The Taste for Living Cookbook: Mike Milken's Favorite Recipes for Fighting Cancer

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Amazon rating of 4.5 out of 5, Amazon sales rank: 121081

When Michael Milken was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 1993, he wasted no time switching from his daily egg-and-bacon-sandwich breakfasts to a low-fat, vegetarian diet. He also founded CaP CURE, the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate. Through research supported by CaP CURE, Milken learned that cutting down on fat was not enough--that soy protein could be an important missing ingredient in his diet. He duly incorporated all of the cancer-fighting ingredients into his diet, but he missed the joy of eating.

Enter Beth Ginsberg, Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate and natural foods chef. When Milken hired her in 1995, she turned his medicinal soy drinks into tasty, healthy fruit smoothies, his tofu-spread sandwiches into Vegetable Reubens--with tempeh bacon! It became clear that a healthy, cancer-fighting diet need not mean an end to culinary pleasure. In the beautifully photographed The Taste for Living Cookbook, Ginsberg collects more than 75 of Milken's favorite dishes, from Tofu Dog Casserole with a Pretzel Crust to Greek Spinach Pie in a Phyllo Nest to Devil's "Fool" Cake with Cocoa Frosting. Colorful icons next to each recipe let you know how long a dish will take to prepare--many are under an hour from kitchen to table. Nutritional details are given at the end of each recipe, and Ginsberg notes when a substitution can be made (say, low-fat turkey in place of tempeh in a sandwich). Proceeds from the sales of The Taste for Living Cookbook will go to further CaP CURE's research--resulting, one hopes, in even more delicious, healthful meals from chef Ginsberg. --Rebecca A. Staffel

Reader Reviews:

The book presents recipes attractively. I've tried a few and they were easier and better than I expected, given the somewhat unusual ingredients for familiar foods. The book goes astray, to some degree, in my opinion, because it works too hard at recreating unhealthy high fat foods with low-fat, high-soy, equivalents. Better to just present vegetarian recipees that don't try to seem like something else.what i loved most about this book is the 'photojournalist'
format...just looking at the photographs and the tasty,
colorful food motivated me...interestingI purchased this book because it contained recipes like flan that didn't require any dairy products. It also provides some great tips for substituting out ingredients like cream and other milk products without sacrificing texture and taste.

At first, I was a bit concerned that most of the recipes in the book called for ingredients that I had never heard of, but even the small health-food section of my local grocery store had almost everything that I needed.The taste For Living Cookbook Mike Milken's Favorite Recipes For Fighting Cancer is a nicely photographed book. The recipes are basic health food fare. Cut down on fat,avoid meat, eat lots of veggies and soy. If I was a wealthy man I would have a professional chef move into my home and cook these complicated meals im my professional kitchen. I would also go to a medition center in Massachusetts "based on Ayurveda tradition" and I would "invite a doctor trained in both Western and Ayurveda medicine to move into...our house for a few months" I don't mean to be cynical but I have neither the time or money to follow this books recipes. I did not find this book very helpful .All of the recipes in this book look delicious but after having the book for almost a year I have only tried out a few. The reason? Most of the main course recipes take over an hour to prepare. The Not-Meat Loaf, for example, is described as taking over 60 minutes and that doesn't include the time it takes to prepare cooked brown rice and lentils the recipe requires. This maybe fine for Mr. Milken, who can afford his own personal chef, but those of us in the real world need recipes that are not only healthy but quick.
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