a modern way to eat by Anna Jones (review)

I was really excited to get my hands on Anna Jones' book a modern way to eat:  200+ satisfying vegetarian recipes (that will make you feel amazing).  I've been working on changing my own eating habits to include less meat, and I was looking forward to ideas and inspiration for more meatless meals.

This book is quite large - over 350 pages - and it has a fair number of photographs.  There is a lot here, but there are a few reasons that, ultimately, the book just didn't appeal to me.

I am annoyed that so many of the recipes start on the right-hand page and then continue onto the next page, requiring the cook to flip pages while cooking.  It feels like poor formatting to me.  A little bit of planning - switching a few things around here and there - would have fixed that.

Reading through the book, I get the sense that the author is 'being fancy', just a bit.  I will admit, I'm sensitive to (and annoyed by) recipes that call for things like 'three free-ranged, organic, pastured eggs', because frankly, I find it a bit snobbish.  I would rather see cookbook authors encouraging readers to cook with the best they can afford, then let it go.  An intro that discusses the quality of fresh, wholesome ingredients is a great idea, but it almost feels like a form of elitism when the author mentions 'organic, unwaxed lemons' every. single. time.

In the end, while I appreciate the opportunity to review the book for Blogging for Books, I didn't really find anything here that I'm excited to try.  I found I could not relate to the author and her lifestyle (lots of higher-end ingredients, for example), so in the end, I just wasn't that interested in cooking her food.  Sorry, Ms. Jones.