GET HOOKED ON VEGETABLES

by Kathlyn & Martin; & Maria Gay Gay ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 10, 1978

With more and more young people going vegetarian and more and more medical evidence supporting that route, it's too bad that these authors have chosen to produce a fuzzy tract instead of providing nutritional information--and to sound off at random on such real but peripherally related horrors as school lunches, red dye #2, and fertilized golf courses. The result doesn't even succeed as propaganda: in place of rational argument the authors quote such ""amazing stories of glowing health and self-awareness"" as ""i seem to have more energy now that I'm on a natural vegetarian diet. I'm not tired all the time""--an endorsement not all that different from the Pepsi commercials they deplore. And instead of offering any systematic guidelines, they cite with implied approval a health food lunch counter notice, which advises against taking liquid with meals, and the American Vegan Society's AHIMAS, a six-point guide to ""Dynamic Harmlessness."" (Will this really help to correct the deplored public image of vegetarians as ""health food freaks""?) The authors pay lip service to a scientific method for ""solving food problems""--then give as an example the person who read that cabbage juice controls bleeding ulcers, tried it (""testing the hypothesis""), and found that it works! Similarly meaningless is their recurring emphasis on ""the concept of responsibility""--defined as the need for each person to learn and meet his own needs: ""If those needs run to the consumption of two pounds of steak or only two glasses of water per day, so be it""--hardly a responsible recommendation either way. With all the buzz words, there's no room for an explanation of proteins and amino acids or the concept of complementarity emphasized in Diet for a Small Planet and other responsible sources. The authors' closing advice is ""Don't be a faddist! Learn as much as you can about food values and protein requirements."" But you won't learn it here.

Pub Date: April 10, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Messner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION