Fitness Club

Jonny Bowden had me at polymeal. Yet there's so much more to offer in this -- for want of a more-adequate term -- "cookbook," that I hardly know where to start. So I'll just relate my journey of discovery with The Healthiest Meals on Earth and encourage you to embark on your own.

First, there's the look and feel of this volume. I admit I'm not drawn to the cover art -- it's probably one of my least-favorite things about this book. But I like the hefty size of it and the durable stock of the 368 pages, and as I began flipping through them, I was enchanted by the photography. There are lush photographs of each polymeal, and nearly every recipe is accompanied by a mouth-watering picture of the dish, presented with antique kitchenware and utensils. The two-page photographic spreads throughout are stunning -- coffee-table quality, in fact: cattle grazing in a lush pasture, salmon leaping in an icy river, sacks of colorful spices, a brilliant cranberry bog, a farm field with soil so rich you can almost feel it, a sunlit orchard, a pomegranate dripping with goodness. The theme of the photography is clear: simplicity and purity, reverence for unspoiled land, and gratitude for the bounty it offers. READ AN EXCERPT

After drinking in the visuals, I began reading, and I must say The Healthiest Meals on Earth is something of a page-turner. It's as though Bowden is sitting on a stool in the corner of your kitchen, chatting amiably about the wonderful qualities of the meal as you assemble its ingredients. He tells you why fat isn't all bad, why sugar pretty much is (and what you can happily use in its place), why grains are overrated, why fiber is fabulous, the importance of omegas, and so on and on -- all in the context of quite wonderful meals that turn those concepts into delicious reality.

I was already familiar with the idea of the polymeal, but this is the first cookbook I've come across that offers a collection of them. The idea is to combine ingredients that boost cardiovascular health -- things like fish, garlic, almonds, fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate and red wine. Bowden takes it further, though, including foods with anti-cancer properties, foods that boost the immune system, foods that fight inflammation, foods that combat obesity -- and much, much more. Thanks to his collaborator, Jeannette Bessinger, CHHC, these foods are combined in innovative recipes that even a cook with modest abilities can enjoy putting together.

It was only after I read every word of this cookbook that I actually began experimenting with the recipes, and I haven't stopped. After preparing more than a dozen of these dishes, I can tell that The Healthiest Meals on Earth is destined to spend a lot more time on the counter than many of the other books on my kitchen shelf.

Among my favorites are real-food brownies -- sugarless and flourless, they're made with dates, cocoa, garbanzo beans, eggs, agave nectar and a few other ingredients. I made holiday gifts of these and haven't found anyone they failed to delight. My family also especially enjoyed the tamari-orange salmon, delicious dal, red beans and brown rice, chili with cashews and kale, and chicken curry. This book is a good mix of meatless and meat-based recipes, which works well for our mixed family. (I've experimented with some of the meat recipes to accommodate our vegetarians, and found them quite readily adaptable.)

I like the flax pancakes in principle, but the execution has been disappointing. They taste just fine, but they're very dry. Still, I'm going to keep making them and experiment with toppings until I get these cakes right.

This cookbook includes lots of tips, notes and some useful reference material (I particularly like the chart on healthy oils), along with pantry lists for each section that make shopping easier. Fans can find a lot more at Bowden's website, www.jonnybowden.com.

I have a few small quibbles with The Healthiest Meals on Earth. Surprisingly, it doesn't include standard nutritional information for each recipe. This is something I really expect in a health-oriented cookbook.

One contradiction concerning olive oil bothers me. The helpful chart on oils includes the direction, "Do not use extra virgin [olive oil] for cooking; heat will create free radicals." Yet recipe after recipe calls for heating extra virgin olive oil. I assume it's a matter of degree -- keeping the oil from reaching its smoking point -- but the chart doesn't say that.

Here's a word of cautionary advice for users of this cookbook: Ignore the prep times provided with each recipe. Unless you're an iron chef with a kitchen stadium at your disposal, you'll be a lot better off estimating on your own than planning according to these sometimes wildly optimistic guidelines. If, in a mere 10 minutes, you can assemble a dozen ingredients; finely chop an onion; peel and finely grate 3 T ginger; finely chop 4 to 5 cloves garlic; sort, rinse and drain a cup of lentils; wash, stem and chop 3/4 c. cilantro; and seed and dice 3 plum tomatoes, then more power to you.

Still, I'm so taken with The Healthiest Meals on Earth that I have since picked up two other Bowden books -- The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth and The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth -- which I recommend with equal enthusiasm.

I'm looking forward to more highly satisfactory cooking and dining as I continue to use this book. I'm going to try the roasted rutabaga chips next. Yum. Join the discussion! Send your comments to Daily News Central.

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