Book Review: "Dairy Free Made Easy"

If you are trying to avoid dairy products in your diet, you may have found the excellent Web site: www.godairyfree.org. The site is constantly updated with product reviews, articles, announcements, discounts, etc. To make the information even more accessible, the sites founder, Alisa marie Fleming has put together a book entitled "Dairy Free Made Easy: Thousands of Foods, Hundreds of Tips, and Dozens of Recipes for Non-Dairy Living."

This well-researched book gives detailed information about dairy products - what they are, how they are processed, what is so special about dairy milk anyway, and answers questions about organic vs. conventional dairy products.

For those avoiding dairy products for health reasons, there is extensive information about allergies, lactose intolerance, whether dairy can help you to lose weight or to gain it, whether there is a link between consuming dairy products and certain cancers, acne, migraines, and other ailments. There is also great information about infant milk allergies and steps to prevent food allergies in babies. Fleming includes information about why breastfeeding is so important but she gives a comprehensive breakdown of infant formulas on the market with the pros and cons of the various choices.

Probably the most common concern of those giving up dairy products is where will they get their calcium. Fleming does an excellent job of dispelling the myth that dairy products are the best source of calcium (they're NOT!) and gives excellent advise for getting calcium from food and choosing a supplement if you feel you need one.

Fleming goes on to list non-dairy alternatives for milk, cream, cheese, etc., recommending products you can buy but also including easy ways to make the substitutions yourself. There is a small section of recipes with some yummy sounding dishes like "Easy Dairy-free Lasagna, Cream of Mushroom Soup (I can't wait to make that one!), 5-Star Ranch Dressing, Chocolate Tofu Ice Cream and Dairy-free Cheesecake.

Another really excellently done section is the chapter on dining out. Fleming goes through the various kinds of restaurants and lists dairy-free options for each, for example, she says that most dishes at Asian restaurants (Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese) are dairy-free though they may contain eggs. At Mexican restaurants, she suggests tacos, fahitas, tamales, and burritos - but tell them to hold the cheese and sour cream. More importantly (I think), she clues you into dishes that you might think are dairy-free but aren't, e.g. she tells you to "Skip the Tandoor and kabob entrees. Though they may appear dairy free, these specialities are typically meats and/or vegetables marinated in yogurt." For curries, Fleming recommends going to a Thai restaurant as Indian curries are usually made with cream.

Other helpful sections in the book tell how to decode food lables, lists of ingredients that really mean dairy (e.g. lactose, caseinate, whey), and foods that may contain dairy - some that even surprised me like tuna fish, chewing gum, chicken broth, and breath mints!

A large portion of the book is dedicated to profiling non-dairy products (over 2,000). A nice feature is that the products are ALL free of hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. (YAY!) The foods are listed in a chart format that lets you know if the product is in stores on can be purchased online, if it's gluten-free, soy-free, vegan, processed on dairy-free equipment, and is kosher certified.

The book also lists resources for finding dairy-free products and cookbooks. Although this book is not vegan, it is an excellent resource for vegans and anyone avoiding dairy. If you suffer from severe dairy allergies, I would say this is a definite must-have.

One more thing - if you order the book through www.godairyfree.org, they'll send you a whole bunch of coupons for dairy-free products. Also, as an added bonus for my loyal blog readers, you can get a 10% discount by using the coupon code "DairyFree10" at checkout - or give them the coupon code if ordering by phone (and tell they you heard about the book from this blog). The book is also available at www.amazon.com.

GE Wine

Another new genetically modified food is scheduled to come to market this year: wine made with genetically modified yeast. As with other genetically engineered food, there will be no labeling required on wines that contain gene-altered yeast. The FDA has carried out no studies of its own on the experimental yeast, and yet has approved it as "safe," based completely on data provided by the company selling the product. According to Dr. Joseph Cummins, emeritus genetics Professor at the University of Western Ontario, wine yeasts are unstable, and genetically altering them can lead to unexpected toxicity in the final product. He states that there is no evidence that the developer did any animal feeding studies to test for such toxicity and that there is no proof that the yeast and yeast DNA will not be present in the wine.

