Low-Fat Soul

With a smart, high-spirited and chatty style, Nash, the food editor of Essence magazine, ""shapes up"" traditional African American recipes, contending that the ""soul"" in soul food--from gumbo to fried chicken with black-eyed peas and biscuits--is less a result of high-fat ingredients than ""a flava"" that can be re-created without jeopardizing one's health. Recipes born in Africa, the Caribbean and in the South's plantation days (when fatty foods cheaply fueled slaves) are modernized as Nash replaces such standbys as lard with vegetable oils and liberal lashings of savory ingredients such as chiles, onions and garlic. Newly healthful recipes include Seafood and Sausage Gumbo (the roux made with vegetable oil rather than animal fat); Honey-Pineapple Glazed Yams (butter-free); classic Southern ""fish fry"" updated to an oven-baked Friday Night Catfish with Tangy Tartar Sauce (made with yogurt); Skinless Fried Chicken (marinated in nonfat buttermilk); and dessert staples like Heavenly Sweet Potato Pie (in which baking, not boiling, the sweet potatoes preserves their flavor). Each of the over 130 recipes is accompanied by caloric and nutritional sidebars. Overall, Nash presents a spirited, informative update of a beloved American cuisine. (Oct.)