I was vegetarian and relatively health-conscious before I became pregnant, but it wasn’t until I gave birth to my daughter that I fully realized the importance of eating wholesome food. We literally build our babies’ bodies with the foods we feed them! With that in mind, these are the books I like to give people at baby showers that have inspired me in the kitchen.
by Ruth Yaron
By focusing on plant-based and vegetarian foods, Ruth Yaron gives new parents step-by-step instructions on how to prepare homemade, organic baby food, with tips on ensuring that your baby gets all the nutrients she needs. The best part is that you can make foods ahead of time and freeze them to eat later. Bye bye, Gerber. Hello, fresh purees!
by Vesanto Melina, Joanne Stepaniak
Tis accessible book provides nutritional and social advice, plus fantastic vegan recipes. (My family loves the muscle muffins.) Plus, the practical tips are a must. The authors advise, for example, that you always make sure that tofu is cooked or steamed before eating it — otherwise, you could end up with "tofu tummy."
by Christine Beard, Sharon K. Yntema
The renowned pediatrician Dr. Spock came to recommend vegetarian diets for children at the end of his career. This book will help you discover what kind of vegetarian your baby is, and how to ensure that he (or she) gets all the nutrients needed at each stage of his development.
by Amy Lanou, Ph.D., Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, foreword by Neal Barnard, M.D.
The doctors who penned this straightforward book draw on nutritional research, such as a long-term research study in rural China (known as, wait for it, the "China Study"), to make the case that children should be eating exclusively vegan foods. Their advice extends from healthy eating during pregnancy to adolescence.
by Jennifer McCann
Before this was a book, it was a blog. I'd find myself visiting right before lunch and wondering why I'd packed leftovers when I could have prepared amaranth timbales, slow cooker black beans, steamed swiss chard, and a tangerine. From the simple to the fancy, this cookbook provides great menu ideas and recipes that the whole family will enjoy.
by Erin Pavlina
Think that vegetable-laden meals will have your kids running for the hills? Not so with these kid-friendly recipes, which have been tested by real families. Our family favorite? The lemon-garlic asparagus.
Flashlight Worthy
Recommending books so good, they'll keep you up past your bedtime. more...
About Jessica Almy
A vegan, mom, and avid reader, I live in Washington, DC with my husband, our amazing five-year-old daughter, and our cat Cassie. I manage Vegbooks, a site that reviews kids books and movies from a vegetarian perspective.
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