My very first impression when opening and fanning the pages of Dan Buettner’s The Blue Zones American Kitchen is how wide ranging and deeply diverse the food culture in our country actually is. And this is completely due to the folks, chefs, behind these food recipes. These people’s stories are peppered throughout the book. Food always tastes better to me when I know some interesting historical facts about the chef. The food presentations are a delight to behold and the photography is spot on. Its exciting just to turn each page!

No matter what taste profile you are looking to find for your next meal, it is captured in this book. Take for instance the recipe in the Indigenous, Native, and Early American chapter from Sous Chef Matt Johnson titled The Three Sisters Cherokee Succotash. I love the word Succotash! This recipe looks to me to be very tasty and crunchy. This recipe hails from the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains area. The folks in this area grew up eating squash, corn and beans aka The Three Sisters.
Next I came across two compelling recipes by Chef Claudia Lopez in the Latin American section.
The first one is Mama’s Zucchini Pupusas recipe. Pupusas are delicious savory pancakes stuffed with zucchini filling, then grilled and served with hot sauce, salsa and pickled cabbage. Can’t wait to make this.
Second is Chef Lopez’s Salvadoran-Style Tofu Scramble. I am going to make this recipe first. I love Tofu Scramble. Both these recipes stood out for me.

Moving into the Asian American chapter I came across Chef Hao Tan and the recipe titled Brown Rice Pudding with Nuts and Cardamon. Doesn’t that sound delicious. I will make this just because of the Cardamon influence (I am grateful that I enjoy cardamon every day. It is an amazing spice) and I could not be more happy with cardamon’s fellow ingredients in this recipe.

Tomato, Eggplant, and Sweet Potato Pasta Sauce recipe found in the Regional and Contemporary really caught my eye. After a few moments reviewing the very flavorful ingredients list I notice that the Chef is non other than Roger Buettner, Dan’s dad. That makes this recipe double compelling to me. I love it when the family is involved! And these ingredients might be in your kitchen right now. I am a spice girl. I am always looking for the spice and herb additions to a recipe. This recipe brings it with spices, herbs and flavors.

Being true to my hometown and my grandfather who taught me to love, love, love hot sauce, I bring your attention to Muhammara (Red Pepper Dip) by Chris Debarr who is Executive Chef of a Secret Dinner Club in New Orleans. All I can say is that this will become a staple in my kitchen. I love dips with flat bread or planked veggies. I am 100% all in for a recipe that also goes by the name pomegranate molasses!

Thank goodness there are so many people in this country who have honed a fine skill in the kitchen. We all love to eat, we all love variety, and we all love a good story. Thank you Dan Buettner for seeing the world through the Blue Zones lens that you do and thank you for bringing these deeply interesting folks and their recipes directly to us, into our homes, so that we might make amazing, nutritious, delicious recipes to share with our family and friends! I will tell everyone I know to pick up a copy of this incredible book and to share it with as many people that they can. What a treasure trove of recipes!

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The Blue Zones American Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100