Review by Lisa Brady:

I love this little book. I know a past reviewer criticised the book for being too thin but that’s one of the things I like about it. I have always enjoyed cooking and bought quite a few baby cook books when my daughter was very young thinking I would potter around making her perfect gourmet meals but soon realised that there are many days when the thought of even leafing through the pages of those cookbooks is too much effort. I just find them too overwhelming and invariably reach for this book because the recipes are simple but still tasty. You don’t need to be a great cook to be able to make these recipes, the instructions are very easy to follow.Despite being a slender volume, the book packs a lot of information into its pages, and still has a great collection of recipes.

I never found it to be a problem finding any of the ingredients. I have to admit that even though I consider my cooking to be quite wholesome I had never used some of the items like dried seaweed (you only use a pinch) and ground seeds myself, but after reading in the book just why these things are included, I found myself adding them to my own food as well. They are incredibly nutritious and such an easy way to bolster your child’s immune system which I found so reassuring during the winter. I’m sure you can order these ingredients online if you can’t find them in a store nearby. You use such a small amount that they will last for ages. And you can always leave those items out if you prefer.The book is written in a very friendly manner and is a nice balance between educating and guiding you as to what your baby’s and toddler’s developmental needs are with easy to follow recipes. A reviewer below wrote that the last thing they needed was to be making their own baby cereal. Well I guess if that’s your mindset then this book isn’t for you because honestly it takes all of two seconds to make the cereal, and the jar lasts a very long time when you are using a couple of tablespoons at a time! Not that you can’t find good organic packaged baby cereal, (I did try that myself but my baby would never eat it). And there’s nothing stopping you from using the recipes as guides and substituting purchased products for some ingredients if it makes life easier. The book takes you right through to when your child is a toddler with tips that help you sneak vegetables into their diet and great snack ideas too. There are some lovely recipes for cookies and cakes as well, which is nice, it’s very realistic in that although you want to feel that you are presenting your child with yummy healthy food, there’s always a place for sweet treats in life. I’m not personally a fan of soy products which some of the recipes call for, but I just substitute the tofu or whatever with chicken,lamb or fish.I went online to check out the authors website and was happy to see that the adorable little girls on the website who I assume are the author’s daughters look like very happy and healthy children. They are a great advertisement for the book.

Review by Michelle:

This book certainly has some mixed reviews. It seems people either love it or hate. While I am one of the ones who LOVE this book, I can see why this book would not be for everybody. Here are my thoughts:

“Simply Natural Baby Food” does not try to make you vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, a raw fooder, or a carnivore – however, it pulls aspects from many different diets. There are many vegetarian recipes, there are vegan recipes, there are some smoothies and treats made from raw foods, there are recipes that use alternative grains like brown rice flour for those with wheat or gluten allergies, there are recipes that use whole grains and sea vegetables that are common in a macrobiotic diet, there are recipes that incorporate dairy products, eggs, fish or poultry.

While this may sound like it encompasses everybody, it does not. This book is for people who want to eat (and want their children to eat) whole foods. That means whole grains like brown rice, millet and quinoa; beans and legumes; fruit and vegetables; cultured dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese; more plant foods than animal foods; no white flour or refined grains; and no refined sugar.

For many feeding your child fresh, organic, whole foods without sugar, articial colors and trans-fats may be too far removed from what they are accustomed to eating. If you expect to be able to find the ingredients for the recipes in this book at your local 7-11, you definitely have the wrong book – but if you prefer to shop at a natural foods store – or at least are open to checking one out (or even an online store), you will enjoy this book.

I for one found it a refreshing change from the other books that offer recipes using jello, bisquick, and colored cereals. And that’s not to say that the foods are bland-tasting health foods either. My husband, children, and I love the White Bean and Corn Chowder,Apple Oat Pancakes, Apple Bran Muffins, Quick Cheesy Rice, Banana Oatmeal Cookies, Pineapple Carrot Cake, Instant Banana Pudding, Smoothies, and the “Better Than Ice Cream” made in the food processor is incredible.

