that reason, I still urge you to check out the show if for no other reason than to buttress the show’s ratings. Though I didn’t care for it, perhaps To Live To 100 With Jason Wrobel will resonate more with some of you.
Thanks for reading!
If there’s a single food item that brings to mind Thanksgiving with the family, for me it would not be turkey. Even before abandoning my carnivorous ways, another food item reigned supreme on my family’s Thanksgiving table. Our November holiday is dominated by the pie. I recall one year, back when my grandmother was still alive and hosting the Thanksgiving dinners, there were fourteen of us circling the table; she had made 15 pies.
My grandmother’s pie crusts, of course, were made with love... and plenty of lard. So, the classic pies of my youth wouldn’t jive with my dietary decisions now, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t still enjoy some pretty amazing pies. If you want the proof, just bake any one of the pies featured in Vegan Pie in the Sky: 75 Out-of-This-World Recipes for Pies, Tarts, Cobblers, and More.
Jess and I were thrilled when we first heard of the book and even more thrilled when we first put our hands on a copy. This pie cookbook is written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The duo have collaborated on a number of cookbooks--many of which we own, and all of which have impressed us. Jess and I have never cooked a recipe of theirs that has been a disappointment.
We baked four pies out of this book in the past week. Two of the four pies were actually the same kind--Coconut Cream--because we loved it so much the first time we made it. The Maple Pecan Pie is also amazing. Grandma used to make an amazing pecan pie, but many of my family say the Maple Pecan Pie out of Vegan Pie in the Sky was the best they’ve ever had.
It’s important to note, as well, that pie isn’t all about the filling. I’ve long believed that a pie is only as good as its crust. Vegan Pie in the Sky has the best pie crust recipe that I’ve ever used. If by some outlandish change of heart I tomorrow went back to eating a diet totally unrestricted, I would keep and use this crust recipe. The price of the cookbook is justified by the crust recipe alone.
Vegan Pie in the Sky: 75 Out-of-This-World Recipes for Pies, Tarts, Cobblers, and More is a must have for any vegan with a sweet tooth or, really, anyone with a sweet tooth. The pies are some of the best we’ve ever had, vegan or not.
