andrew weil’s cookbook ‘true food,’ and his tuscan kale salad recipe

ANDREW WEIL was 66 years old when the first of the True Food restaurants he’s a partner in opened, in 2008. The founder of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and author of multiple bestsellers on wellness is perhaps the leading champion of an anti-inflammatory diet, and lest that sound anti-delicious, think again. Enter “True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure,” the cookbook to empower us to create it at home. After buying and enjoying “True Food,” released last October, I asked if I could share a recipe—specifically the restaurant’s signature dish, for a Tuscan kale salad enlivened with mashed garlic, red pepper, shaved Parmigiano and toasted bread crumbs.

Weil is a keen cook, and it shows in the not-hippie, not-boring, not-weird cuisine that he created with Sam Fox, the founder of the partner restaurant corporation, and Michael Stebner, the executive chef of their now-six-and-counting restaurants. Their approach, whether serving patrons or cookbook readers: “globally inspired cuisine,” and also “delicious food that is also good for you.”

As I have been since my 20s, Weil became a lacto-vegetarian in 1970, at age 28, but by the mid-1980s he added fish into his diet, which continued to evolve over the years. “True Food” (book or restaurant) features poultry and bison recipes as well, so non-vegetarians need not panic about coming away hungry. On that topic: I especially love the section called “The Problem of Proper Portions,” in which Weil writes about what’s “just enough.” In Italy, he says, a “serving” of pasta would fit into a teacup. Food for thought.

Nothing has the life cooked out of it, and the flavors sound positively vivid. I’m drawn in by such intensely colorful dishes as Fettucine with Kale

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