I want a different way of eating for my children than I was brought up with. Look at the obesity rate of children in this country. Children are now suffering from previously adult only diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more. In fact, this generation of children is expected to be the first generation ever to live a shorter life span than their parents. Processed food laden with trans fats, chemicals, pesticides, artificial colors and flavors, sugar, and sodium found in our local supermarkets are not producing healthy, fit children. This book gives an alternative – and I see my children thriving on these recipes – and the rest of my family as well.

Review by H. Grove:

There are plenty of new products coming out to meet the demand of folks now eager to try the natural food movement, but it’s hard to know how to use them well. Amaranth flour, buckwheat flour, brown rice syrup? Simply trying to substitute them into your favorite recipes rarely works–you need to know how to use them to their own best advantage, and that takes time, effort, and plenty of practice to work out.

Luckily, Heidi Swanson decided to start that process for us.

“Super Natural Cooking” is packed with information on how to best store, handle, and use all of the wonderful ingredients you’ll find. You’ll find out which all-natural sweeteners have a surprisingly low glycemic index, making them appropriate for diabetics and those worried about their blood sugar or carbohydrate intake. You’ll learn how much of those exotic flours you can substitute, which recipe-types they work best in, and how to make sure their different characteristics don’t cause your recipes to fail.

The recipes from this book more than prove Ms. Swanson’s skill in the creative kitchen. One of the surest signs I’ve found of a brilliant cook over the years is the ability to take a few, often mild ingredients and turn them into something that is more than the sum of its parts–a wholly new and complex flavor. This she does easily with such recipes as a luscious fig spread that includes a bit of honey, lemon juice and black pepper. Then there’s a curry noodle pot that yields new tastes in every delicious bite. I feared the seed-topped amaranth biscuits would be unduly heavy after feeling the texture of the dough, but they came out tender and wonderful, with an elusively delicious flavor I can only attribute to the amaranth flour. Each recipe came out perfectly without any alteration on our part; the directions were simple, clear, and without error.

The book even makes a beautiful gift, as it’s filled with Ms. Swanson’s own food photography–and believe me, these photographs will make you hungry!

Review by Cathe Olson:

“Super Natural Cooking” is an exciting and tasty introduction the world of whole foods. The book has an unusual arrangement. Rather than lumping appetizers, entrees, soups, salads, and desserts into sections – the book is rather arranged like a course on natural foods cooking. The book begins with instructions for building a natural foods pantry – what foods to include and what to avoid, including flours, oils, sweeteners, spices and seasonings.

Then she moves on to whole grains, beginning first with information about the different types of grains (helpful because many may be unfamiliar), she then moves on to recipes. There are baked goods like Seed-Crusted Amaranth Biscuits and Espresso Banana Muffins; soups like Toasted Wheat Germ Soup and Creamy Wild Rice Soup. The Spring Minestrone with Brown Rice made with fresh asparagus and snap peas has been a regular for us on Fridays when I get my box of produce from the local CSA. We also loved the Risotto-Style Barley made with crème fraiche and lemon zest.

Next, Swanson encourages us to “Cook by Color.” This section is all about fruits and vegetables – brimming with essential phytonutrients (don’t worry if you’re not sure what they are, it’s explained in the book.) Recipes include Baked Purple Hedgehog Potatoes (your kids will love these), Red Indian Carrot Soup, Curried Tofu Scramble, and Crema de Guacamole with Crunch Topopos.

If those foods weren’t healthy enough, the next section teaches you to “Know Your Superfoods:” alliums, cruciferous vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, sea vegetables, sprouts, tea, and yogurt. Dishes include Beluga Lentil Crostini, Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers, and Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts. My family absolutely loved the Creamy Cauliflower Soup.

