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Vegetable steamer. A perforated metal sheet on short legs, with leaves that open to cover the bottom of the pot. You put an inch of water under the steamer, and the steam from the water cooks the vegetables, which retain their vitamins and form.

Garlic press. Never again will you have the frustration of trying to mince a tiny clove of garlic with a knife. Just put the clove in and squeeze. Widely available, and cheap. You can either mince or press the garlic in the recipes that follow.

Blender. This useful gadget will help you make instant soups and spreads as well as your favorite shakes and sauces. Again, you can pick up a good used one at a secondhand store or flea market.

3.

Understanding Protein Complementarity

MOST OF THE recipes that follow combine foods whose proteins are complementary. In Book One, Part III, I explained protein complementarity—how by combining certain protein foods we can create one more usable by the body than the two eaten separately. I went on to say that what I had learned since my earlier books is that concern about “complementing” our proteins is probably not necessary for most people. Even without meat, the average person who eats a varied diet of whole foods and only modest amounts of sugar and fat is getting his or her recommended protein allowance. Remember that stress—from disease, physical exertion, or psychological pressure—can increase your body’s need for protein. But since the recommended protein allowance is higher than most people need anyway, most of us would still be covered without concern about eating complementary proteins, even under stress. Then why bother with complementary proteins?

People are different. We don’t all fit the averages. Some scientists believe, for example, that current protein allowances do not cover 97.5 percent of the population, as they claim to. If you are an individual with an unusually high protein need, then combining foods to maximize the usable protein is important, especially when you are under stress. But how do you know if you are one of those people? There is no simple answer. All you can do is observe your health and how rapidly you heal. You can try diets with different protein levels and see what feels right for you. If you feel that you have an exceptionally high need for protein, consult the tables in Appendix B to learn the best foods for upping your protein intake.

But there is another minority whose need for protein is exceptionally high—pregnant and breast-feeding women. A pregnant woman needs 30 additional grams of protein; a breast-feeding woman, 20 grams. The complementary protein recipes will be of special value to them.

So, one reason that I have stuck to complementary proteins in the recipes that follow is that they are of benefit to this minority. But the rest of us benefit, too, for complementary protein combinations make for delicious recipes—they are combinations that formed the basis of the world’s traditional cuisines. We use them naturally in our cooking without even being aware of it. The three most common complementary protein combinations are:

1. Grains (rice, corn, wheat, barley, etc.) + legumes (peas, beans, lentils).

2. Grains + milk products.

3. Seeds (sesame or sunflower) + legumes.

How much more usable protein do you get by eating complementary proteins together compared to eating them separately?

No one knows precisely. For the first two editions of this book I used as my basic source Amino Acid Content of Foods and Biological Data on Protein, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States (Rome, 1970). I took the proportions of foods that produced the highest scores in tests with experimental animals. They indicated that when foods are combined in certain proportions as much as 50 percent more of the protein is usable by the body, compared to these same foods eaten separately. But there has been much scientific debate on the best ways to determine the usability of protein. Animal studies