Blue Zones Kitchen Recipes –
About 15 years ago, Dan Buettner found the longest-lived people in the world and called them Blue Zones. Then he reverse engineered everything about them – social network, activity level, genetic makeup, and, yes, food. Next, Buettner created a blue-print of how those of us outside the circle could add more – and better – years onto our life. Blue Zones Kitchen is the first book in the series that focuses solely on what the longest-lived people in the world eat most days of their lives. (Celebrations like weddings and holidays are notable exceptions). What I love about Blue Zones is that, in a world of self-professed “experts” telling us what the author thinks and then (sometimes) offering a modicum of science to back it up, Blue Zones Kitchen is NOT that. This is not a recipe book of what the author thinks we should eat. Buettner is just a journalist reporting facts (“Ikarians eat THIS.”), with experts walking us through the nutritional value of the dish (THIS is good because it’s high fiber, low glycemic index, etc.) This book is just shy of 300 pages of recipes and photographs of what the longest-lived people eat. (The publisher, National Geographic, knows its way around a photograph so the pics are inspiring. They will put you in the mood to get cooking.) Blue Zones Kitchen is what the longest-lived people have eaten for generations. Yes, the recipes are good for you but NO ONE would eat them – generation after generation – if they tasted like health food/wheat germ/cardboard. These dishes are delicious. I say this as an omnivore acknowledging these recipes are vegetarian. This food reminds me of an episode with Anthony Bourdain eating a vegetarian dish in India, saying something to the effect of: “If being a vegetarian meant eating this, then I’d be all for it.” That’s how I feel about these recipes. They are complete experiences in and of themselves. They want for nothing. Even if Blue Zones Kitchen was just a cookbook, without the known, evidenced-based health benefits, it would p muster because the meals are complex, very satisfying, and most of them look good enough to serve to guests. (I love lentils, but they aren’t going to win any beauty contests.) One word of caution is that these things taste so good I occasionally overeat them. I enjoy cooking but I’m not going to spend the whole day in the kitchen. This book gives me hundreds of layups that I can make for dinner, usually in about half an hour. The more complex ones I make on a long Sunday and the results feed the family for the better part of the week (and I usually still have plenty to freeze). The recipes come from five Blue Zones: Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California. I’ve had the pleasure of eating many of these recipes in Ikaria, the salt air from the Aegean Sea drifting by, many ingredients growing in a modest garden underfoot. These recipes are authentic and, in every sense of the word – Sensational. When I make an Ikarian Stew at home, it’s not quite the same as having just-foraged fennel and kale, but the meal still satisfies and comforts like a new friend who instantly seems like an old friend. In addition to the hundreds of recipes, there’s a lot to learn about food in general in the Blue Zones Kitchen: How to store food; Medicinal qualities of specific wild herbs; Important qualities in our bread (whole grain or overnight-leavened sourdough); Red wine and a plant-based diet can triple absorption of antioxidants; etc. Yes, there are a handful recipes in previous Blue Zones books (and on the website), but not hundreds! Not with pictures of everything, from the ingredients to the land they come from and the people who make them and, of course, the final product! The other Blue Zones books had to cover the whole life – social, purpose, family, religion, AND food. Blue Zones Kitchen is the first Blue Zones book all about FOOD! Yes, it’s a cookbook but unless you happen to live in a Blue Zone, maybe it’s more apt to think of Blue Zones Kitchen as a book of secrets, a light shined on previously mysterious concoctions that have nourished the longest-lived people in the world.
Blue Zones Kitchen Recipes –
expressed thru the bounty of recipes from “Blue Zone Kitchen” folks across the world. Author Dan Buettner, has blessed us with his 1st cookbook based on the years of research he’s done about longevity and the 5 unique populations he’s followed:Sardinia, Okinawa, Nikoya, Ikaria and Loma Linda. There’s a chapter with many recipes and pictures for each region. Additionally, there’s a chapter on how to cook beans. The book was worth it just for this information! You will love it. Each Blue Zone region has ingredients that are prominent for them and Buettner highlights them in a concluding chapter with his tho’ts about why this particular group is/has been successful at longevity. Much of his inform