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Food is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World by Matthew Prescott
Food is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World by Matthew Prescott

Matthew Prescott's book Food Is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World ($30, Flatiron Books) is beautiful, appetizing and a little bit preachy. OK, maybe a lot preachy.

The 272-page hardcover tome is a sermon touting the benefits of a plant-based diet, or collection of sermons, we should say. Contributors include director James Cameron, actor Jesse Eisenberg, physician Michael Greger and Sierra Club deputy executive director Bruce Hamilton, among others. Prescott is senior food policy director for the Humane Society of the United States and an adviser to The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that promotes plant-based foods and laboratory-produced meats.

It is very much an attempt to dissuade people from eating meat and animal products. Some essays take the for-the-sake-of-your-health argument highlighting successful cases of reversing and preventing disease with diet, while others focus on the environmental effects of factory farms, and still others point out animal cruelty and America's incongruous relationship with our pets and what's on our dinner plates.

Something we particularly like about this book is it includes citations to back it up and its voices primarily consist of experts in food, environmental and health policy with some anecdotal and pop cultural references thrown in for variety and interest.

If you're already dedicated to a whole-food, plant-based diet, this book likely won't tell you anything you don't already know, but it could introduce you to some new recipes. There are more than 80, many with color photographs.

If you're looking to understand more about why this diet might benefit you and the environment and you don't mind a little food shaming to go along with your dinner, this book may be for you.

The recipes are all vegan, meaning no animal products in any form. Some, such as Blackened Brussels Sprouts With Capers and Raisins and Avocado Chocolate Mousse With Vanilla Bean Whip can be prepared with ingredients found in most grocery stores. But many, if not most will require a trip to a health food store or large retailer for items such as nutritional yeast, arrowroot extract, chia seeds and vegan margarine and mayo. What can you make with those things? Classic French Toast, which swaps almond milk, tofu and chia seeds for the traditional cow's milk and chicken eggs. Or a BLT Bagel Sandwich, which calls for Crispy Rice Paper Bacon and vegan mayo.

The Crispy Rice Paper Bacon intrigued us, and we happened to have the ingredients -- rice paper, olive oil, soy sauce, maple syrup, liquid smoke, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika and black pepper -- on hand. Cutting brittle rice paper into 1-inch wide strips was a bit tricky, but the process wasn't complicated. Cut, moisten, dip, bake. Voila! You have smoky, salty, crispy bacon-colored strips that look a lot like burnt Sizzlean, but without the meaty flavor. The flavor and texture was not unpleasant, but it wasn't like bacon, either.

Which pretty much sums up how we feel about most foods that attempt to masquerade as something else. Tofu will never taste like chicken. But tofu can taste pretty darn good. Rice paper soaked in soy sauce and other seasonings will never be mistaken for bacon, but that doesn't mean it can't have a place on the breakfast tables of those wishing to eat meat-free diets.

Food may very well be the solution, but first many of us may need to change our expectations.

Food on 04/11/2018

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