THE VEGETARIAN ALTERNATIVE

by Vic S. Sussman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 20, 1978

Broader, and better reading, than the bulk of how-to vegetarian books that seem to be sprouting up almost daily, this combines adequate nutritional advice (meatless eating isn't really all that complicated) with much well-taken argument. No cultist, Sussman stresses the word ""sensible"" and favors (but doesn't prescribe) a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet. There is a chapter on protein and amino acids and how to get what you need on a fleshless diet, and another on essential vitamins and minerals available elsewhere than in meat. Sussman's few suggested recipes tend to such virtuous ingredients as soy, nuts, and brown rice, but for the epicure he appends a list of choice vegetarian cookbooks. His convincing chapter on diet and health draws extensively, and with due consideration of qualifying or uncertain factors, from recent medical research linking flesh-eating to cancer, high blood pressure, and other diseases; the ethical arguments, less subject to documentation, center on the ""farcical aspects"" of the Humane Slaughter Act or indeed the very notion of humane slaughter. Small-planet ethics, the horrors of additives and pollutants, the kooky vegetarian image, and the question of what is a ""natural diet for man are also covered, briefly but succinctly. All of these are increasingly familiar aspects, but Sussman brings them together persuasively.

Pub Date: July 20, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Rodale Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION