Bee - Coconut Oil: Recipes for Real Life

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Sarah Lavelle

COMMISSIONING EDITOR Lisa Pendreigh

PROJECT EDITOR Amy Christian

COPY EDITOR Sally Somers

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Helen Lewis

ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN Katherine Keeble

PHOTOGRAPHER Dan Jones

FOOD STYLIST Bianca Nice

PROPS STYLIST Holly Bruce

HAIR AND MAKE-UP Maria Comparetto

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Vincent Smith

PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Emily Noto

First published in 2016 by
Quadrille Publishing Limited

Text 2016 Lucy Bee Ltd

Photography 2016 Dan Jones

Design and layout 2016 Quadrille Publishing Ltd

Quadrille is an imprint of Hardie Grant
www.hardiegrant.com.au

Quadrille Publishing Ltd

Pentagon House

5254 Southwark Street

London SE1 1UN

www.quadrille.co.uk

The rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of thebook may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN: 978 1 84949 929 3

CONTENTS

COCONUT OIL:
RECIPES FOR REAL LIFE

It feels like just yesterday that the team and I sat down to tackle our first book,Coconut Oil: Natures Perfect Ingredient, and were just as amazed and excited forthis, our second cookery book. So here I am with my daily cup (or rather soup-bowlful!)of cacao hot chocolate, ready to welcome you to book two, Coconut Oil: Recipes forReal Life.

For so many of us now, life is extremely busy and at times very demanding, whichcan make it tricky to stay on track and cook from scratch. With so many options outthere, like microwave meals (which are often full of secret sugars and nasties)and takeaway services, it can sometimes be all too easy to go for these quick fixes.

That said, many people are also becoming increasingly more conscious of what theyput into their body. Ive really noticed this on social media, where I spend A LOTof my time (if you hadnt noticed). Nowadays, youre more likely to see people hittingthe gym or sharing photos of their latest food creations than posting pictures ofthemselves out in a club. Thats why, after sitting around our kitchen table brainstorming(and eating ) the title Recipes for RealLife seemedthe perfect fit. Because thats just it its about making healthy eating secondnature to you in real life.

ITS ABOUT MAKING HEALTHY EATING SECOND NATURE IN YOUR REAL LIFE.

The aim of this book is to help you in your everyday cooking. Its important we fuelour body with nutritious, filling foods that will help to make us feel our best.A quote that always sticks in my mind is: When you eat rubbish, you feel rubbish.Thats why throughout this book youll see that we only use ingredients that areas close to nature as possible.

You will also notice that all the recipes are gluten-free; this is because Im acoeliac. I was diagnosed at 18 months old and this has naturally led me to be veryhealth conscious. Although I am not a nutritionist its something I feel very passionatelyabout and Im constantly researching ingredients to see what exactly they are doingfor my body.

The title of this book, Recipes for Real Life, really has a double meaning. In themore obvious sense, its about making nutritious meals that are down to earth anddont involve a whole host of ingredients unknown to many of us.

In another important way, its about choosing products that support the real livesof those involved in the production process. If youre familiar with Lucy Bee, youmay already know how important it is to us that our ingredients are Fair Trade certified.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IS AT THE HEART OF THE LUCY BEE BRAND. WHEN YOU BUY OUR PRODUCTS, YOU KNOW YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

The discussion of Fair Trade usually revolves around fair pay for the workers. However,we want to look at this in another way, and instead think about what happens if wedont purchase Fair Trade products.

The concept of zero child labour, safe working conditions, contracts for all anda fair wage may seem like automatic rights for most of us, but this isnt a certaintyin some parts of the world, for workers who arent part of a Fair Trade scheme. Wecare passionately about this and are very aware of our social responsibility as acompany, so in the same way that were mindful of the kind of foods that we are eating,were also very mindful of the hearts and hands behind the scenes.

I occasionally get asked if animals such as monkeys are used to harvest our coconuts,as this is a topic that has cropped up now and again in the media. The answer isNo!. Our certification body, the Fair Trade Sustainability Alliance (FairTSA) guaranteesthat this does not happen. Its scenarios like this, that you wouldnt necessarilyeven think of, that show how important it is to buy into Fair Trade products whereverpossible. I mean, before importing coconut oil, I never would have thought that insome places monkeys were kept in cages and used to collect coconuts!

I have been lucky enough to make a trip to the Dominican Republic to visit the producersof our cacao powder and to see behind the scenes of one of my favourite products.This is something Ive always wanted to do and it will be amazing to see in the futurehow the local community will benefit from your Fair Trade contributions.

Having spoken to our producers, their main goal is to set up an extended educationcentre for children in the community. One thing they will be taught is to speak English,which should boost their job prospects in the future, as tourism is a large sourceof income for the Dominican Republic.

ALLERGY INFORMATION

If, like me, you have a particular food intolerance then you will be forever checkingpackaging and labels to decipher what you can and cant eat. To make your cookingchoices easier, each of the recipes in this book is accompanied by a symbol orsymbols denoting the suitability of the dish for people following specific diets.Below is an at-a-glance guide to what each of those symbols stands for:

Gluten-free

Wheat-free

Lactose-free

Dairy-free