Description:
The food of the islands has its own special charm--who can resist the call of the jerk? But, in between nibbles of sweet plantain and empanada, we wonder if we'll hate ourselves in the morning when we tally up the fat grams and sodium we consumed the night before. Aiming to take the fear out of the feasting, dietician and culinary instructor Donna Shields has penned Caribbean Light, a healthy romp through the kitchens of our West Indian neighbors. Shields clearly loves her work and her subject. Making it plain in the introduction that flavor and authenticity are more important to her than cutting every last calorie, she takes our hand and guides us through over 125 fabulous, relatively simple recipes such as Coconut Kerry Chicken, Marinated Palm Hearts, and Drunken Shrimp. Each recipe is followed with information on calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, vitamins, and minerals, to allow the reader to decide if the pork chop's worth it (it is). Well-indexed and easy-to-use, with informative sidebars on many aspects of Carib cuisine, the only thing this cookbook is missing is illustrations. Viewed as incentive to actually make the dishes, though, perhaps that's not such a bad thing after all. --Rob Lightner
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