cover image Diabetic Cooking from Around the World

Diabetic Cooking from Around the World

Vilma Liacouras Chantiles. HarperCollins Publishers, $19.95 (343pp) ISBN 978-0-06-016057-9

Too many cookbooks with therapeutic aims rely on plain, unseasoned foods as a drab means to a worthy end. Chantiles, an instructor of nutrition at New York University, sets out to correct that restrictive strategy. With the help of dieticians, clinicians and researchers specializing in diabetes, as well as cooks from around the world, she has collected recipes for more than 250 dishes from Argentina, Bermuda, Cyprus and other distant points, while also offering breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. Her book will aid diabetics, but will also prove useful to anyone seeking to control intake of dietary cholesterol, fat or sodium. Nutritional data and diabetic exchanges for single servings are outlined for each dish, excluding only the percentage of saturated vs. unsaturated fats in the analysis. Relevant data are rarely omitted (the tom yong goong recipe relies on Thai nam pla fish sauce for a burst of flavor, but the nutrient analysis fails to include it, perhaps due to its very high sodium content). All told, anyone who wants a healthful diet that also satisfies an adventurous palate will benefit. (Mar.)