Maggie Beer - Maggies Recipe for Life

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Maggie Beers many cookbooks include Maggies Harvest , Maggies Kitchen and Maggies Verjuice Cookbook . As well as overseeing Maggie Beer Products in the Barossa Valley, SA, Maggie appears as a judge on The Great Australian Bake-Off and heads up the Maggie Beer Foundation committed to providing a good food life for all.

Professor Ralph Martins is Foundation Chair in Ageing and Alzheimers Disease at Edith Cowan University, WA, and Professor of Neurobiology at Macquarie University, NSW.

Rosemary Stanton

N o one can give an absolute guarantee that a particular diet or way of eating will ensure long-term good health. Lifes too complicated for such certainties. We do know, however, that a healthy diet decreases the risk of problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many of the most common cancers. The evidence supporting this has grown stronger over the years and now we can add Alzheimers to the list of conditions where healthy eating may play a role.

Whether we look at heart disease, type 2 diabetes, common cancers or Alzheimers, the evidence all points in favour of more plant foods, including many kinds and colours of vegetables (including pulses/legumes) as well as fresh fruits, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Researchers now add herbs and spices to that list.

In addition to their proteins, dietary fibre, essential fats, minerals and vitamins, plant foods contain literally thousands of components called phytonutrients (phyto means plant) which not only have nutritional virtues, but are the compounds that give colour and flavour to foods. Extra virgin olive oil is a good example where its healthy fats put it on a par with many other liquid oils, but the 30 or so natural phytonutrients it contains, give it the health edge over other fats. These compounds are what gives this oil its unique flavour.

More than 50 years experience as a nutritionist has convinced me that if we gave more thought to flavour, wed eat a greater variety of freshly prepared foods instead of highly processed products. Foods whose flavour is dominated by a lot of salt, sugar and cheap fats, lead to many health problems.

Healthier foods offer so much more variety of flavour. As a busy mother and grandmother, I am aware that cooking from scratch takes more thought and a bit more time. My solution, where possible, is to share cooking tasks with those we live with. If youre on your own, try to find friends, family or neighbours with whom you can share at least some meals.

Healthy eating is not an all or nothing business. Less meat doesnt mean no meat. It just means giving vegetables and other plant foods more space on the dinner plate. Less butter doesnt mean you cant accommodate a small amount into a healthy diet. Less sugar doesnt mean the end of all sweet treats. It means smaller portions (sharing again) and only occasional indulgences. None of this is too hard especially when Maggie Beer shares so many examples of wonderfully delicious and healthy meals. Enjoy!

Maggie Beer

F or me, food without flavour, without pleasure in both the cooking and the eating, is unthinkable. Flavour has always driven me and delighted me and been my reason for being. Lusciousness and deliciousness are part of my life and will always be so, but balance, variety and great ingredients are just as important. My love of cooking is something I have always wanted to share.

Youll find my recipes starting on .

I want to show people how to make beautiful simple food thats accessible and achievable. I believe that cooking and eating this way every day makes your life richer.

This book has come about because I met Professor Ralph Martins back in 2010 when we were both in Canberra for the Australian of the Year Awards we connected over a love of food. I learned about his work demonstrating that good food, exercise and mental stimulation can have a protective effect against dementia. I was awarded Senior Australian of the Year that year and improving the health and nutrition of older Australians became a passion of mine.

As I chatted to Ralph it seemed that in our work we had come to the same conclusions about food from different directions. We decided to write a book together Ralph explaining the science and my recipes crafting the flavour.

This is not a diet book but rather a book of beautiful, life-enhancing food its a way of life. Ralph and I want to share our knowledge with you about which foods to choose to give you the best chance of being in good health now and into your future. These are whole foods in season that are full of flavour and nutrients.

I thought I had a good knowledge of nutritious food yet working with Ralph has taken my knowledge to another level. Ive always been driven by balance yet it was something I did naturally without thinking much about it. Ive learned that eating well is about making sure we get a variety of foods during a day, a week or over a month. This variety not only keeps us interested by following the seasons with different vegetables, wholefoods and proteins but is known to have real health benefits. We need to eat a wide spectrum of food lots of greens and brightly coloured vegetables for a good mix of vitamins, fermented foods that are good for our gut, oily fish for omega-3s and omega-6s, plus beef, lamb, poultry or game for essential amino acids, and lots of those nutritional powerhouses, nuts and seeds.

Balance is also about eating in a way that doesnt restrict any food groups. Grains are currently out of fashion but they have great nutritional value and are full of flavour, inexpensive and filling. I love bread and pasta but, although Im not gluten intolerant, I have found as I age that Im not as tolerant to it. But nothing will stop me eating bread! I simply choose to eat bread that is special slowly fermented sourdough, coarse-grain rye or spelt. I will keep my finest Italian egg pasta made with white flour for a dish when only that will do but the rest of the time Ill cook with spelt or wholegrain pasta because I love their flavour and texture too.