I honestly didn’t know this book existed until a few weeks ago, when I somehow ended up on the author’s blog.  I think I stumbled onto it via a Pin or something, and Rachael engaged with me in the comments when I expressed a feeling of panic over the idea of relying on condiments.  Condiments are so much work (I thought), so wouldn’t I just be hungry all the time when I ended up too low on energy to make them?  Then Rachael said that many of them are as simple as blend-and-heat (what?!) and many can be frozen (WHAT?! Mind blown), and I had to find out more.  (Yes, Rachael, those couple of comments sent me off in search of your book!)

I have mixed opinions on the book, only because we’re not foodies.  (There’s nothing about it that’s less-than-stellar, just a couple of things that are less than a fit.)

The Design

This is a gorgeous cookbook, y’all.  Like coffee-table-quality-almost-too-pretty-to-take-into-my-kitchen gorgeous.  It’s a sturdy hardcover with a matte surface that make for any weird glares to detract from the cover image/design.  And almost every recipe is accompanied by a full-page, full-color photo.  Even the stuff I think sounds gross (pickled shrimp) looks beautiful.  And who can make mayo or barbecue sauce look good (aesthetically, I mean; I’m not talking about the yum factor)?  But these are good-looking photos.  I’m actually a little envious, because my food photos are to her food photos like a kindergartener’s stick-person-with-no-neck drawing is to Rembrandt.

(I know; I probably sound like a crazy fangirl.  But have you tried to take pictures of food?  I might actually study this book for the photography.  Seriously.)

The Food

Okay, so I can rave about the design — and that’s great; meals being an aesthetically pleasing thing can be a pretty huge deal when food seems to have been the enemy for a long time.  But what really matters is the food.  ‘Cause pretty is all well and good, but who cares if it’s pretty and you can’t eat it?

Here’s where the book both rocks and falls a little flat for me.  The food is fabulous.  I mean, I haven’t tried every recipe or anything, but I’m exercising my judgment here based on my experience with food and recipes, and it’s great.  The recipes use real ingredients (obviously, or it wouldn’t be AIP-friendly), combined in pleasing ways, and although some of them look rather fancy, most of them aren’t crazy-complicated.  (That’s a problem with a lot of AIP-friendly foods — they taste good, but they’re so labor-intensive they’re completely impractical for someone who’s sick.)  Some are a little time-consuming, but in most cases, the bulk of the time is wait time or cook time, not “doing” time.

However, there’s a good bit of what I call “weird” food here.  We’re pretty simple people, and we eat pretty simple food.  Mostly things that kids will typically eat.  We’re not foodies, and a lot of what I see in many AIP cookbooks — including a good bit of what’s here — seems “gourmet” to me and not necessarily something that would fall within our typical diet.  (Some of that is probably a finance thing.  Have you seen the cost of asparagus?  Asparagus to feed six is not very budget-friendly.)  So there are a good number of recipes here that I just can’t get my head around as “normal” foods (especially seafoods, which I’m not fond of in general).  Roasted sunchokes.  Honeydew soup.  (People really eat fruit soup?  I see it in cookbooks semi-regularly, but I’ve never seen anyone actually eat it.)  Shucked oysters.  (I’m sticking my tongue out right now.  These are supposed to be a good aphrodisiac, though.  High in zinc, which is especially good for the guys.)

With that said, there are also a lot of good, basic options, including some really creative approaches to things many of us have really missed (not least of which are the aforementioned condiments).  Mayo.  Barbecue sauce.  Tacos.  Swedish meatballs. Pita chips.  And there are some things I’ve tried variations of in the past and not loved, which she makes look so good I’m looking forward to trying them again. (Caramelized brussels sprouts.  One of these days I’m going to have good brussels sprouts.  I’m pretty sure mine never come out right.)

A Few Random Details

Chances are, most people picking up this book because it’s AIP-friendly are already somewhat familiar with the AIP diet.  If you’re not, I wouldn’t recommend you try to learn via the “crash course” of a cookbook introduction.  Something like The Paleo Approach that goes more in-depth is recommended!  But Nourish does start with some basic information about leaky gut, which foods are “yeses” and “nos” on the AIP diet, and what that means, so you won’t be totally flying blind.

Bottom line?  Good book.  I like it.  I’d recommend it.  And if you like seafood, you’ll probably like it even more than I do.

Nourish: The Paleo Healing Cookbook:
Easy Yet Flavorful Recipes that Fight Autoimmune Illnesses