It’s a beautiful cookbook and the recipes look so fancy that probably wouldn’t make most of them at home. There are a few recipes that I would: tzatziki, hummus, baba ghanoush, and the Greek chicken bowl. The photos are beautiful but the recipes are way too fancy for my home kitchen haha I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

I really like this recipe book! every recipe was so yummy and easy to follow. I think it had a great blend of different cuisines and flavors. I really liked it


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This cookbook is very straightforward with lots of interesting recipes. It doesn’t have photos of all the dishes which downgrades it for me. It’s very professional looking but lacks a certain something to make it a must buy for me. However, if you’re looking for a Mediterranean leaning cookbook with a clean layout, this one meets that.

This was put together in a wonderful way. It read easy and the recipes are easy to follow. However, these are not recipes the average household will follow. There were obscure ingredients and items not found in the average kitchen. While lovely, this is not an every day cookbook.

A great cookbook to get you into eating a more plant based diet. It is a cookbook with some great information and easy to use and follow recipes. The Crispy Brussels Sprouts are so yummy and there are so many recipes I will be trying and keeping in my repertoire. The salad bowls are right up my alley and I will be making more of these for sure.

A great cookbook, great recipes and the photos made me hungry. This is certainly a keeper.

Thank you NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Though this book covers varied recipes from diverse cuisines, the lack of any cultural context associated with a particular dish made the book feel very disconnected and lonely. Moreover, as there is no name of any author, it lacks a personal tone. Instead of being excited like I usually am about any cookbook, I found myself skipping through the pages as fast as I could just to finish the whole thing. Some of the recipes seem lovely; and the photos are also great – but this book just didn’t appeal to me.

Thoughtful collection of recipes with great artwork throughout. Really looking forward to trying some of these!

The photos of the food make everything look delicious! The recipes are unique and even adventurous at times. For me, it's all just a little too complicated. Lots of ingredients, prep, and time which just doesn't work for me at this stage in my life. But being a lover of food, I can appreciate the recipes and flavors.

What a delicious book! I absolutely loved it! Every recipe had photographs ( barring the accompaniments) such a wide variety of recipes from across the globe. Initially I thought after reading the name a the picture that will Mediterranean but it travels the world with Indian Japanese Mediterranean recipes. I ended up making quite a plant based recipes either squash a broccoli

I see myself buying this and adding to my burgeoning cookbooks

This is a tricky book to review. The recipes seem healthy but they may not appeal to all. There instructions like break the spines of each anchovy and remove them and the guts before stuffing. There is a fermented soybean recipe that is definitely authentic and would provide benefits, but it’s a close up photo next to it of utterly slimy soybeans. In addition, there is no nutritional information. There are some photos but not of every recipe, and many of them are stock photos from shutterstock. There is no author, just Cider Mill Press. As such, it lacks a personal tone. A lot of the recipes would benefit from an introduction, a note on what makes them particularly healthy, or a note on how to use them or serve them. It’s a beautiful, intriguing cookbook, but I would recommend finding a way to at least peek inside before purchasing.

I read a temporary digital loan of this book for review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This cookbook covers a range of healthy and happy recipes. I definitely saw a few I want to try asap.

This recipe book is amazing. So many beautiful recipes that focus in healthy foods. The recipes are well written and easy to follow. The pictures are gorgeous. Definitely my new go to cookbook.

Great ideas cook book. In the past year I have been researching and working towards, not only a healthier diet but also avoiding food which we used to consider perfectly good. I now see that much of our British diet is not beneficial and we need to look for the best of health in all cultural diets to produce a varied and helpful food intake for us all. This book is a good start to exactly that idea. I intend to purchase a hard copy once published as i do like to actually hold and use a real cookery book!

I have been following a Med Diet for decades. It works very well for me.

Unfortunately I didn't care for any of the recipes. Today's cooks don't have hours to prepare food and this just didn't cut it.

The photos were lovely but just too many ingredients.


NetGalley/ Cider Mill Press March 04, 2025

I feel somewhat conflicted about this book.
The recipes are beautiful - restaurant-worthy, authentic world foods (I was surprised to see the feature of natto, which is probably the most difficult food for non-Japanese people to apprehend) and very healthy...

Most dishes have a photo which makes it easy to know what you are getting into.
But there really was no introduction and "story" whatsoever around any of the recipes, and the book ended up feeling very naked and the foods completely disconnected.

I think because there is no cultural background to hold a natural narrative, having the list of ingredients and steps with nothing else to tell us why this is a great recipe, felt sad. And instead of being excited like I usually am with a new cookbook, this book felt very lonely.

That obviously doesn't remove from the quality of the recipes, but it's not a book I will cherish thanks to its personality, rather I see it as something utilitarian.

The Blue Kitchen is a cookbook that proposes healthy, plant-forward recipes from the 'blue zones'.
The blue zones are the areas with the highest life expectancy in the world although this wasn't clearly explained in the book, which would have been nice.
The recipes themselves are really appealing and I know that i will try several of them. Having said that, I do come from an area that adopts a Mediterranean diet and I am aware that there's cultural elements that will inevitably get lost in translation when adapted for an American audience - but I still feel that they need to be brought up. Mostly, I feel that the book misses that what makes blue zone diets so successful is not just what is eaten, but how: food is a social experience, people have a very low-stress lifestyle (and they are definitely not stressed about their diet). The book makes no mention of this; instead there's an overarching theme of "eating healthier to buy yourself more time" and a slight opposition between the desire to be healthier and the desire of "your previous life and its comforting foods" (let me assure you, this dichotomy does not exist in most blue zone areas, in fact it's quite incompatible with their culture). And in line with this there's no dessert section - let me assure you, a southern Italian family wouldn't miss out on dessert, and there's plenty of fruit salads / baked fruit recipes that would have been in line with a healthy diet! But alas, the relationship with the food experience described in the book is much more in line with American culture than with those experienced in the area and I completely understand why that's necessary in a book made for an American audience.
I also think it would have been nice to have a bit of cultural context for the recipes / an explanation of where they come from (but the book works ok without these).
Overall, I probably wouldn't buy the book myself but I can see why it would be appealing for some people.

The Blue Kitchen is based on the concept of healthy eating from different corners of the world. Although it focuses on fresh vegetables, fruits and grains, it is not strictly a vegetarian cookbook. There are dishes with seafood and meat as well. The photos of the food are colorful and appetizing. There are many that I am looking forward to trying. There’s a delicious sounding recipe for eggplant that doesn’t include cheese (which I can’t eat). I used to really enjoy eggplant parmigiana. But eggplant on its own is pretty boring. But this recipe, Eggplant with Black Bean Garlic and Basil sounds delicious! There are also a variety of bowls and salads and the Spicy Shrimp Bowls and Greek Chicken Bowls sound like where I will start. There are also bowls with just veggies and grains. There seems to be something for everyone. The concept seems similar to the popular Mediterranean diet but with foods from many cultures. This is a good addition for anyone looking for healthy recipes.

#TheBlueKitchen #NetGalley #CiderMillPress

I used this for meal prep inspiration this week, and I love the range of flavors it covers. All of these recipes look like they would taste great and make me feel good. Love to see healthy recipes that are also cognizant of taste and variety.

I received an ARC of this cookbook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The recipes in this cookbook are not only very nourishing, but they are creative and interesting and would make a nice addition to the meal rotation!

This beautiful book had me plotting to prepare restaurant quality dishes from home! 4 stars because some of the ingredients are not readily and the recipes do seem a bit complicated for the home cook like me. That said they all sound delicious and I’ll definitely be testing my skills!
Thank you to NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for the review copy