The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z

The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z is a primer and comprehensive pantry resource guide by Tamar Adler. Due out 14th March 2023 from Simon & Schuster on their Scribner imprint, it's 560 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats. 

Food waste is a serious problem. Not just from a cost savings viewpoint, but also on a much larger we-need-to-use-our-resources-wisely philosophy This is a masterclass in efficient resource use and the author has a particularly appealing zen-like quality in the way she reasons with the reader and teases the best use out of what most people would consider trash. 

This is *not* a pure cookbook, full of recipes. Rather, it is a book of tips and philosophy for prepping, storing, and using every bit of the food resources to which the reader has access. In ages past, up until around 100+/- years ago, every household had a stillroom or pantry book, full of clippings and recipes. These books were often handed down through generations (I have my maternal grandmother's book, which she had from her mother, and so on). This book has very much the vibe of those earlier how-to books with the addition of modern and up to date knowledge and a much more comprehensive waste-absolutely-nothing philosophy.

The illustrations by Caitlin Winner throughout support and enhance the earnest meditative vibe. They're beautifully rustic and complement the content and raise the whole to another level. 

The layout is quirky and takes a bit of getting used to. It's arranged in roughly thematic chapters by ingredient groups: vegetables, fruits & nuts, dairy & eggs, bread, beans & rice, soup, seafood, meat & tofu, dough & noodles, salads, and much more (including a monumental chapter on pickling). The chapters are arranged roughly alphabetically by ingredients with tips for using and re-purposing where applicable. It really is a NO waste primer. 

The early ARC provided by the publisher did not include the finished index, but there -is- a listed entry for an index in the table of contents, so presumably it will hopefully be as comprehensive as the book's content. 

Five stars. This is a *valuable* resource and would be a wonderful selection for public or school library acquisition, gardening groups, community garden library, homestead, and home use. Not photographed, but reasonably well illustrated and complete. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.