Authors Priscilla Timberlake and husband Lewis Freedman RD share their story of hosting community macrobiotic dinners since 1995 in one of the most endearing cookbooks you will ever read.
More than a collection of recipes, the book serves up a monthly feast with 12 full dinner menus, each bursting with color as they balance the seasonal tastes of the five elements of macrobiotic cooking – fire, earth, wood, water and metal.
Every menu is created with a communal eating or a large family dinner in mind. So the dishes are well balanced, include starters, soups, entrees and desserts, and lots of helpful tips for cooking on a grand scale.
“That we need nutritionists and doctors to teach us how to eat is a sad reflection of the state of society. What foods to eat, how to prepare them, and an understanding of why you should share them in family and community have been embedded in cultural traditions since the dawn of human society”. – Mark Hyman, MD, in his Foreword to the Great Like Cookbook.
“Our intention is to offer a blueprint so others can use to build community around nourishing macrobiotic/vegan meals,” says Priscilla. “We hope to kindle the sacredness, healing and magic that emerges when people gather to share a meal of local food that nurtures the mind, body and soul.
“Our dinners have evolved to be as inclusive as possible, meaning they will be agreeable to most people. All meals in the book are plant-based, dairy-free, vegan, macrobiotic and gluten free with oil-free options.”
Priscilla and Lewis got the idea of weekly communal eating after her mom visited Myanmar and was invited by two Burmese sisters to a regular communal dinner they served at their home. “The atmosphere was full of family, the food was vegetarian and it was delicious!” . They started their own Friday night ritual in 1995 and insist cooking for friends is not as “scary as you might think!”
Priscilla said: “When cooking for a crowd all you need is intention, ingredients, a few large pots and pans and a cooking space you feel good spending time in.
“The common practice of gathering together for meals can have a transformational effect on a person.
“There is something that happens energetically when people come together with the intention of promoting health and happiness.”
As a nutritionist who also instructs in the online Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition program by eCornell and the T. Colin Campbell Foundation, Lewis Freedman is directly involved in the growing global movement towards a whole food plant-based diet. There is plenty of documented evidence about a low-fat, whole food, plant-based and no added-oil diet.
He says in addition you also need to eat with your friends: “Having a social network – a loving embrace from your community – is fundamental to good health.
“Joining together with family and friends to share a health-supporting meal is indeed vital to living the Great Life.” – HEATHER FLETCHER
