Dictionary of Wholesome Foods: A Passionate A-to-Z Guide to the Earth's Healthy Offerings, with More than 140 Delicious, Nutritious Recipes » (Bargain)

Anstice Carroll traces her interest in health foods to her parent's natural cooking. She lives in New York City, where she has owned and run the Anstice Carroll Catering company for 25 years, and where she was food director at the Grace Church School in Greenwich Village for 27 years.

Embree De Persiis Vona, a graduate of McGill University, is a professional potter who lives in Big Sur, California. She developed her enthusiasm for health food in the mid '60s, "in other words, when [she] started feeding [herself]."

Gianna De Persiis Vona became obsessed with health food after the birth of her two sons, when it became simply unacceptable to feed them the pesticide-ridden fare she had previously justified feeding to herself. Besides being knowledgeable in the realm of health food and natural healing, Gianna is a cook and a writer. She has a Masters Degree in creative writing and leads inspirational writing workshops in her home town of Sebastopol, California. Her advice column, "Ask Sydney," appears weekly in The North Bay Bohemian, and on-line at www.asksydney.com.

The Dictionary of Wholesome Foods is a timely addition to the food reference shelf, one that’s desperately needed as mass-marketing of health food continues to grow. It provides practical guidance on how to make sense of the burgeoning selection of healthful foods, herbs and supplements, and provides a concise understanding of the sources, characteristics, benefits, and uses of health foods. It is also a pure joy to read and peruse, with its lovely line drawings and quirky, often playful, descriptions and turns of phrase. The Dictionary of Wholesome Foods is a personable, compulsively readable guide that includes historical information and fascinating anecdotes about the many foods it describes, plus an array of delicious recipes that feature them, such as Adzuki Rice, Almond Crescents, Pumpernickel Bread, Spinach with Pignoli and Raisins, and Homemade Yogurt. This is the perfect shopping companion or armchair read; sure to delight information seekers and food writing enthusiasts alike.

Library Journal

With this work, potter Gianna De Persiis Vona has updated her mother, Embree, and Carroll's original text on healthy eating, first published in 1973 as The Health Food Dictionary, for a new generation "looking to add a bit more healthy eating to their regular diet." Gianna kept the simple alphabetical arrangement and illustrations of the original edition while adding some new topics (e.g., amaranth) and recipes to the mix. Offering basic information on various healthy foods and ingredients, this dictionary is designed more for those new to the subject. Novices will appreciate the authors' practical suggestions for choosing organic and/or healthier foods (e.g., eggs, milk) as well as the easy recipes requiring one or two specific "health food" ingredients. While the item-specific table of contents and recipe index help locate topics, the occasional use of cross-indexing-aloe, for example, is found under the "cosmetics" entry-would have added to the book's usefulness. Recommended for the circulating collections of most public libraries.-John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.