Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #210454 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-31
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Synopsis
Written with the support of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Institute, this comprehensive cookbook shows how to incorporate the timeless principles of Ayurveda into the twenty-first century kitchen. A result of Miriam Kasin Hospodar's twenty-year culinary journey, "Heaven's Banquet" draws from a rich palette of international cuisines and teaches you how to match your diet to your mind-body type for maximum health and well-being. It contains over 700 surprisingly simple recipes, ranging from Thai Corn Fritters and Asian-Cajun Eggplant Gumbo to West African Avocado Mousse and Mocha-Spice Cake with Coffee Cream Frosting. Readers will discover the most effective methods of preparing food, the benefits of eating seasonally for invidual types, and how to create a diet for the entire family. There are special sections on how to lose weight and control sugar sensitivity, a questionnaire to help determine mind-body type, and essential ingredients for a well-stocked Ayurvedic kitchen.

Customer Reviews

Best Cookbook I Have Ever Owned
Three main points for this review:

1. Delicious, reliable and easy-to-follow
2. Completely banished my meat-cravings
3. A very good book for Ayurvedic cooking

This book is full of delicious recipies, some traditional, some unusual but all completely reliable. All of the twenty or so that I have tried so far have been exceptional, requiring no tinkering at all, which is a minor miracle as I am a novice cook. In fact, at the second meal I have ever cooked for guests (broccoli soup, tofu in coconut milk and baked pears) I was asked how long I had been cooking! It was even more amazing considering the first meal had been the week before!

As an ex-meat-eater, I had experienced meat cravings since I went vegetarian two years ago but once I started making meals from this book they completely vanished. My cravings for sweets and chocolate have also almost disappeared. I believe the Ayurvedic practice of including all six tastes in every meal is responsible and have now made a habit of eating something out of this book every day.

With respect to the tri-doshic system, I would say this book is a good general guide to healthy Ayurvedic cooking but isn't really suitable for treating specific imbalances. Some of the recipies are clearly indicated as balancing for a certain dosha, but the majority are just well-balanced overall. Rather than providing lots of dosha-specific meals, this book tells you which foodstuffs are suitable for each type and provides variations in most of the recipies allowing you to tailor them as desired. I actually prefer this as it gives me a lower-level understanding of which vegetables, grains etc. are best suited for me and therefore allows me to be more creative in my cooking.

I would recommend this book for everyone, including non-Ayurvedic cooks and meat-eaters.

Just another vegetarian cookbook
As the book is quite difficult to get over here, I bought it without looking at it first just based on the customer reviews . And what a mistake it was. Sure, the recipies are fine and some of them easy to prepare but they offer no new tastes just more of the "I am a vegetarian but miss all the meat dishes" kind of thing. And concerning the Ayurvedic approach there is not much of it in it that could be truly helpful. If you want to try Ayurvedic cuisine, buy Amadea Morningstar's books: better tasting recipies that are truly easy to prepare, giving you a lot of insight into Ayurvedic cooking. And they are cheaper too!

Beautiful but disappointing.
This book is beautifully prepared and has many excellent recipes. But as an aid to preparing food in keeping with your dosha (and those you might cook for) it is lacking. It has a section at the start which describes which foods are beneficial for which doshas but then you're on your own. If you compare it with Amadea Morningstar's two books it doesn't come close. In her books, Amadea classifies each recipe for it's effect on the doshas. This takes into account not only the individual components but the combined effect. Having each recipe classified and taking this more detailed approach, I think that makes all the difference. Lovely as this book is, I don't think it gives enough help. If you are looking for a nice cookbook then go ahead, it's lovely. But if you really want to get into Ayurvedic cooking buy Amadea's books instead and give this one a miss.