Of course even natural foods eaters love their desserts and there a plenty of good ones here as Swanson presents a section on natural sweeteners. There are recipes for Thin Mint Cookies, Spiced Caramel Corn and Ginger-Amaranth Shortbread. The Dairyless Chocolate Mousse is so rich and decadent, no one will believe it was made with tofu. The biggest hit of the desserts for us – I’ve already made it several times – was the Raspberry Curd Swirl Cake. My gosh, it was good. I couldn’t find Raspberry Curd at Trader Joe’s so I used Lemon Curd and it was wonderful. Really, really great.

Whether you are already into natural foods like I am (but there were ingredients here I’ve never tried like wild rice flour, teff and farro) or completely lost in a natural foods store but want to know more, this book will work for you. The recipes are very “normal” and nonthreatening – like chocolate chip cookies with a bit of mesquite flour millet-fried “rice.” In other words, comfortable favorites with a little twist. Swanson does an excellent job of explaining the ingredients (and offering substitutions if you are unable to find some of the more uncommon ones). This books is vegetarian – many recipes use dairy products but there are some great vegan recipes as well.

Review as seen on www.vegfamily.com by Cathe Olson

Review by J. Al-hashimi:

A wee bit of history may help to clarify the title for those who aren’t familiar with Rodale. Rodale is a health-centered publishing house for the past 25 years. It publishes Men’s Health, Prevention, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Best Life, Bicycling, Running Times, Mountain Bike, and Organic Gardening and includes Fitness House kitchen which developes recipes. Rodale was the publisher for the whole South Beach Diet series. Four health-related and health bill articles were done with President Obama and family’s assistance in fall 2009 issues of Rodale magazines.

People who are dedicated to healthy living swear by this comprehensive cookbook, (1400 recipes, over 400 new recipes from the last edition) as their “go to” household cookbook with good reason. When you look at the cookbook industry you will notice that most of them are highly specialized by ethnicity or by narrow theme (such as raw “cooking”), technique, or by ingredient. You cannot help but notice that most of the cook-authored or restaurant-centered cookbooks are focused on flavor more than anything else.

“The Joy of Cooking” is the other major encyclopedic cookbook that comes to mind, however its’ 75th anniversary edition, published in 2006, speaks philosophically to a previous time. It went through a contemporary transformation in 1975, however the latest version relies on a fair amount of mix-together cooking, using stuff like dry mixes, canned soups, vegetables and fruit and saturated fats which smacks of the 50s-60s. Even though the last version now includes a section on nutrition, it is not intrinsic nor is it integrated.

By contrast, “The Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook” never loses sight of health implications, serious about things like replacing sugar in desserts, which definitely cuts down on the crazy-making failures of trial and error baking. For instance, the pound cake recipe uses a cup of honey versus the more typical cup of sugar. This book is worth it for the dessert section alone as the substitutions for white flour and white sugar have been made for you. As far as main meal dishes, it includes vegetarian recipes as well as non-vegetarian.

A small aside: I find it ever-so-slightly old fashioned in menu planning in terms of being over-ambitious. Are you really going to do chicken cacciatorie + whole wheat pasta or cheese squares + eggplant salad + fennel or lemon cookies, (one menu given for an everyday meal; the menus for entertaining are much more ambitious)? So, those pages of the book may provide inspiration more than direction for today’s harried families.

You can go to googlebooks and see parts of the older edition, but you get a lot of bang for your buck with this most updated publication and there is no substitute for paging through this massive documentation of kitchen work with a focus on updated research for your optimal health.

Review by Linda A. Bradley:

I am going to keep this review short, sweet, and to the point. I own shelves-full of cookbooks. I quite simply love to cook, love to eat, and love to read cookbooks. I am also very concerned about eating healthy, sustainable, seasonal and natural products. I am so impressed with the thoroughness of purpose to this book, and every recipe I have tried has been superb. I have to be honest and say that I wish nutrition facts were included for the recipes, but other than that I have no complaints. It is a truly comprehensive guide to cooking with whole foods. Wonderful.

