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“Two Books for You? Clean Plates and The Edible Schoolyard”

A nutritionist (Jared Koch) and a food critic (Former Time Out staffer Alex Van Buren) have teamed up to write Clean Plates NYC ($13.95, on sale April 28th) www.cleanplatesnyc.com, a cute compact volume in Tiffany blue dedicated to culling New York’s best healthy, sustainable restaurants. Unlike most “good for you” publications, it includes choices for carnivores, vegans and vegetarians alike with 75 reviews of restaurants serving nutritious, organic, local and sustainably raised food. On the list are restaurants you might know—Babbo, Aurora, Savoy, Waverly Inn, Blue Hill, and Rouge Tomate, among others that you might not—Zest.

In addition to the restaurant choices, the book offers easy tips on how to eat healthier and improve your diet (eat less animal products, more veg). But instead of prescribing one diet, Koch’s theory, called bio-individuality, aims for a more individualized approach that combines the foods you like with your specific nutritional needs. It’s less preachy than practical, which is nice. He also includes interviews with chefs, a nutritional guide, and glossary. It’s an ideal gift for someone trying to make a positive change in their diet, and a useful one for any foodie looking for better ways to eat and to live.

While we’re on the topic of nutrition and sustainability, you might also consider Alice Waters’ new book, Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea ($24.95), which chronicles her incredible 10-year journey to bring a garden to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School (a rather dilapidated and neglected school) and imbue it a sense of hope, renewal and empowerment. Her program turned a dirt parking lot into a vegetable garden and a closed down cafeteria into a cooking school and lunchroom and has taught kids about where food comes from, how to grow it, and how come together as a community to share it. It’s a wildly inspiring read and one that you might share with your own families. The book also includes original photographs by David Liittschwager (National Geographic) in addition to the students’ hilarious and touching first food memories.

Happy Reading!

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Posted: April 18, 2009

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