The Whole Foods Cookbook: 120 Delicious & Healthy Plant-Centered Recipes

If I had tried, I couldn’t have picked two such completely different cookbooks to review for this week and last. In case you missed it, last week I reviewed Chrissy Tiegen’s Cravings: Hungry for More. That book is irreverent, with recipes that are full of flavor, but not guided by dogmatic nutritional rules. The Whole Foods Cookbook is all about nutritional rules. The ingredients that are not used in this cookbook include all meat, eggs, dairy and any type of sweetener (except fruit pastes, which I have questions about).

Since this is the time of year when a lot of people (including me) are trying to up their game when it comes to healthy eating, I thought this cookbook by the founder of Whole Foods Market would be a good one to review. But TBH, this was not the easiest book for me to find recipes that I wanted to try. I have a few criteria for recipes. They need to be something that my family might want to eat (that they will at least try), and the ingredients, for the most part, should be things I would normally buy. Luckily, as I was flipping through the book, my oldest son saw a zucchini bread recipe he wanted me to make, so I will share that with you later this week.

Here’s my verdict for The Whole Foods Cookbook.:

To Read: Maybe for nutritional info, but not for fun. This book is full of information, especially if you are interested in moving to a vegan diet. There are useful sections on setting up your kitchen to be stress-free and entertaining with whole foods.

To Look At: Sure. The photography was OK, and there were photos for a lot of the recipes. But it wasn’t a standout in this area.

To Cook From: I’m not sure. The one recipe I tried so far turned out OK, but the taste of the bread was very average. I deviated somewhat from the recipe, so that might be the problem. As I mentioned earlier, I just wasn’t very inspired by this book, but there might be some OK recipes in it. There were some Indian Chickpeas that looked tasty, but that recipe didn’t really fit my normal criteria.

I think I will continue my search for healthy cookbooks that are a better fit for me and my family. I definitely still recommend Run Fast, Eat Slow as a good option in this category. See you tomorrow with that zucchini bread recipe.