The Ralph Nader and Family Cookbook: Classic Recipes from Lebanon and Beyond

Political activist Nader (Unsafe at Any Speed) encourages healthy eating in this slim, uneven outing. Nader’s parents owned and operated a restaurant called the Highland Arms in Connecticut, where they served classic American food by day, but they mostly ate Lebanese food at home, and here Nader shares many of his mother’s traditional Lebanese recipes for hummus, tabouleh, and kibbe (meatballs formed from onions, bulgur, and ground lamb), along with some surprising dishes, such as a creamy apple parsnip soup with cardamon, baked eggplant stuffed with ground lamb and pine nuts, and a light and lemony apple cake. Ingredients for these and other recipes can all be easily sourced, and Nader’s instructions are to-the-point. Still, the book is light in recipes (there are only 40), and has an amateur-looking layout and includes dated photos and bland descriptions (“a wonderful, colorful salad” is used to describe classic fatoosh, a dish of tomatoes, scallions, and parsley atop toasted bread). The recipes are certainly solid, but those looking for a more inspiring look at Lebanese cooking will do better elsewhere. (Apr.)