To further complicate the problem, since wines containing GM ingredients are not labeled, people wishing to avoid them may have to boycott all US wines - or buy only organic of which there is not a very wide selection (though I like Frey Wines and Well Red which are organic). The other - and more pressing I think - problem is that even if just a few wineries’ choose to use the GM yeast, it could contaminate native and traditional wine yeasts through the air, surface waste and water runoff.

I urge you to contact your local and favorite wineries and urge them not to use GM yeast.

For a good article about this in the Napa Valley Register, go to http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2006/12/12/opinion/commentary/doc457eba649e8e0569076997.t

Meat and dairy from CLONED animals coming soon

Every person who eats processed foods and non-organic meat and dairy is ingesting gentically modified foods whether they know it or not. Soon, another untested and shaky technolgy will be infiltrated into our food stream - meat and milk from cloned animals. The FDA's decision to allow the sale of meat and milk from cloned animals is another example of the agency’s yielding to industry pressure and disregarding consumer safety.

With only a handful of studies and long-term evidence, the safety of eating milk and meat from cloned animals is far from proven. Concerns about the lack of data on eating food from cloned animals led the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 to state that “the paucity of evidence in the literature on this topic makes it impossible to provide scientific evidence to support this position [that the food from cloned animals should be approved].” Aside from human health concerns, many people have ethical objections about cloning animals. The low survival rate and high number of deformities, as well as health problems like organ manfunction, digestive problems, and weakened immune systems in cloned animals raise animal cruetly concerns - not to mention the health of the meat and milk coming from this sick animals. Yet, as with GMOs, the FDA is not planning to require labeling of products from cloned animals.

If you are concerned about this like I am, you can take action by writing to the FDA. Here is a link where you can send an email:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6433

Book Wishlist

What's on your wish list for books to get for the holidays?

Here are a few that I recommend to give (or ask for):

Everyday Traditions by Nava Atlas

This is a really cool book full of ideas for traditions and rituals for your family. There are suggestions for daily or weekly rituals like family dinner, reading together, family meetings; seasonal rituals like spring planting, summer relaxation, fall festivities and cozy winter traditions; as well as annual ideas for birthdays, anniversaries, and honoring the departed. Atlas also includes a section on friendship rituals including dates with friends, starting a women's book group, and my favorite - the lost art of letter writing. There are so many little tidbits that you'll be inspired to create your own special traditions that your children will remember and want to carry on.

Christmas From the Heart of the Home by Susan Branch

I love all of Branch's books. They are full of recipes, ideas, and wonderful watercolor illustrations. Like Atlas's book, this too inspired me to create traditions and rituals with my family. Everytime I read one of Branch's books, I can't wait to invite friends over so I can try out all her ideas. If you know someone who likes to entertain, this would be the perfect gift - as would any of the Heart of the Home books.

Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook

I heard about this one on a local radio show. The new version is just out and they were interviewing one of the editors. I haven't seen the book but it sounds great. The pictures are supposed to be wonderful. Besides recipes, it sounds like there are lots of craft, decorating, and entertaining ideas. This one is on my holiday wish list. I think there will be lots of fun stuff to make with my kids.

Beautiful Breads and Fabulous Fillings by Margaux Sky

This is a beautiful book with wonderful sounding recipes. The author (chef) is famous for creating the "O" Special Sandwich. The book is full of very original breads like Horseradish-Parmesan Bread and Lavender-Mint Love Bread. She has recipes for sauces, spreads, and sandwich fillings and these amazing breads with the fillings baked right in like Mixed Garden Sandwich Loaf and Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich Loaf. There are also soups, salads, and desserts from her restaurant in San Luis Obipso. This is not vegetarian but there are vegetarian and vegan recipes in here as well as whole grain breads. It's just a fun book to look through because the breads and sandwiches are so beautiful. I recommend this for any bread baker in your life.

Vegan Lunchbox

I really, really want this book. I've been a big fan of the vegan lunchbox blog (http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com) for a long time and I'm so excited that all the recipes are now in a book. I've heard great things about this.

