Book Review

Mediterranean Harvest: Vegetarian Recipes from the World's Healthiest Cuisine
By Martha Rose Shulman
Review by Tammie Ortlieb

Mediterranean Harvest is a hefty home cooking delight. It's like having your favorite aunt stand over the stove with you sharing all of her secrets. Secrets like the best way to prepare an artichoke, the preferred method for cleaning leeks, how to make the perfect frittata, and what exactly a frittata is. Shulman shares definitions of pasta types, explanations of tapas and meze, and great ideas for crostini and bruschetta. While not strictly vegan, many of the recipes in this book can be easily altered. Alternatively, there are plenty of plant based options from which to choose.

Make no mistake, this IS your mother's cookbook, if your mother is a vegetarian who lives to braise and sauté. Holding the collection of recipes, I felt a bit like I had snitched the copy from my mother-in-law's shelves—right down from between her grease smudged version of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and Julia Child's The Way to Cook. I confess that my family doesn't eat this well every day. And for most of the recipes I had to make a quick stop at the store. But the food is absolutely delicious.

The Easy White Beans with Tomatoes and Garlic has become a one night a week dinner in my house. Simple to put together and done by the time I kick off my heels and let out the dogs, this dish is a favorite with my tween and teens alike. I can also lay claim now to a mean crostini, thanks to Shulman and her unbelievable patience. I top it off with the Pesto Genovese, made without the cheeses. When I get the urge for sweets, which is more often than I should admit, the Anise Butter Cookies, altered slightly, are good enough for company. And I see myself in the near future spending days cooking up soups to eat and freeze—Tomato Soup with Cilantro and Vermicelli, Majorcan Bread and Vegetable Soup, Bean and Vegetable Soup with Pastina, and Chick Pea Breakfast Soup.

While I enjoyed the variation of recipes—quick and easy, feed the family fast versus impress the neighbors with your culinary genius—it was the stories I treasured most. Shulman's tales of her food travels sent me to places I may never visit in real life. And oddly enough, I found myself not at all offended by these narratives involving beekeepers and cheese makers and things not always vegan. I am a little kid again at the knee of my grandmother, listening to stories of faraway places and people with strange sounding names. I am transformed to another place, another time.

But when I shake myself back into the present, I realize that Shulman has given me a gift. Not only has she imparted on me her love of food and fine cooking, but she has done it in a manner similar to what a mother might. In this day of extended family living miles apart and cooking tricks learned from the world wide web, I am humbled to have someone who cares elbow to elbow with me in the kitchen wiping flour from her cheeks just as I wipe mine. Not only is this a book I would keep in my collection, but one I feel impelled to pass on to friend and family, vegan or not.

Buy Mediterranean Harvest Now!

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer with a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology. Her work has appeared in VegNews, Veggie Life, Vegetarian Baby and Child Online Magazine, and Mothering.com. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, three terrific teenagers- two veg, one wannabe-, and a you-tell-em-like-it-is-sister future green revolutionist fabulous fourth grader.

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