Salad Days

It is supremely unfortunate, that when people think of veggie burgers what comes to mind is some tasteless stand-in for hamburger that comes out of a cardboard freezer box. (Have you tasted one of these things recently? The texture is not natural. And don’t get me started on the salt or long list of cryptic ingredients.)

photo by misterjt

I’m guessing the only reason these things gained any traction is because a carnivore plopped one on the grill as a peace offering: Here, we don’t want you to feel left out. We don’t eat them because they taste good; we only eat them so we can partake in a culinary custom.

This Fourth of July weekend, I encourage everyone to stop treating veggie burgers as an afterthought or some kind of consolation prize and serve hearty, delicious, homemade burgers made from garden-fresh ingredients. In Lukas Volger’s new cookbook, Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, he shares more than 30 creations that focus on flavor first. In the interest of full-disclosure, I haven’t tried any of these yet, but my mouth is watering…

If you don’t have time to go to the bookstore before the big celebration, here are three recipes out of his book to get you started:

Armenian Lentil Burgers
Baked Falafel Burgers
Mushroom Burgers with Barley

Suppose you are a fat American (or maybe just a few pounds over what you dream of weighing). Suppose, furthermore, that you are increasingly susceptible to any number of diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, high cholesterol, headaches, or stroke. (Oh, wait…that is everyone who is reading this!) Time is not on your side, and there are more than 25,000 diet and health books in print. Where do you go to find dependable counsel? One place: Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

In just one month this book has completely changed our lives (that would be Nick and me) for the better. It was also the catalyst for my daily salad posts on facebook and ultimately this blog. Rather than keep all the goodness to ourselves, I thought I’d write a review in the hope that you too will be encouraged to cultivate healthy, life-prolonging, disease-preventing eating habits.

Overview

A good subtitle for this book would be “unlearn everything you ever knew about nutrition and eat what is right.” The book begins with a critical analysis of the Standard American Diet (SAD), USDA dietary recommendations (perpetuated by self-interested lobbying groups), and common weight-loss programs. Then it moves to a crash-course in nutritional excellence, explaining how a nutrient dense diet can reduce or eliminate disease. It ends with dietary recommendations based on the author’s formula for health and two seven-day menus with recipes to get started.

What makes this book truly stand out from the pack of diet books is the amount of scientific research backing the information (the bibliography is 20+ pages). His dietary recommendations are also really easy to follow – no counting points, no calorie restriction, no deprivation.

Sound too good to be true? It isn’t, I promise! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this review: a chapter by chapter tour of the book.