At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well

Book Synopsis: James Beard Award Winner (Vegetarian)IACP Award Winner (Healthy Eating) A sophisticated vegetarian cookbook with all the tools you need to be at home in your kitchen, cooking in the most nourishing and delicious ways—from the foundations of stocking a pantry and understanding your ingredients, to preparing elaborate seasonal feasts. Imagine you are in a bright, breezy kitchen. There are large bowls on the counter full of lush, colorful produce and a cake stand stacked with pretty whole-grain muffins. On the shelves live rows of glass jars containing grains, seeds, beans, nuts, and spices. You open the fridge and therein you find a bottle of fresh almond milk, cooked beans, soaking grains, dressings, ferments, and seasonal produce. This is Amy Chaplin’s kitchen. It is a heavenly place, and this book will make it your kitchen too.

With her love of whole food and knowledge as a chef, Chaplin has written a book that will inspire you to eat well at every meal. Part One lays the foundation for stocking the pantry. This is not just a list of food and equipment; it’s real working information—how and why to use ingredients—and an arsenal of simple recipes for daily nourishment. Also included throughout are tips on living a whole food lifestyle: planning weekly menus, why organic is important, composting, plastics vs. glass, drinking tea, doing a whole food cleanse, and much more.

Part Two is a collection of recipes (most of which are naturally gluten-free) celebrating vegetarian cuisine in its brightest, whole, sophisticated form. Black rice breakfast pudding with coconut and banana? Yes, please. Beet tartlets with poppy seed crust and white bean fennel filling? I’ll take two. Fragrant eggplant curry with cardamom basmati rice, apricot chutney, and cucumber lime raita? Invite company. Roasted fig raspberry tart with toasted almond crust? There is always room for this kind of dessert. If you are an omnivore, you will delight in this book for its playful use of produce and know-how in balancing food groups. If you are a vegetarian, this book will become your best friend, always there for you when you’re on your own, and ready to lend a hand when you’re sharing food with family and friends. If you are a vegan, you can cook nearly every recipe in this book and feed your body well in the truest sense. This is whole food for everyone.