"Salad Love" is diverse and delicious | Book Review

"Salad Love" by David Bez

"This is not a cookbook": the first words you'll read in David Bez's Salad Love: 260 Crunchy, Savory, and Filling Meals You Can Make Every Day. Bez goes on to explain that he's not a chef - he just loves salad and wanted to create lunches that were not only energizing and healthy, but also really darn tasty.

In the nine-to-five workday, there isn't always time to make food, so a lot of people end up grabbing something calorie-filled from the local coffee shop. The recipes in this book were all made and eaten in Bez's lunch hour.

The ingredients are generally very accessible - most are everyday items that are readily available in a grocery store. There are a few exceptions; for example, I'm not sure where to buy bresaola or borage flowers. Some of the recipes require a little more preparation and adventure, which can certainly be exciting!

The salad dressings are wonderfully simple - usually a mixture of oil and vinegar, which I love and think is so yummy while still allowing you to taste the rest of the ingredients.

My attempt at some "Salad Love", recipe p. 212

The photography itself is simple in the best way possible: it's just the salad in its bowl, which allows you to focus on the mouth-watering food you could be eating.

There are a variety of recipes in this book - vegetarian, vegan, raw, pescatarian, omnivore...and for each recipe, Bez suggests a variation, which is so useful because some days you really want to try a recipe but don't feel like having meat or fish or what have you.

The recipes are divided by seasons - this is great because you can eat according to which fruits and vegetables are in season!

In honour of the deep freeze we're having right now (-33 with the wind chill, yay!), I decided to make the Roasted Turkey, Mushrooms, Carrot & Walnuts salad from the Winter section. It was delicious. And filling.

Whether you're looking to eat healthier or you just really like salad, this book will make you want to devour the food on the page in front of you. Salad Love shows how diverse - and delicious - salads can really be!

*This book was sent to me by Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review.
Photos by nikkitheknack