The Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook
Autoimmune Protocol-Friendly Recipes from a Chef's Kitchen
Packed with appetizing recipes for everyday dining, The Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook keeps clean eating and wellness in mind.
Chef Shannon Berends’s practical cookbook The Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook shares healthy, enjoyable recipes for families whose members have autoimmune disorders.
Berends has experience with cooking for people on the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) diet. In her enthusiastic introduction, she recounts warm memories of her grandmother and traces her professional culinary experiences. The book invites others to create their own food-centered memories, too: no one should feel left out of food because of their health. A helpful list of kitchen tools and AIP diet pantry staples follows.
Focused on gatherings around the table, the book includes an imaginative recipe repertoire that falls within the AIP diet’s range, including snacks, sides, main courses, and desserts. There are child-friendly hits like pancakes, burgers, and pot pie, but there’s also sophisticated fare, including a crackling pork roast with blackberry sauce that pairs sweet with savory. Makeovers for comforting classics abound, as with an alfredo sauce that’s cooked with coconut cream and cauliflower, and “potato” salad that’s composed of rutabaga. Some recipes are pared to their familiar essences, including kale chips and guacamole. For the adventurous, there’s coconut mozzarella; for traditionalists, the roasted vegetables and pork chops will be satisfying. There is a robust, versatile section on sauces, too, with a coconut milk mother sauce that forms the base for numerous others, and an original take on ketchup made using beets and carrots. Chocolate chip cookies, cobbler, and brûléed bananas round out the book.
Each recipe is presented on a spacious layout that includes an ingredients list, serving sizes, and estimated cooking times. Easy directions with minimal numbered steps make for quick preparation, while the notes about storage and reheating are useful additions. A few recipes are compilations, requiring home cooks to reference recipes on other pages to complete their dishes, reducing their convenience.
Those who are new to an AIP diet may find the dishes complex. A recipe for waffle batter, for instance, features plantain, tiger nuts, and a mixture of four different types of flour. Absent information about AIP dietary needs and benefits, the volume is best suited to cooks who are already versed in the topic or in working with wheat- and egg-free recipes that use healthy alternatives. Still, with their brief ingredient lists that emphasize unprocessed, natural flavors, the selections are nutritious without compromising on color or textural appeal. Enticing full-color photographs capture close-ups of the completed foods plated in a down-to-earth manner.
Packed with appetizing recipes for everyday dining, The Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook keeps clean eating and wellness in mind.
Reviewed by
Karen Rigby
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
