Ani's Raw Food Kitchen

June 15, 2007
Model Alt's first book, "Eating in the Raw", was more about the details of her switch to a raw-foods diet, though it did include about 40 recipes. Her new book includes menus with recipes for lunch and dinner and ten recipes each for breakfast, drinks, and snacks. The recipes are fairly simple; however, as is often true of raw-foods dishes, many require advance prep such as presoaking or dehydrating. Alt also includes a handful of case studies of people (including her sister) whose health problems have apparently been solved by a raw-foods diet. Expect demand.

Phyo is the chef for SmartMonkey Foods, a source for vegan and raw ingredients and foods. She offers more recipes than Altmost of which are quick to makeand they call for fewer hard-to-find ingredients. Phyo also emphasizes "living green," and she includes helpful tips and suggestions for recycling and related topics. Her book is more substantive than Alt's and is recommended for any subject collection.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2007
A cookbook dedicated to raw food appears oxymoronic to the uninitiated, but people who aim to pursue a raw vegan diet soon realize that eating uncooked foods involves more than simply chomping into whatever sits on grocers produce shelves. Phyo shows how to create more complex flavor harmonies. Nutmeats of all sorts serve as a basis of many recipes, offering a spectrum of uses from cheese substitutions to pie crusts. Dates stand in for the sweetness less healthfully derived from refined sugar. Raw zucchini strips mimic fettuccini. A close reading of the nutritional analysis for each recipe reveals the high levels of dietary fiber this diet introduces. Although most of Phyos ingredients are readily available, she does occasionally call for unfamiliar items such as liquid aminos, a replacement for soy sauce. Phyo also provides recipes for raw vegan dog food. Illustrations consist mainly of photographs of the author.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)