Rating: 
Summary: This was informative, but some of the recipes....
Review: I like this book because it gave me a good introduction to macrobiotics. Along with an extremely helpful glossary, there is a list of vendors who have catalogs for uncommon items. So, why did I give it three stars? Two reasons: 1. Some of the recipes made me wonder if they had tried them before they put them in the book. I figured that every cookbook is bound to have a couple of bad recipes, but I would say less than half of the recipes had a good taste and maybe a handful were recipes I would cook again. 2. The consistency was off on a lot of the recipes that were supposed to be like dough. Actually, all of the dough-like recipes I have tried have been too runny. That goes for cookies, bread, and pancakes. I would not recommend the sourdough or South of the Border Salad. Those were the two you could not pay me to eat again. Good items included the Oriental Noodle Salad with Cashews, Penne With Black Beans & Mango, Baked Beans With Miso & Apple Butter. I am very new to this macrobiotic thing and I could be wrong, but aren't tropical fruits a no-no (penne referred to above)? And again with those Baked Beans, add more beans or you will have soup - and a very runny soup at that. I would recommend this book if you are patient, adventurous & just starting in on macrobiotics. If you are looking to improve your cookbook collection, however, I would think twice.
Rating: 
Summary: creative, inspiring reciepts that help you eat healthy.
Review: I love this book for it's way of introducing nutrition and ancient healing wisdom into the lives of the modern family. Whenever I am feeling unable to creat a meal with what's in the fridge Chirstina's book has a reciept to do it. She's is building a bridge between taist buds and healthy eating. My family likes most of the things I fix and I feel good knowing I am helping them be well. The only thing I don't like about the book is that it can be hard to find a reciept that I've enjoyed if I forget to mark it. There are so many reciepts that they seem to get lost. There is no list of reciept names and the index isn't as thorough as I'd like. But, if your interested in a diet with good food and gormet taist this book can take you there, it's a must!
Rating: 
Summary: Just delicious & easy to follow recipes
Review: I love this cookbook, which I have been using for about 3 weeks now, nearly everyday! The recipes are very easy for me to follow. I have been vegetarian or vegan for many years with some breaks, so many of these ingredients are familiar to me, but some are new, too. The main thing that I love about Christina's style is her sense of flavor & fun...my husband is Italian-American, & loves to cook, too, I'm Irish-American, & learned alot of Italian cooking from his family, in addition to my own vegetarian foods. This is really the first time my husband has 'fallen in love' with so many whole foods dishes. We have enjoyed nearly every recipe I've made from this book. This book is jam-packed with recipes & ideas-- it could be overwhelming, but as we love to cook, it is an adventure in pleasurable good health. I've been losing weight, which I needed to, also, without even trying. I have nearly no cravings for things I previously was tempted by which were unhealthy, because I love the food we eat at mealtimes so much. Thank you Christina!
Rating:
Summary: Sooo GOOD! Yummy too!
Review: I really love this book! As for the women above that wished the index was better (it does contain a substaintial 500 recipes) I have it divided with post its so I never loose one delicious recipe. This book is the best way to ween yourself off dairy, you really won't miss it. She is very informative and funny too! She also has another great book that was just published with more of the background info on the strengths of different foods. She has completely changed the way we eat and I feel so much healthier!
Rating:
Summary: This book has some wonderful recipes.....
Review: I'm transitioning into a macrobiotic lifestyle and this book looked interesting to me, so I bought it. I really like each recipe I've tried. However, even though the author opens her book with a chapter entitled, "What is macrobiotics?" this book is not pure macrobiotics. Many recipes call for ingredients which should probably be avoided by newcomers to the practice. On the flip side, this book does seem like a good transitionary book for those desiring to try a more macrobiotic diet while still eating many foods which are familiar. To the author's credit, the word "macrobiotic" doesn't appear on either the front or back cover, so obviously she isn't making a claim to be die-hard macrobiotic. While some recipes are 100% macrobiotic, some others which are not may be altered to make them so, if desired. The beginning of the book describes many of the unusual and unfamiliar ingredients needed, items like kuzu, agar-agar, arame, hiziki, mochi, and shoyu, among others. Menu and shopping suggestions are given as well. I'm not vegetarian but I imagine this book being a valuable addition to a vegetarian's cookbook library. Just skip the chapter on fish.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Macrobiotic enough
Review: If your a vegetarian this book is good, But as far as macrobiotic?..........no way!!! Recipes contain GARLIC, are full of nightshades & other ingredients such as coconut milk, basil, orange juice, tropical vegetables, chilli, olives, cayenne, cougettes, peppers........I was pushed hard to find a macrobiotic recipe that was not too YIN......
Rating: 
Summary: Well, OK for macrobiotics, I guess...
Review: Somewhere in this long title should appear the word "macrobiotic" so that people who are not interested could avoid buying the book! Macrobiotic food is boring and even though often it has no meat or dairy, it is by no means similar to the lush and mouthwatering vegetarian or vegan food. The book is huge so I thought I would get a bit from my money and I tried several of the recipes... to results from mildly disastrous to really bad. I've been a vegetarian for more than 15 years and can usually cook to the applause of meat-eating friends so I don't think the fault was mine... As someone else said, if you a vegetarian and looking for a book with lots of recipes... don't bother with this one. My advice: buy any book from the Moosewood restaurant (just type "Moosewood" in the book search, Amazon has most of them), they're huge, creative and delicious and the recipes are flawless.
Rating:
Summary: Too weird for words
Review: The recipes in this book were just too bizarre for my tastes. And even if I would be willing to try some of them, there's no way I could get my husband and kids to eat these dishes. I couldn't even pronounce some of the ingredients used in her recipes, let alone find them in a grocery store. Perhaps the author's income allows her to buy exotic foods from a health food grocery store, but the average consumer (particularly one shopping for a family) cannot afford to spend that kind of money on groceries.
Rating:
Summary: gone to garbage
Review: The title of the book is misleading, because the book is comprised 90% of recipes, NOT techniques, wit& wisdom etc. It is not a guide, it is a recipe book. If you've decided to go macrobiotic and have access to ingredients like rutabaga and arame, this book provides you with many recipes, but for me it was totally inapplicable. I was expecting the guidelines for macrobiotic eating and cooking that I could apply to different ingredients at hand and thus was very dissapponted.
Rating:
Summary: gone to garbage
Review: The title of the book is misleading, because the book is comprised 90% of recipes, NOT techniques, wit& wisdom etc. It is not a guide, it is a recipe book. If you've decided to go macrobiotic and have access to ingredients like rutabaga and arame, this book provides you with many recipes, but for me it was totally inapplicable. I was expecting the guidelines for macrobiotic eating and cooking that I could apply to different ingredients at hand and thus was very dissapponted.
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