Cookbook Review: “The Healthy Teen Cookbook” by Remmi Smith

Teens are notorious for eating badly. Teen chef Remmi Smith is on a mission to change that. In her book The Healthy Teen Cookbook, she shares tips and recipes from around the world that are easy for teen cooks to make and share.

Summary of The Healthy Teen Cookbook

The Healthy Teen Cookbook is written for teens by a teen, which sets it apart from typical teen cookbooks. When writing the book, Chef Remmi Smith, a 16-year-old chef and entrepreneur who hosts two cooking shows and serves as a national Student Ambassador for a leading food services company providing education solutions to nearly 500 school districts, had three goals in mind:

1. Make cooking and eating as healthy and fun as possible
2. Ensure that teens will be able to do it
3. Take the reader on a global adventure

In developing the recipes, she favored vegetables and used fruit as a natural sweetener. The book is divided into seven main sections, containing recipes from:

1. North America
2. South America
3. Europe
4. Africa
5. Asia
6. Australia
7. Antarctica

Surprisingly, Antarctica has more recipes than Australia!

With her passion for food and her growing platform, Smith is on a mission to bring healthy food options and easy-to-cook delicious recipes to a busy and heavily-scheduled generation of teens. She has appeared on Chopped, The Harry Connick Show and the Food Network.

What Worked for Me

The photography is beautiful and the selection of recipes is diverse. I think any teen would be able to find something they’d like to try their hand at in this cookbook.

Each section begins with a quick summary of the region the recipes come from. This is not a dull, practical cookbook. It engages the reader both intellectually and visually in addition to providing easy=-to-follow recipes.

What Didn’t Work for Me

My personal preference for cookbooks is easy of use and a focus on the recipes. However, I understand I’m not the target market for this cookbook. The Healthy Teen Cookbook is visually stimulating, which I believe is important for young cooks. I know I preferred those types of cookbooks when I was younger.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

Given the computer savvy nature of the generation, this book is aimed at, I would think that it would include some enhanced book features, such as an app or at least downloadable PDFs. I think that “Remmi’s 10 Tips to Becoming a Great Cook” would make a great downloadable poster that teens can print out and hang on their wall for inspiration.

Recommendation

If you are or know a teen who is interested in learning to cook, this is an excellent option. As mentioned earlier, the diversity of recipes assures that there will be one or more that he or she may want to try. In addition, the book is pretty and fun to flip through.

Rating for The Healthy Teen Cookbook

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Specs

Full Title: The Healthy Teen Cookbook: Around the World In 80 Fantastic Recipes
Author: Remmi Smith
Format: Hardcover or paperback, 180 pages
Publisher: Mango
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1633536653 (hardcover), 1642500690 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1633536654 (hardcover), 978-1642500691 (paperback) [/one_half]
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Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you’ve read past book reviews, you’ll know that I don’t pull my punches when I believe they are warranted. I also try to provide balanced information so you can make your own decision to read or not read the book, even if you disagree with my opinion.

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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

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