Chocolate and Beyond

Reading 'Eating Animals' is making me re-think my prawn habit...

If you follow this blog, you'll probably know that I've gone from being vegetarian (most of my life) to eating some meat (blinkered period), to being vegetarian again (principles couldn't stay down) but trying to cut out dairy (Conklin Farms horror), to being pescitarian but only choosing MSC fish (it suffers marginally less) and now?

Well I've gone and bought myself Jonathan Safran Foer's book 'Eating Animals', and I'm really starting to think the fish - and even the prawns - have to go.

I've cut down immensely on eating fish, I have to say, and I have been working at eliminating fish from my diet completely. But I never really saw any reason to give up prawns, ever, on the basis that I didn't think they suffered (which might not be true anyhow), as well as the fact that when there's nothing else on the menu that's veggie, there's usually a prawn dish I can eat. Yet I hadn't really considered the environmental impact of my prawn habit.

In Eating Animals, Safran Foer says that "shrimp trawling devastates sea horse populations more than any other activity". Sea horses are actually quite marvellous little creatures, with very complex natures (they live in long-term monogamous relationships and the males become pregnant, for crying out loud!), and they are being wiped out by the fishing industry. And while the prawns I buy from supermarkets are only ever the ones that say 'responsibly sourced' on them, what does this really mean?

Can I guarantee a sea horse has never died from the prawns I eat? I doubt it. And what really shocked me in reading Eating Animals (though I'm so busy I haven't actually got that far in the book yet, though it's already having an impact) was how much sea life altogether is killed as 'bycatch', for just one piece of fish on your plate.

Safran Foer says "Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might need to be five feet across."

And these animals don't just include other fish. In tuna fishing, they include whales, dolphins, sharks, and sea birds of all kinds. Now that's something for me to think about, I reckon.

Book review: Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

If you ever needed to know what food porn was, then you'll find it in Yotam Ottolenghi's 'Plenty'

Though not a vegetarian himself, Yotam writes 'The New Vegetarian' column in the Guardian and I bought this book around 6 months ago after reading about it in a magazine. It's been the only recipe collection I've ever carried on using after the novelty of buying the book has worn off, having been so bowled over by the finished results that I just can't wait to try the next thing.

I have to admit, it's also been the only cookbook that I've actually taken to bed to read! So excited I was at the fabulous fare it contains. Yotam is from Israel and the cuisine is Middle Eastern influenced, where vegetables are used in far more interesting ways than in the UK, it seems. 

You will not find a boring array of pasta bakes and 'fake meat' concoctions here. And it's certainly not a book 'just for' vegetarians - committed carnivores will find that the taste sensations in this book are so unique and compelling, that meat will not be missed.

Some of the recipes call for unusual ingredients that need to be found at Middle Eastern grocers or ordered online, but they are worth the effort.

I have a couple of recipes that I could say were my favourites so far. One is the Aubergine and Lemon Risotto, which is divine, though I'd suggest this makes only enough for three people as a main course. The other is the Mushroom and Herb Polenta (but I must mention, I have done my own variation on this both times I have cooked it, since I did not have the same herbs handy!).

Cook from this book and you will be producing top notch, gourmet cuisine in your own kitchen. I promise.

Till we eat again: confessions of a diet drop-out

Till we eat again: confessions of a diet drop-out by Judy Gruen is a book review that I should have included here LONG ago. Judy was kind enough to send me a copy of her book maybe a year or so ago, and I've been sitting on it for such a while (well, not literally, else my behind would be quite sore) after reading it. Sometimes, I just don't know what I do with my organisational abilities!

However, it is a book that is most definitely worth reviewing, since it made me laugh out hysterically loud on a number of occasions throughout reading. Judy, through biting wit and spot-on self-awareness, depicts her route to losing 15 pounds after she gets invited to a college reunion, and cannot bear the idea of attending carrying the extra rolls.

Book Review: The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies: 365 natural blends

It takes me a while to get into any recipe book, if I ever do. Mostly, I make one or two culinary concoctions and then it sits in my cupboard getting dusty (with a few coffee stains for a well-worn look). However, I recently received The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies: 365 natural blends for health and vitality every day by Natalie Savona, and it is so easy to use, it even draws in a one-pan wonder woman like me.

It’s an idiot’s guide, really. And what I most love about the book is that it is coded by cute little pictures of the main fruit or vegetable ingredient of the drink blend, so if you have an abundance of tomatoes in your fridge, you can go straight to the section and look for tomato recipes.

French Women Don't Get Fat

Or not as much as women in the UK or US, that is!

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure is Mireille Guiliano's light-hearted look at some of the possible reasons as to why obesity isn't as much of a problem for our female neighbours on the continent (and something I wrote about for handbag.com).

There aren't any real secrets, but if you've lost the way through dieting, bingeing, starving or whatever, then it can be a breath of fresh air to read something as common sense as this book.

Book Review: Beyond Chocolate

Fed up of the endless treadmill of weight-loss and weight gain, and wishing you could live a life that doesn't revolve around planning your next meal (or feeling guilty about the last one)? Then Beyond Chocolate could be for you. Learn the principles that will help you lose weight for good, without pain, and more importantly, that will help you dump those diet fads for good.

Easy to get to grips with, generous helpings of empathy and understanding, and mercifully lacking in any patronising self-help gobbledegook, it explores the alternative to a life of being a yo-yo dieter, aiming to help women break the cycle that leaves most of us left with little self-esteem.