One of the treasures I discovered on my last trip to the Strand Bookstore was an early edition of Great Cooking, by the Food Editor of Essence Magazine, Jonell Nash. I really like her recipes, writing style, and philosophy.
Nash advocates a varied vegetable, fruit, and grain-based diet, and spent years reformulating traditional recipes in order to “keep the rich, familiar taste” yet “lose the heaviness” of African-American, Southern, and Caribbean food. Fat, salt and sugar were cut to make room for more herbs, spices, and fresh ingredients.
Nash has a blog on the Essence website, and her first post is about Meatless Mondays–a widespread, Oprah-endorsed campaign to abstain from meat on Mondays to live a healthier life and conserve resources.
I am really excited about the idea of carnivores welcoming vegetarianism into their lives on a regular basis, and wonder just how far it will go.
It has been four months since I went vegan, and I feel better–physically and mentally–than I have in a long time. And (knock on wood) I have not gotten sick once–even though every day someone else comes down with a flu or cold.
I hope more people will catch on and get hooked, just like I did!
