Food waste in our society is endemic; Sherri Brooks Vinton hopes home cooks will remedy this in her trade paperback cookbook Eat it Up. If you have the time to reduce kitchen waste, this is an excellent book to use for most of the stuff you otherwise discard, like radish tops, asparagus stalks, or skins and bones. No doubt, it takes a little extra kitchen time. When saving apple peels, for example, you need to remove the wax coating apples (Vinton provides the method). In the introduction she gives a good run-down on the idea with many good waste-reducing tips. The next section is our produce listed alphabetically from apple to watermelon with several recipes for each, using mostly the discards. Then come poultry, fish, meat and finally the pantry section with the remainder of food items, each with more recipes. Many different stock recipes are nice additions. The recipes are good and easy to follow, ingredients are readily available, though you may have a problem finding some such as Brussels sprouts or broccoli leaves. You’ll find unusual recipes (chard stem pickles) but many good kitchen tips. For each item she gives buying, storing and prepping guides.
