Back to our Roots

I've referred to my very favourite cookbook a number of times here. I would actually probably call this more of a lifestyle book as opposed to a cookbook. I discovered Nourishing Traditions through an online friend. At first glance, it looks a little far out and accusatory and is sub-titled "The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats". That being said, this book contains a wealth of knowledge.

The first part is laid out more like a textbook than a cookbook with each section separated into fats, proteins, minerals, enzymes, etc and goes into depth explaining how each works in your body. This was really valuable to me. I don't like to prescribe to anything without first understanding it. This book broke down how my own body works in such an easy to follow way. I can understand a lot of the metabolic processes that are happening and that gives me a lot more power over my own health. Sometimes Ryan will ask me a question about the difference between certain fats or why coconut oil is good for you or any odd thing and I'll whip out the book and look it up.

The second half of the book is laid out by main ingredient more than anything. It starts out with basics; real basics like butter, kefir, cream cheese, etc. She has a whole chapter on laco-fermented foods and their health benefits. Later it moves on to different kinds of meats, including fish, game meats, poultry, ground meat, plus more and then vegetables. The vegetable section is often really helpful when we get our Fresh Option box each week. If there's something new I'll flip to the vegetable's section and see if there are any good recipes. Another thing I love about this book is that the sidebar will explain interesting facts and nutritional information about the food featured in the recipes.

This book also talks a bit about how the grains we're encouraged to eat today are worlds away from the grains we were eating hundreds of years ago. I think this is something really important to remember when we're talking about the prevalence of certain diseases, like celiac. The grains we eat today are grown so differently and are processed in such a totally different way you can hardly make a comparison between them and the ones humans ate in the past. There's a chapter on properly soaking grains and some different recipes to use them in. Following that, there's a chapter on baking with alternative grains. I haven't had much of an opportunity to try these recipes out yet but I've heard good things from online communities. There's even a legumes section that also talks about how to properly prepare beans by soaking them too.

All in all, there are so many different sections in this book I'm still making my way through most of them. There are 12 chapters, each containing a number of sections within each chapter. The recipes are usually fantastic, creative, and there's extra facts given in the sidebars. It's got an index for information and a separate one for recipes and a huge resource section in the back. If you're interested in a cookbook like this, I would suggest checking out this website, the Weston A. Price Foundation, which the author of the book runs.

There are so many reasons I use this book (right down to a measurement conversion chart in the back), it's such an amazing wealth of information. Do you have a cookbook bible that you turn to again and again? Share your secrets!