A Beautiful Bowl of Soup by Paulette Mitchell

I was at the bookstore today picking out a few gifts and this book caught my eye. I browsed through it as I was paying for my purchases and every soups looked amazing (the book is full of gorgeous pictures). Best of all, they are all vegetarian and some vegan. To name a few that sound especially good to me: Yukon Gold Potato Soup, Farina Dumpling Soup, Asparagus-Leek Soup, Jalapeno-Corn Chowder, Pumpkin Stew (in a real pumpkin), Indian Cumin-Scented Coconut Milk Stew, Roasted Vegetable Stew (the picture looks incredible!), and Cashew Chili. There are also chilled soups and recipes for garnishes and accompaniments - I have to try the Rosemary Shortbread. So, if you haven't guessed, this book ended up being an early christmas present to myself.


And of course, I hope if you have any moms (or any who are expecting) on your list, I hope you'll think of giving Simply Natural Baby Food or The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook by yours truly (www.simplynaturalbooks.com).

Healthy Holiday Gifts From Your Kitchen

If you want some ideas for healthy (but still yummy) gifts you can give this holiday season, check out my December column of "The Whole Family" at http://www.vegfamily.com/whole-family/index.htm. Check out the entire December, 2006 issue of VegFamily Magazine at www.vegfamily.com.

Book Review: Intuitive Cooking

Joanne Saltzman (author of "Amazing Grains" and "Romancing the Bean") is the founder of the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder, Colorado. If you are not lucky enough to be able to attend the school, her new book "Intuitive Cooking" is the next best thing. This book is a complete course in using your senses to create a dish rather than relying on a recipe.

This is not an easy read. There are no pictures. This book is really like taking a cooking course and requires attention and study. As Saltzman says in the introduction, "This book is designed for those who want to study cooking more deeply than what is typically offered in culinary cookbooks."

I have studied natural foods cooking and I found this book an excellent review - reminding me of why I do things in the order I do and what I acheive by certain processes. I learned the reasons for things I do naturally and found some new techniques that I am eager to try, like steeping vegetables.

The book is divided into 3 sections.

Chapter One talks about the language of cooking. Saltzman has her own language and uses many terms I haven't heard before but they really describe perfectly what she is trying to say. She explains how to design a dish and compose a meal. Vegetable cutting techniques are also illustrated.

Chapter Two goes through the cooking methods. This is the crucial part of the book because if you can master these, you can make anything. She talks about pretreatments like soaking and dry-roasting, first stage cooking methods like boiling, baking, roasting, steeping, fermenting, steaming, braising pickling, stir-frying, etc.; and second stage methods like refrying.

Chapter Three gives almost 400 recipe sketches for vegetables, grains, and proteins (all vegan). They may seem a bit daunting until you are comfortable with the cooking methods from Chapter Two - but once you get them down, you will find that these sketches give you lots of room to be creative and free you from the confines of traditional recipes.

Organic, Inc. and soy discussion

I finished the book "Organic, Inc." by Samuel Fromartz. It was very interesting to read about the explosion of 'big organics' and how different big business organics are from what was considered organic food 20 or 30 years ago.

I'm not going to go into detail on the book here but one part that really stood out to me was about soy products and the processing that goes into extracting soy oils and soy protein isolate. This really reinforced my recommendations to stick with whole foods type of soy products and stay away from soy oil and protein isolates.

I am often asked what my stance is on soy with all the controversy surrounding this bean. First soy was supposed to be this miracle food - then the Westin A. Price Foundation and others have made it out to be this totally evil food. After extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that soy is just another food - it is an excellent source of protein and a good source of minerals but, like any food, it should be eaten as part of a varied diet. Like any food, I also recommended eating it in a less processed state - tofu, tempeh, or soy milk.

I do not recommend eating any product containing 'soy protein isolate'. Fake meats, protein bars and drinks usually contain that. First of all, the soy is most likely from animal-grade, genetically engineered soybeans (unless organic soy is use which it usually isn't in those products). Also, the soy is processed using hexane (a known carcinagen) and then chemically treated with acid and alkaline washes. There is nothing healthly about soy in that form. Check out chaper 5. Mythic Manufacturing in "Organic, Inc." for more details about the history of soy products.