Feed me, Seymour.

I think I keep checking these out because I'm hungry.  I can't hope to eat any of these things any time soon, but they are so lovely to look at.

PNW veg: 100 vegetable recipes inspired by the local bounty of the Pacific Northwest by Kim O'Donnel.  I really wanted to like this book.  The content might be useful for people who do a significant amount of shopping at (large) farmers' markets (most of the regional produce she focuses on doesn't show up in our market, which has only two actual farmers).  Many readers will be put off by the lack of pictures: many recipes don't have any picture at all; the ones that do either have a photo of an ingredient (leeks, green onions, asparagus), or the photo of the finished product is on the next page, not visible from the page with the ingredients and directions.  Those had me flipping back and forth; it was annoying.

Real food heals: Eat to feel younger and stronger every day by Seamus Mullen.  The very short introduction talks about how the author came to what is essentially an anti-inflammatory-style diet after being ill.  He mentions the Wahls protocol and several other researchers he talked with, but it isn't enough information for someone thinking about a diet change; it's more appropriate to comfort someone, who has read about anti-inflammatory diets elsewhere, where the author started from when he designed his diet.

Only about half the recipes, or maybe even fewer, have photos.  Since many of these dishes are gourmet-ish, I'm not sure how the finished product is supposed to look.  What's a caponata?  Or carpaccio?  Although there are no beans or gluten, and most of the inclusion of dairy seems optional or can be substituted, this book is primarily appropriate for people who like to cook a la froo-froo.  I did see a number of ingredients that seemed extremely specific that I might have difficult in purchasing locally: watermelon radishes, specific types of mushrooms and chiles I haven't ever seen before, something called gochujang, and that yuzu stuff again, as examples.

Wild fermentation: The flavor, nutrition, and craft of live-culture foods by Sandor Ellix Katz.  If you want information about fermentation, in addition to recipes, this is it.  There's a ton of history, regional information, and very clear directions.  If I ever ferment, I will use this book.

The anti-inflammatory diet and action plans: 4-week meal plans to heal the immune system and restore overall health by Dorothy Calimeris and Sondi Bruner.  This is not a worthwhile book to have.  I have to admit, I largely checked out when the authors described GMOs as "serious heath risks" (28).  Science is bad!  Looking ahead, the authors offer four different action plans.  There is a very short discussion on the differences between the plans (vegan, Paleo, Mediterranean, and "time-saving") but each type of plan gets less than 2 full pages-- certainly not nearly enough information for anyone to make an informed decision.  Neither of the authors are doctors; both have inflammatory diseases, and one is a nutritionist (credentials and institutions not specified), but they both are writers and (professional?) bloggers, so their authority is perhaps in question.

The recipes themselves, which make up over 2/3rds of the book, seem fine.  They are marked as to which of the 4 plans they are allowed under.  Each also lists nutrition information, including calories per serving, fat, carbs, fiber, and more, which is fantastic.  But overall, the information and authority is lacking.

The perfect health diet: Regain health and lose weight by eating the way you were meant to eat by Paul Jaminet and Shou-Ching Jaminet.  After nearly a month on the Wahls protocol, I was having a recurrence of the same problems I had before starting; I started adding back in non-gluten starches, trying to up my caloric intake.  Coincidentally, a few days after that, I started this book, which pretty much mirrors what I was already doing.  It has been about a week on this eating plan, and I'm doing better.  I need to find a way to incorporate more healthy fats, and I'd like it if my body could tolerate more vegetable variety, but I'm doing ok.

To be honest, I skimmed quite a bit of this.  This is a thick book with a ton of very technical information.  It wouldn't be out of reach of someone with basic undergraduate-level science education who was emotionally invested, paying attention, and taking notes.  The writing seemed comfortable and appropriate: not too jokey or hokey, but believable and reliable.

The elimination diet: Discover the foods that are making you sick and tired-- and feel better fast by Tom Malterre and Alissa Segersten.  I quit.  First, this isn't really applicable to me, as I've already eliminated pretty much everything.  I would have skimmed it, though, except it was driving me crazy: the tone is unbelievable.  Obviously the writer wants to come across as upbeat, confident, and reliable, but this was unreal.  Every example patient encounter was "I immediately knew exactly what was wrong" and after eliminating the problem food (which is always presented as being the first guess), everything is 100% better.  The patient experiences are completely unbelievable and the instruction and other information is disturbingly overconfident.

Simple green suppers: A fresh strategy for one-dish vegetarian meals by Susie Middlleton.  Even if I were physically able to eat most of these ingredients, this still wouldn't be the cookbook for me.  My new theory is that most people I know aren't vegetarian because it would be impossible to support at our small-town grocery stores.  Although this cookbook didn't have the outlandish ingredients of some others-- the kind of ingredients where I wouldn't even know which aisle to start looking in-- this still had plenty of specialty radishes and greens and such that you just won't find out here.  Additionally, although the author asserts that all of these dishes can be made in under an hour, they all seemed fussy.  I prefer meals that focus on a few ingredients and flavors, not six or seven things plus a custom spice blend plus a home-made dressing.  Not enough pictures.