Rose Reisman Brings Home Light Cooking

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This book’s objectives are to promote healthy eating and to raise
funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Although making clear
that the link between diet and cancer has not been proven, the text
stresses that a low-fat diet is a wise choice for those concerned with
their health in general and with breast cancer in particular.

The more than 240 recipes range from soups to desserts, from
inexpensive family meals to special dishes for entertaining. For each
recipe, imperial and metric measures are given. There’s a short
section of tips on acceptable substitutes for some ingredients, serving
ideas, ways to minimize preparation time, and so on. A special feature
of the book is the clear, no-nonsense nutritional analysis of each
recipe: calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, sodium, cholesterol, and
fibre per serving are all listed in an easy-to-read sidebar.

To achieve the low-fat objectives, the recipes use approximately half
the eggs, oil, and butter of traditional recipes; cheese is present in
only very small quantities; tomatoes are used extensively as a low-fat
base for sauces, soups, and entrées; and there’s generous use of
fresh herbs to enable salt usage to be cut drastically. Fresh fruit and
vegetables dominate the ingredients lists. Modification, not drastic
change, is Reisman’s approach.

The book is nicely designed and illustrated, with a sprinkling of color
photos. It is a practical, versatile recipe collection that should find
a welcome in most modern kitchens.