I had a very dear friend from church introduce me to Donna Schwenk’s website (https://www.culturedfoodlife.com/) and encourage me to purchase this book. I must confess, I put it off for several years. I just didn’t seem to have the extra money or time to give to it. I was already learning so many new things about health and food from my chiropractor (www.owassochiropractor.com), that I felt it would be information overload.
After we birthed our first son, and I had a brand new, pure, little body to take care of, I figured it was time to light the fire underneath me and purchase this book. And, wow, am I glad that I did. This is the first recipe book I’ve ever read cover to cover, word for word. Most recipe books I treat as I would a dictionary or an encyclopedia—look up specific information when I need it. But this book was so much more than just a bunch of recipes.
Schwenk breaks this book into two parts. The first part goes into detail about probiotic foods and the science behind how they affect your body. This part was inspiring and encouraging. I found myself propelled through the pages, adrenaline flowing, excited to begin applying these principles to my life.
Part two teaches you how to ferment foods with easy to follow, step-by-step instructions. It also contains a slew of recipes for incorporating these foods into your diet. Accompanying each recipe is a personal story from Schwenk explaining how this recipe came to be and how it’s been received by her family.
Most recipe books contain a very small percentage of recipes I will actually use. But as I read this book, I could see myself making every single one of these. They were all so simple and easy to understand.
And now I’ve incorporated all three of the fermented foods (kefir, kombucha, and cultured vegetables) into my family’s diet. I love watching my family thrive as we continue to add different versions of these cultured foods into our meals. I highly encourage you purchase this book today and get started healing your family with cultured foods!