I’ve relished reading Prevention magazine for quite a few years and last month’s issue under Alternate Medicine News really grabbed my attention. It relates directly to the book I’m reviewing, Cooking The Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello, saying that Kushi Macrobiotics, of which Christina’s diet is based, has “captivated” several cancer researchers with a number of “dramatic, well-documented recoveries from end-stage cancers.” Christina isn’t mentioned, but in this month's issue she has a whole article devoted to her on page 123.

She was diagnosed in 1983 with terminal cancer and didn’t know what to do until a friend introduced her to her future husband and macrobiotic dieter. In three months on the diet she lost a little over a hundred pounds, her tumor started shrinking and her health returning to the doctors’ amazement. In fifteen months she was completely cancer-free. Not long afterwards she became one of America’s Whole Foods (hates the term ‘macrobiotic’) gurus, giving seminars and talks, putting out a newsletter with her husband, directing the Whole Foods Academy and hosting a PBS show, Christina Cooks, in its fifth season and on more than 150 stations worldwide. Cooking The Whole Foods Way is her first book, published in 1997.

Christina definitely has her own delicious, healthy style and has updated the boring, hippie 70s image of macrobiotics with a more accessible Mediterranean flavor. You can tell from the 500+ recipes that she loves sweets, besides naturally sweet vegetables she includes brown rice syrup in more than just desserts and breads. It actually is a complex carbohydrate and will not cause a blood sugar spike.

This, however, is much more than just recipes, but menus, cooking techniques, meal planning the Whole Foods way, buying tips and Christina’s philosophy. She’s not a scientist or in the medical field, so it’s like a sit-down conversation with a good friend who loves her subject. I’m quite a bit like her with a passion for creating dishes that are both nutritious and tasty, but I didn’t care for all of the omega-6 fatty acid-rich oils that she uses. I also prefer being lean while she enjoyed gaining back forty pounds and is very voluptuous (see picture above)!

I don’t know if traditional macrobiotics uses more olive, walnut, rapeseed and canola oil, but I would substitute them most of the time in her recipes, as well as go lighter on the brown rice syrup. There are many sea vegetables and other oriental things I wasn’t familiar with, but she has a fantastic glossary. Here’s a sample of a longer definition:

Buckwheat (Kasha) Also known as Saracen corn, buckwheat was reportedly brought to Europe by the Crusaders, although it originated in the Himalayan mountains. In botanical terms, buckwheat is not really a grain; it is actually a member of the rhubarb family, with its fruit or groats that resemble tiny, dark-colored nuts.

Grown under adverse conditions in cold weather, buckwheat is very strengthening and warming, containing more protein than most other grains as well as iron and B vitamins. A natural source of rutic acid, which aids in arterial and circulatory problems, buckwheat is used by many homeopaths for high blood pressure and other circulatory problems.

Cooked by itself, buckwheat makes a great porridge, grain dish or even a salad. A very traditional recipe involves sautéing onions and noodles and then tossing together with cooked kasha. Ground into flour, buckwheat is the chief ingredient used to make traditional Japanese soba noodles. Pp 24


Contents


Acknowledgments
Foreword by Bill Tara
Introduction

What Is Macrobiotics? - an understanding that food is energy, that everything that we eat becomes part of us and helps create who we become; it's about freedom, intuition and living in harmony with everything around us.

50-60% whole cereal grains
30% fresh veggies, choosing from leafy greens, root and round, ground)
5% soups and sea veggies
10-15% beans and bean products (not just soy)
All others, fruit, nuts, seeds and fish occasionally in small amounts (no dairy, eggs, other meat)

Glossary – explains what you will find used in her 500+ recipes and how healthy it is.

