This distinctive cookbook takes you on an intimate journey into the world of vegetarian cuisine, conscious living, and the preparation of unique recipes that include food sensitivity alternatives. Joan's explorations in multi-cultural cuisines are revealed throughout this fascinating voyage that covers almost four decades. The many engaging stories of cooking with herbs and potent spices include a large international collection of well-tested, innovative recipes. Peppered with holistic living suggestions, these recipes provide an emphasis on healing-inspired cuisine. The guidelines and baking methods and are designed to carefully balance vitamins, minerals, and food absorption. Details about the many ingredients and their nutritional information also include their lore and history, giving the reader a special understanding of the essence of each recipe. Healthy alternatives to dairy, egg, nuts, soy, yeast, and wheat provide valuable resources for people with food allergies. In this fully revised and expanded color edition, some of the recipes have been reworked and many new recipes have been added. There are also two new chapters: "The Blue Zone Diet" and "Cooking for Kids," as well as additional indexes to help locate the numerous recipes. "I have been searching for a cookbook that not only caters to a wide variety of diets/lifestyles (CHECK!)but was also easy to follow (CHECK!) and had flawless recipes (CHECK!). To top it off, the cookbook itself is actually an amazing story."-Ramani Leah, CSA Casting Director Joan Greenblatt has been a magazine columnist, graphic designer, and certified flower essence practitioner. A life-long vegetarian and gourmet cook, Joan's international travels have influenced her approach to food and cooking techniques. Joan, along with her husband Matthew, are co-founders of the Inner Direction Foundation. For eight years, she contributed to the cuisine column in the award-winning Inner Directions Journal where she shared many lively stories, an understanding of spices and herbs, and brought a meditative and mindful flare to the art of cooking.