A Good Diet Book for Young Women
By Jennifer Joyce
Atria Books, $16.00, 195 pages
“…most of these 130+ recipes can be made in 30 minutes or under 1 hour.”
Though author Jennifer Joyce claims her cookbook “is NOT a diet book,” it really is. All recipes are with little or no fat, and ingredients are low-fat varieties. This trade paperback was produced on high-quality, heavy, glossy pages with creative finish and many full-paged colored sketches of rail-thin, long-legged models in five-inch heels, teenaged or in their early 20s in elegant surroundings, apparently the targets for this cookbook. The average female home cook may not easily identify with those sketches. Yet, this is a good “diet” cookbook with recipes from an international repertoire, neatly divided along the courses of the meal, including even some very low-fat, low-sugar desserts. The layout of recipes is excellent, each placed on a single page or facing pages. Each recipe gives prep and cooking times. For the average home cook, prep time should be doubled or tripled. Ingredients are mostly available, but for some you may be scratching your head (e.g., padrón peppers or Tuscan black kale). Each recipe also gives tips on ‘Prep Ahead’ and notes on ‘The Skinny.’ The index is disappointing, though cross-referenced (such as ‘Crispy Mustard and Tarragon’ under ‘Crispy’).
Reviewed by George Erdosh
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