The Basics – recipes for some basic dishes elemental to macrobiotics like miso soup, pressure-cooked short-grain brown rice and nishime-style veggies

Amazing Grains – miso-millet stew, mochi melt, Spanish paella, sweet rice with chestnuts, corn-squash pudding

Savory Soups and Stews – veggie stock, mushroom stock, Jim’s Lemon-Zucchini and Leek Soup, Sweet and Sour Soup, Chilled Cucumber Bisque

Beans, Beans, Beans – Crispy Pea Fritters, Savory Black Beans With Squash, Baked Beans With Miso and Apple Butter, Lentils With Braised Veggies and Thyme

Tasty Tofu, Tempeh and Seitan – Mushroom-Broccoli Quiche, Broiled Tofu With Walnut-Miso Sauce, Oden, Tempeh-Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, Chinese Orange Seitan

A Fish Tale – Manly Marinated Grilled Salmon, Grilled Cod Fillets With Spicy Blueberry Sauce, Italian-Style Baccala, Baked Rainbow Trout With Tart Apples

Eat Your Veggies! – Spicy Daikon and Kombu, Veggie Crepes, Blanched Cole Slaw in Plum-Mustard Dressing, Wilted Green Beans With Summer Herbs, “Candied” Onions, Cornbread and Chestnut Stuffing, Olive Broccoli, Arame Saute, Dulse Croquettes

Pastibilities – Soba Noodles With Ginger and Green Onions, Linguine With Hazelnuts, Pasta Primavera, Pesto-Filled Ravioli, Spicy Peanut Noodles

Sensational Salads – Gazpacho Salad, Composed Salad Plate, Italian Onion Antipasto, Basil-White Bean Salad, Split Pea Pate, Curried Rice Salad, Warm Pasta Salad With Tofu Cheese, Boiled Salad With Wakame, Sea Palm Salad, Apricot-Almond Salad

Sassy Sauces and Dressings – Lemon-Parsley Dressing, Creamy Sesame Dressing, Tofu Mayo, Walnut Raspberry Vinaigrette, Gingered Plum Sauce, Mango-Chile Salsa

Breads of Life – Basic Sourdough Bread, Focaccia, Oat-Raisin Scones, Pecan Tea Biscuits, Cranberry-Almond Bread, Iowa Corncakes, Mochi Waffles

Great Dessert Classics – Pear Charlotte, Oatmeal Cookies (they ferment!), Coco-Locos, Viennese Vanilla Crescents, Italian Biscotti (without eggs!), Peanut Blossoms, Praline Pumpkin Pie, Raspberry Pinwheels, Glazed Apples Chocolate-Hazelnut Torte (many more!)

Resource Guide
Recommended Reading
Bibliography
Metric Conversion Charts
Index

In that Prevention article a doctor comments that macrobiotic cuisine “is low-caloric and animal fat-free”, emphasizing whole grains and vegetables, but it may also be the regular use of miso, a fermented soybean paste that contains 4,000 molds, 6,000 yeasts and millions of beneficial bacteria for keeping illness at bay. Christina’s diet incorporates a lot of miso as well, but it’s not terribly low-caloric, so it must be the miso, whole grains and fresh, organic veggies.

She has written three more books, the latest published last fall and on order at my library. Since I’m already a vegan, I can easily become a more oriental vegan or macrobiotic vegan with a Mediterranean twist, being inspired by Christina’s innovative, well-explained recipes. I would have liked illustrations and a nutritional analysis of each recipe, including calories, but it was more her style to highlight a food’s benefits in the glossary and a category of food at the beginning of chapters. She even expects people to change her recipes to suit their own needs or tastes.

I’m giving it four stars because the recipes weren’t listed by page number at the beginning of the chapters for convenient finding, there were no illustrations or nutritional analysis and she never mentioned how healthy this diet was for diabetics or people with heart disease or degenerative disorders. I gather that traditional macrobiotics is, though, from looking at the book titles by founder Michio Kushi.

For more information on her other projects, check out christinacooks.com. Her diet and Kushi’s are well worth looking into to prevent as well as heal yourself from cancer and other health problems.


Recommended: Yes