Review by Denise Bonds:

You may see some of my other reviews about human health and nutrition, but this is perhaps THE book that prompted me to learn more about MY diet.

Here’s what I liked about the book:

Dr. Pitcairn has a long career in the vetinarian industry. I enjoyed reading about his holistic approach to pet health and diet–treating the root cause, not the symptoms. I like the fact that Dr. Pitcairn chose to think outside the box, so to speak, and look for alternatives early in his career when he found that his patients did not always respond to drugs. Also, the recipes are excellent for ensuring a truly healthy diet.

I can’t think of anything that I did not like about the book.

My story:

I still remember the first time anyone had EVER mentioned to me that dog food is not good for dogs. My husband and I were adding a dog to our family and was going through an interview process with the breeder. She knew that we already have an older dog and she ask about his diet. This was two years ago, and by then, our older dog (11 years old at the time) had lost most of his teeth, and we had (reluctantly) taken him off his kibble diet. When we started feeding him more “table scraps” we noticed some incredible improvements. His coat looked better than it had in his 11 years, he was also very “peppy” and seemed to be overall in great health and spirits. All during his life he had ALWAYS suffered from weird ailments like skin disorders, hot spots, clogged anal glands, dry flaky skin, nasal allergies, etc. I can not count how many times this dog had been on drugs like cortisone and prednisone and bathed in “hypo-allergenic oatmeal-based shampoos”. During my interview with this dog breeder, I did not share with her what my dog had been through, I just said, “…he has lost most of his teeth, and no longer eats kibble”. This is when she told me that I shouldn’t feed him kibble, and I should not feed the new little one kibble either!

This got me curious and I started doing my own research about dog food and was absolutely HORRIFIED to learn the ingredients used to make dog food. How can an entire industry (vetinarians) give such harmful advise?!?! I was and still am outraged at all the people along the way who always advised me to keep my dog on kibble. And I had heard it from so many sources for so many years that I figured they must be right! The day I learned what kibble has in it, my husband and I started cooking for our dogs. There’s been some ups and downs during the last two years, learning what to feed and what not to feed, but overall I believe that both dogs are much healthier and my husband and I definately have peace of mind knowing exactly what they are eating! Oh, and all those skin ailments and allergies that the older dog suffered from for 11 years?…not a SINGLE episode in the past two years!

I found this book to be very helpful in understanding what dogs need to be healthy. I learned that generally speaking, we were doing most things right. We did make some changes in the supplements based on Dr. Pitcairn’s recommendations and we replaced the white rice we had been feeding with oatmeal–which both dogs seem to like. But overall, a lot of his recommendations were very similar to the advise we received from the breeder.

The older dog is now 13 years old and was diagnosed with Inflammatory Brain Disease about 2 months ago. We are obviously very devastated and I believe whole-heartedly that this brain disease was brought on by the poor diet and also the “top-spot” flea poison he had been on all his life. I found out AFTER his diagnosis that top-spot has been linked to this disease…as this is the same way the poison kills the fleas–it attacks their nervous system!–we had treated him with Frontline just four days before he became ill and was carried to UC Davis Vetinary Teaching Hospital.

Whether you decide to buy this book or not, I strongly advise you to do your own research about your pet’s diet and decide for yourself. Some would say that cooking/preparing meals for their pets is a hassle, but this is the least you can do for all the benefits you will get from your healthier pet–not to mention the money you’ll save from not taking your dog to the vet all the time to treat symptoms of a poor diet!

Review by K. Bloomer:

I recently obtained Dr. Pitcairn’s book and found it to be a wonderful, easy to implement and understand book on natural care for dogs and cats. Dr. Pitcairn provides concise information on dogs and cats from what to feed, to training, and even about how to choose a dog breed for your lifestyle. This book also has lots of natural prevention remedies included and how to PREVENT pesky problems like fleas and ticks from invading your home and your pets.

