Although not promoted in New Zealand yet, the Meat-Free
Monday campaign has been running in the United States and
United Kingdom and other countries for almost a decade.
It encourages people to make healthy eating decisions at the
start of the week and to help the health of the planet. UN
figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere than transport. If enough people
consume less meat, it will make a difference to both their
health and that of the planet.
Now there's a Meat Free Monday Cookbook (Kyle Books)
which is divided into four seasonal sections, each with 13
weekly recipes for breakfast, lunch or a packed lunch, a
snack or side, a main dish and dessert. There are a lot of
enticing recipes here: spicy falafel with tahini sauce,
spinach tart, Sicilian cauliflower pasta with garlic, and
salads of all sorts, and all are vegetarian. With attractive
recipes like these, it would be easy to have several
meat-free days.
Quinoa (pronounced keen-wha) is much lauded these days
for its nutritional value. A grain-like seed originating from
the Andes in South America, it is said to be very high in
vitimins, and protein and contains all the essential amino
acids, which is rare for a plant food. Rena Patten, author of
Cooking with Quinoa, has now written
Quinoa for
families (New Holland) with recipes for it in flake, flour
or grain form. It is especially useful for those on gluten-free
diets. There are soups, salads, meat, fish and vegetarian
dishes as well as sweet things and little dishes to appeal to
children.
Other recent books for those avoiding gluten are The
family friendly gluten-free cookbook by Sarah King (New
Holland) and Gluten-free cooking for kids by Paul
Vickery (Kyle Books). King, who runs the Gluten-free Grocer
in Auckland, concentrates mainly on baking, the most
difficult aspect of a gluten-free diet, and many of her
recipes are also dairy and egg-free.
Vickery's book is aimed at parents whose children have been
diagnosed with coeliac disease. It starts with baby food and
goes on to all sorts of other child-friendly food.
Gordon Ramsay and his team produce a cookbook each year:
this year it is
Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course
(Hodder and Stoughton). It is not exactly a cookery course, but
there is a lot of useful information in the introductions to
each section.They include classics with a twist, spiced dishes,
economical dishes, cooking for one or two, or a crowd, and
cooking ahead, as well as recipes for meat, fish, and baked
goods. Many of the recipes are inspired by his visits to India
and Southeast Asia, but there are classics like fish pie, and
bread and butter pudding.
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