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Summary: An instant classic!
Review: Hospodar has produced a vegetarian cookbook that executes a rare triple play: incredibly delicious recipes, healthful, and very entertainingly written text. As well as giving us many unusual dishes, the author has a knack for taking popular dishes, and giving them a twist that makes them something very special. For example, I've enjoyed the middle Eastern spread Hummus for many years, but found myself in hummus hog heaven when I tried her recipe which uses cashews and coconut. This book also imparts such valuable cooking knowledge, I find myself making up my own recipes as well as using hers, armed with my new-found knowledge of spice combinations and cooking techniques. Finally, this book is one great read! Check out "The Ten Commandments Of Bean Cookery" and you'll see this is a book for the living room chair as well as the kitchen.
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Summary: The knowledge is excellent and the recipes are scrumptious!
Review: I have accumulated many recipe books over the years. What most impressed me about "Heaven's Banquet" is that it is much more than a cookbook. It presents a philosophy of life and a philosophy of cooking and eating that create health by bringing mind, body, spirit and environment together. The author's warmth, humor and excellent writing style make this fascinating knowledge easy to understand and absorb. The recipes are easy to follow and scrumptious! I will be reading, thinking about, and using this book for a long, long time.
Rating:
Summary: The knowledge is excellent and the recipes are scrumptious!
Review: I have accumulated many recipe books over the years. What most impressed me about "Heaven's Banquet" is that it is much more than a cookbook. It presents a philosophy of life and a philosophy of cooking and eating that create health by bringing mind, body, spirit and environment together. The author's warmth, humor and excellent writing style make this fascinating knowledge easy to understand and absorb. The recipes are easy to follow and scrumptious! I will be reading, thinking about, and using this book for a long, long time.
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Summary: Workable, delicious recipes.
Review: I have been a serious cook for over fifty years and have a large cookbook collection. I love to read cookbooks for pleasure as well as resources for recipes. Hospodar's book is one of the very best reads - informative, imaginative, marvellously workable, delicious recipes and very funny as well. It is also visually beautiful. You don't even have to be a vegetarian to find the recipes exciting.
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Summary: This is the only cook book that I ever use.
Review: I love this book. I use it every day. It's so complete, and I always find what I'm looking for. I've never had to use another cookbook ever since I bought this one.
Rating:
Summary: A superb and comprehensive vegetarian cookbook
Review: I love this cookbook. The recipes are delicious, well-tested and easy to follow. Miriam's style is highly entertaining as well. I'm sure I've never gotten so many laughs out of a cookbook before. She has also included a lot of useful information you won't easily find elsewhere. I especially love the ayurvedic angle. I also love the fact that she doesn't just focus on the food of one culture, so there is a lot of variety.
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Summary: A medical perspective
Review: I read this book from the perspective of an MD, trained in complementary medicine. You can't go wrong with what she's written. The overall approach is completely consistent with the best of modern nutritional science, augmented by the wisdom of the Asian tradition from which her recipes derive. I wish all my patients planned their meals from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very nice, but ....
Review: I seem to be somewhat less enthusiastic about this book than the other readers. It's terrific, of course. But I don't think it's as useful for a beginner as Morningstar's or some of the other ayurvedic cookbooks. It can be challenging to determine what recipes are appropriate for your body type. And, in frankness, Maharishi ayurved can be somewhat stricter in its definitions of balancing and aggravating foods than other forms of ayurveda. That may be a positive, but it places greater burdens on the beginner. Still, this is an inspiring and very beautiful book that I look forward to using for many years.
Rating:
Summary: Miriam's book is health and happiness for me!
Review: I taste every page as I read it. I've given a dozen copies as gifts and can't think of anything more nourishing for the heart and the taste buds. Along with her recipes, I love Miriam Hospodar's writing style--its informality and humor.
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Summary: Works like a charm
Review: My partner and I have tried over a dozen recipes in this book and everytime they work like a charm. I feel like a gourmet cook when I use it. It is true the Ayurvedic classifications are not as clear as Morningstar's Ayurvedic cookbook, but I find myself reaching for Miriam's whenever I want to try a new recipe. My partner scoffed at me when I told her this is all the cookbook we'll need. Now she is a believer.Thank you Miriam. Update: After communicating with Miriam, I now understand why she avoids classifying meals by dosha. Single food items are easy to classify by dosha, but when they are combined the net result is not easy to classify by dosha. ** She recommends using the eight-pointed guideline on page five to determine what works best for the individual.
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