One of the things I educate pet owners on is prevention being the key and that is done through a strong immune system by feeding and supplementing properly. I always tell them that once your pet is diseased you’ll need to see a veterinarian and then undo the illness and disease if you can, then build your pet back up. Dr. Pitcairn shares a lot about prevention and that thrilled me! That is the answer and key to keeping our pets healthy.

He shares about natural feeding which is another big issue I like to tackle with pet owners. He even includes grooming. This is a must have book for any dog or cat owner who wants to approach their pet care naturally and preventatively. Excellent book!

Kim Bloomer

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Review by Brenda B. Trace:

Well, Ok not quite but almost! A few months ago my teenage daugher and I were diagnosed with numerous food allergies and told to follow a rotation diet. A life long vegetarian, it was an almost overwhelming to be told I could no longer eat soy, eggs, pinto beans, kidney beans, avocados, etc. And my daughter is not allowed any legumes as well (nor sugar either).
Clearly the protein was going to be a challenge (we really dislike flesh foods of any kind) but then I read the guidelines for the rotation diet itself and quickly discovered the extreme limits of my food knowledge! Sure I had heard of (but never cooked) quinoa and flax but amaranth and yautia? Not. And even if I could find where to purchase these items, how would I prepare them?
Both our weight and our attitude dropped signficantly in the first few weeks. Then we “modified” the guidelines and found ourselves physically sick again. Luckily for us, my husband purchased this book on a trip to Dallas. While I was skeptical about it’s holding my interest as an actual “read through”, I found it quite engrossing from almost the first page.
Not only do I now know what to do with the foods on a rotation diet list (knowing that yautia is similar to potatoes means I can now make a favorite soup that otherwise I would have passed over) but because the index is brilliantly organized I can easily look up say “warming foods” and adjust my internal thermostat rather than the whole house which made my husband doubly glad he had bought it! The same for high BP, colds, cancer, you name it.
And I can relax about the protein issue as well knowing which foods on “our list” are highest in protein instead of just choosing those foods with which I might have previously been most familiar. I bought a copy for my mom for her birthday and she can’t put it down either!
If you are really interested in preparing a variety of healthy foods no matter what your current state of health might be, do yourself a favor and buy this book. It might not save your life but it will certainly liven up your meals no matter what kind of diet you follow!

Review by :

This is an excellent reference for any cook who wants to know more about whole foods, including grains, vegetables, fruits, etc. Rebecca is a very kind, warm person, and her personality shines through in this book.The contents include both Western scientific knowledge about the proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals contained in foods, as well as their properties from an Eastern perspective, including Ayurvedic and Chinese Traditional Medicince. Rebecca draws from all of these traditions to present the wonders of whole foods. You may buy it as a reference but I guarantee you will browse just for the pleasure of it!

Review by Rachael:

I bought this book thinking it would contain RECIPES for families that were interested in the whole foods approach. It does seem to be a very interesting book, but really it is a nutrition book about conversion from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to the whole foods approach. I am re-selling this book because I have already been “converted”, I was just looking for some new recipes. It was probably my fault for not reading the description of the book well enough, but I did want other potential buyers to beware.

Review by Dr. Jonny Bowden:

As one who has written a number of books on foods and health, I can say that this book is an utter gem. Finally someone breaks the mold on “low-fat” and talks about real food for real people. These recipes are not only healthy but easy to make, and emphasize whole foods, quality protein, good fat and fiber. Adaptable to all kinds of diets and especially easy to use for families. Great job, belongs in every home!

