Blue Zones Kitchen Recipes Live Reviews Summary

Recipe Quality

Pros:

• "These dishes are delicious."
• "Everyone made a recipe- and they were delicious!"
• "These recipes are authentic and, in every sense of the word - Sensational."
• "The recipes are simple and tasty - after all, they are what everyday rural, non-industrial populations eat EVERYDAY."
• "Every recipe I have tried has tasted amazing."
• "Both recipes were simple to make, used only a few ingredients, and were surprisingly good."
• "Have tried many of the recipes and they are simple ingredients simply prepared and simply delicious!"

Cons:

• "No index, hard-to-find ingredients, lots of allergens, bland meals."
• "Some of the ingredients were impossible to find."
• "The Steamed Purple Sweet Potatoes... this recipe was an total failure."
• "The biggest fail though was the chickpea (falafel) patties on p.81."
• "Do NOT try the corn cakes recipe in the Costa Rica section. Some vital ingredient(s) missing!"
• "The recipes though are all vegetarian-almost-vegan in nature and many of them lack any spices, not even salt and pepper."
• "The sweet potato and black bean burgers were hands-down the worst bean burger I've made in the last 15 years: flavorless, hard consistency, too much oatmeal and too few beans."

Cookbook Presentation

Pros:

• "The pictures are beautiful and the recipes don't look that hard."
• "I absolutely love this book!! Have always been interested in the blue zones!"
• "This one is such a wealth of information, extremely interesting, gorgeous photography."
• "The beautiful, sensitive, full-page photographs of the featured people in their kitchens and at their tables made me feel as if I had visited them in their own countries!"
• "The book itself is good quality with lots of photography."
• "Beautiful pictures throughout."
• "The book is hardcover, and contains roughly 300 pages of beautifully illustrated meals."

Cons:

• "So many pictures in this book that weren’t necessarily related to the foods they were by."
• "The pages are mostly white space with very small font used for the recipes."
• "The print is TOO fine....difficult to read."
• "I am not a fan of the dull pictures and the small type face."
• "The Blue Zones Kitchen book is cheaply printed and smells terrible."
• "Cheap flimsy paper hardcover material that rips open after only a few months."
• "The book binding came unglued within a week of receiving my brand new copy."

Health and Lifestyle

Pros:

• "The dishes are healthy, tasty, and very sustainable."
• "This book was recommended to me by a physician for heart health and longevity."
• "This book does a great job at illustrating that the more plant-based you are the less dairy eggs meat in your diet the healthier and longer you will live."
• "If you are interested in healthier cooking and tips on a healthier lifestyle, this cookbook is for you."
• "Recipes are well written and will set you on your way to better health."
• "For someone like me on a heart-healthy diet, this is a wonderful treasury of easy2prepare dishes."
• "The information along with the recipes are an excellent source for nutrition."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately, all of these regions have been 'globalized' and their children and grandchildren have been seduced by hamburgers, fries, pizzas, and the like."
• "These ingredients may be super healthy, but there’s not gonna be any mindfulness on things like inflammation."
• "The recipes in the Nicoya section of this book are not an accurate reflection of what the local people eat."
• "Life is balance and most in the blue zone lived to be 100 with balance. I was disappointed that the author only choose to highlight and capture vegetarian recipes when the majority do eat meat."
• "Many of the recipes in the blue zones call for the use of night shade vegetables... These vegetables over time are known to cause rheumatism and arthritis."
• "The book says to 'Slash Sugar' but a lot of these recipes are very high carb/sugar."
• "According to many nutritionists, while olive oil is a better oil, there is no good oil for your arteries!"

Practicality and Usability

Pros:

• "The Loma Linda section seems the most practical for me when it comes to finding ingredients."
• "I love that there’s the history behind the food in culture of the areas along with the recipes."
• "This one is fabulous as it recommends mostly plant-based American Foods. You don't have to go foraging for items you don't usually have in your cupboard."
• "You can find most items at your local grocery store if not at your local asian market."
• "Most of the ingredients are easy to find or substitute and inexpensive."
• "There were a few ingredients I found harder to find but for the most part I could substitute."
• "I’ve had the pleasure of eating many of these recipes in Ikaria, the salt air from the Aegean Sea drifting by, many ingredients growing in a modest garden underfoot."

Cons:

• "No index, hard-to-find ingredients, lots of allergens, bland meals."
• "Some of the ingredients were impossible to find."
• "A lot of the recipes look good, but I don't have a Hispanic or Asian market near me and now I'm nervous to try the other recipes."
• "Using a list of often unobtainable ingredients without providing substitutes."
• "Very few of the ingredients in these recipes are available where I live (rural eastern NC)."
• "Many require specialized ingredients - I live in the foodie capital of America and even my local groceries seldom stock chayote squash."
• "There are a quite a few ingredients you could never find and I live in a very foodie city."