FoodReference.com (since 1999)
BOOK REVIEW SECTION

 

 You are here > Home > 

Next

 The Whole Foods Market Cookbook:
A Guide to Natural Foods with 350 Recipes

by Steve Petusevsky and Whole Foods Market Team Members
                                 
For those who do not know...who are the Whole Foods Market, Inc.? The world leader in organic and natural ingredients and a group of passionate, healthy food lovers who, twenty-plus years ago, made it their goal to provide food in its most pure form. Their first store opened in 1980 in Austin, Texas. As an entity they are all about the challenge of making certain that the most fresh, flavorful, high-quality organic and natural foods were made available to their customers. Consisting of nearly 25,000 "team members", 130 stores and a customer base of millions in the United States and Canada, The Whole Foods Market's practices embrace the philosophy that healthy foods result in healthy people and a healthy environment.

The team leader in this effort is Steve Petusevsky, a former chef for Whole Foods Market and a Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate and instructor. A nationally syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune ("Vegetarian Today"), Mr. Petusevsky has been published in well-regarded better living/eating publications such as Vegetarian Times, Self, Cooking Light and recently featured on the TODAY show in New York City.

What an astounding publication this cookbook is. I am so fortunate that each book I have reviewed of late has been an absolute treasure. The Whole Foods Market Cookbook is paramount among them. The efforts of Mr. Petusevsky and the team members creates what can only be described as positively the encyclopaedia of organic/ whole foods cuisine. Appreciated is that it offers variations in the recipes that also make them completely accessible to vegan/vegetarian cooks. That is to say that milk and cheese substitution recommendations are freely offered.

Before you even get to a recipe, the writers have made it so very easy to be at ease with natural foods preparation and provide basically everything that you could ever need to know about it---from key utensils to definitions. The recipes are generally such an appealing offering of ideas for meats, fish, whole grains, legumes---most every category of food. Its four hundred fifty pages could be so very intimidating to a reader but it is obvious that every word, thought, preparation guide and aspect of this publication has been thoughtfully sculpted---its obvious intent to entertain, educate and stimulate the palates of anyone who reads it. It is a wise person who elects to do so. It is a scholarly, yet welcoming book. You, too, will appreciate the cooking tips and quantity and quality of knowledge to be found in its pages. As regards the recipes specifically...they are an astounding collection of simple, multicultural, tongue-tempting magic that are completely healthy, good for you and do-able in a home kitchen.

I must admit--- jaded, unimpressable cynic that I have become---The Whole Foods Market Cookbook and its 350 recipes have got me excited about food again. These are not merely food formulas. They are stylish, appealing, intriguing and au courant diamonds on paper. I cannot really find more accolades to describe my admiration of this work. To do so could lead some to find my words insincere. That, I won't allow relative to this publication. It's in its third printing ladies and gentlemen.

Recommendation: An absolute "must-have"---full stop.
Book Review by Marc for the Food Reference Website