Review by RH:

After reading this book, I bought copies for everyone in my family. If you eat, you should read it. ORGANIC, INC., is a fascinating account of the rise of the organic food movement. Fromartz, a Washington D.C. based journalist, apparently loves good food almost as much as a good story. His experience as a consumer shopping at Whole Foods and at local farmer’s markets made him question why he was seeking out and buying organic produce, even when it cost him more. Was it just the chemical free aspect or was he also buying into an alternative culture of health and “moral hedonism”? Who were the organic farmers who fed him and his family? What was in store for them as the growth of a small farm ideal clashed with the forces of the food industry? Fromartz hit the road to find answers. Criss-crossing the country to visit organic farmers and producers, he managed to tap into a rich vein of American culture and to meet some truly amazing people. Chapters on technical and legal issues, and the historical background of the organic movement, are mixed with chapters that vividly portray the farmers and their experiences. Fromartz is a veteran business writer and the book is thoroughly researched and well written. Reading the somewhat demanding technical chapters, I kept mumbling “unbelievable!” to myself. Who knew that conventional strawberries were grown by fumigating the soil with a neurotoxin– methyl bromide gas–with field workers wearing full chemical warfare body suits? For my money, however, it’s Fromartz’s personal asides and his evocative rendering of the farmers lives as they go about their work that make this book come alive. These stories put all the information in the book in a context of human struggle in pursuit of an ideal against overwhelming odds, which makes them unavoidably dramatic and often moving. Fromartz is too good a journalist to come off as an advocate. This is a fair assessment of the many issues and conflicts within the organic movement. But having read this book, I have renewed respect for the people who grow the organic food I choose to eat. I will say a small prayer of thanks before I bite into that next pesticide free strawberry. It’s come at a considerable price, one not paid by me.

Review by Bright Wings:

Can big agribusiness and local organic farming co-exist and thrive? Samuel Fromartz’ new book, Organic, Inc., is a fascinating journey through American agricultural movements, starting around the turn of the century, when farming was still a small-town venture and tracing its development into agribusinesses whose products are now found on most American tables – and the movement into locally grown, organic foods, which represents not so much a return to the past as a return to wholeness and healthy living.

The problem seems to be that the organic movement itself is being challenged by the very agribusinesses it once eschewed. There are really few ways to farm sustainably (which will in most cases mean organically and without genetically modified foods or chemicals) AND use the systems that have come to mean “factory farms” – livestock confined for their entire lifetimes in areas so small they cannot turn around or lie down (chickens, for instance, and pigs), never mind see the sunshine or walk around and enjoy fresh air, eating what they would eat if humans were not around.

Agrisystems, as they exist today, are basically unhealthy – and unsustainable. But they are profitable, and make it easy for “food” (if you want to call it that) to arrive at your table packaged neatly and processed to death. Rare are the children being raised today who knows what “food” looks like in its natural state. Do they know what a carrot or beet looks like, while it’s growing in the ground? Do they know that the hamburger they eat comes from a being that has a face and makes sounds, and may (depending on your viewpoint) be sentient?

Being removed from the source and sight and smells and knowledge of how your food comes to you – how it was grown, and what has happened to it all along the way – makes for some dangerous possibilities. We cannot know (or control very well, despite so-called legal safeguards meant to protect us) where our food has been, before it reaches our table, unless we have grown it ourselves (which is not easy or possible for most people) or have bought it from someone in our community whose farming practices we know – and could actually go there and see.

Fromartz comes from a reporting background, and knows how to dig out factoids that will leave you breathless for the sheer scope of what has happened to our food and our food production systems. It should leave you with both concern and hope, at the end.

Organic, Inc. Is not exactly the “story of food” but it truly is the tale of two different visions for how food is produced and made available to consumers. One (local biodynamic farming) is sustainable; the other (multinational, corporate agribusiness) is not.

Fromartz carefully traces how we got where we are, without suggesting where we will go in the future. However, his bias for a sustainable natural foods future is clear – and it’s one I share. If you care about what you eat, how it got here, and whether you will be able to find more like it tomorrow, you should read this book, think about what it means, and DO something about what you believe is the best course of action for a world where what we eat determines how healthy we and our future generations will be.

Yours for extraordinary dining — for everyone,

Nancy Boyd

www.find-great-organic-gourmet-foods.com