I love a good steak too much to imagine ever giving up meat completely. But no one has to convince me that working more vegetarian meals into my diet would be better for my body and the environment.
What I can use, though, is motivation to push myself beyond the mundane thrown-together pasta and salad concoctions I tend to fall back on — more as a matter of saving time than saving the planet.
Reading Alice Hart’s “The Way to Eat Now: Modern Vegetarian Food,” I may have hit the jackpot. Hart is a UK-based chef and food writer reputed for her mastery at creating seasonal meatless recipes infused with flavors and textures drawn from travels around the world. Her aim, she says, is to give readers ideas — not lectures.
Rather than “demonize certain foods,” she focuses on the pleasures of plant-based eating, with guidance on everything from fermenting for beginners, to “how to cook lentils more beautifully.”
Chapters revolve around the way most of us think about food in our daily lives — Mornings, Grazing, Quick, Thrifty, Gatherings, Grains, Raw-ish, Afters, Pantry — interspersed with gentle advice for maximizing the recipes within. Start your day with a Coconut-Chia Strawberry Bowl alongside a cup of “cleansing” Spiced Turmeric Tea. Snack on Corn Tortillas with Avocado and Charred Scallions. Have Vegetarian Pad Thai for a fast dinner. Or cut costs — as I did — with a dazzling Roasted Carrot, Chickpea and Pomegranate Salad that utilizes the wonderfully nutty flavor and chewy texture of wheat berries as a wholesome alternative to refined grains.
Hart’s philosophy boils down to this: “Eat a rainbow of vegetables (most of the time) with real ingredients rather than processed (most of the time) … and let life take its enjoyable course for the rest.”
That’s a goal this nonvegetarian can easily embrace.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
RELATED:
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
