For me, the highlight of a cookbook is often the part where the author talks about their food journey; why they eat and cook the way they do.
And in my opinion, a prerequisite for any recipe book worth owning is that the author openly loves food – something that isn’t always evident in the healthy cuisine genre.
As Julie Morris writes in Superfood Kitchen:
“Oh, without question, do I ever understand the seduction of taste-only foods: the call of a rich chocolate brownie…or the wild banshee cupboard pursuit of a salty/crunchy/munchie fix needed for immediate consumption.”
She goes on to say that rather than banish these treats for life, “I simply found new ways to make my favorite goodies using foods that were night-and-day better for well being. My recipes began to take on a whole new shape as I focused first on the function of each ingredient – what it could do for me; how it could energise and balance my body – and then went to town making it taste amazing.”
In this book she shares how.
All recipes in Superfood Kitchen are vegan, based on natural whole foods, and contain no refined sugar, refined flour or other processed non-foods.
Highlights among the cooked recipes are Banana Seed Bread, Kale and Black-Eyed Pea Stew, Carrot Yacon Soup with Gojis (pictured on the book cover, above), Sushi Salad Bowl, and Chipotle Chili with Sour Cream.
Raw offerings include Spiced Chia Porridge, Goddess Kale Salad, Cabbage-Pomegranate Slaw, Loaded Collard Wraps, Savoury Seed Spread, Rosemary Almond Crackers and Maca Macaroons.
If the term superfood makes you suspicious due to the way it has been overused by advertisers, rest assured the author is on the same page.
She writes that, “With such a catchy name – super (yay!) plus food (yum!) – and currently no official boundaries on claims, it’s easy to see how such a term would become exploited as a flashy selling point,” but that “semantics and over-zealous advertisers aside, the concept behind superfoods remains very real.
“Simply put, I define a superfood as a natural food containing an exceptionally high nutrient density, as well as phytochemicals and antioxidants.”
She adds that, “Superfoods are the most powerful, nutrient-dense and health-giving foods on the planet. Now it’s time we call them delicious.”