Christina Pirello is one of America’s preeminent authorities on veganism and a healthier lifestyle utilizing natural and whole foods.
The long-time award-winning host of her own public television show, Christina Cooks!, she is the author of multiple books including Cooking the Whole Foods Way, Christina Cooks!, Glow, Cook Your Way to the Life You Want, This Crazy Vegan Life, and I’m Mad as Hell and I’m Not Going to Eat It Any More.
Now, for the first time ever, is an exhaustive e-collection of 1000 recipes, tips, techniques and health information, drawing together the best of Christina’s work from the last two decades. Illustrated with full-color photos, CHRISTINA PIRELLO’S WELLNESS 1000: Simple Plant-Based Recipes and Sound Advice to Cook Your Way To Vibrant Health contains updated and revised selections from her half-dozen or more cookbooks and recipes from her website. The deluxe edition of the e-book contains more than 25 exclusive, original videos featuring cooking techniques, health tips and key nutritional and ingredient information, and more than 70 color photos of dishes from the book.
To get an idea of what types of dishes you can expect to see in Christina’s new e-book take a look at the book’s trailer
Chic Vegan – What motivated you to become vegan? Was it an overnight switch or more gradual shift?
Christina Pirello – At 14, I decided to become a vegetarian. My father is a butcher and he was offered the opportunity to work for a day in a slaughter house and make a lot of money. With four kids, he took the job. But when it came time to kill the animals, he told us that he just could not do it. He lost the job, but kept his soul intact. At the same time, I had an art teacher who was a vegetarian and it just all came together and sealed the deal for me. I was committed.
I became a vegan at age 26 when I was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia and decided to treat my illness with a vegan macrobiotic diet. Recovering my health left me completely dedicate to the mission of helping people lead healthier lives through eating plant-based diets.
CV – Tell me a little bit about your new e-book Wellness 1000 and what inspired you to write it.
CP – A lot of Wellness 1000 is a collection of what my publisher calls my ‘greatest hits!’ The book is part compilation of recipes from other books and some surprising new recipes added. Each recipe was re-visited and re-vamped to be up to date and current.
The inspiration came from John Duff, my publisher at The Penguin Group who had the idea that I needed to have an ‘omnibus’ of my best recipes and information so we built on it from that idea…to include how-to videos, photos and all sorts of tips and tricks for cooking.
It was a long haul for this one, but I love my job and get to do what I love so each recipe is a labor of love for me.
CV – Can you tell me a little bit about the Christina Pirello Health Initiative?
CP – Our non-profit is dedicated to helping people change their lives by making healthier choices. We are committed to education, creating accessibility to education and fresh foods. One of our programs involves us going into schools and teaching young kids about healthy eating.
CV – What inspires you to create new recipes?
CP – Everything about cooking inspires me. Every single clove of garlic that finds its way to my cutting board inspires me. I read cookbooks like novels; I watch cooking shows; I garden; I spend time in nature. All of that inspires my creations.
CV – What advice would you give to aspiring chefs and cookbook authors?
CP – For chefs, I would say if every clove of garlic doesn’t inspire them, pick another job. It’s a hard sweaty, job and if you’re not inspired by each task, the job will overwhelm you.
Cookbook authors need to write about what they know and inspire them. And they need to keep their recipes simple and accessible. They need to understand that people don’t have as much time to cook, even when they love cooking. So recipes need to be easy to follow, with ingredients they can access and clear instructions so people can follow them.
CV – What foods would you say are essential to a healthy diet?
CP – Whole grains like brown rice, millet, barley, quinoa; vegetables of all kinds in season as much as possible; plant-based proteins like beans, tofu and tempeh; nuts, seeds and good quality fats like extra virgin olive oil, avocadoes; healthy sweeteners like brown rice syrup and coconut sugar.
CV – Do you have advice for people who think that eating healthy is too expensive or healthy food takes too much time to prepare?
CP – Well, I tend to be passionate about this one. I think we can pay now or we can pay later. I think we have to decide what our health is worth.
On the other hand, I am painfully aware that we can buy a lot more junk food for our money than we can healthy food. So my advice is that everyone does the best they can within their budget. I suggest they add more vegetables to their diet in any way they can.
As for time to cook? Healthy food takes no more time to prepare than any other food you might cook. Sure, it takes more time than hitting the drive-through window and it takes more time than a microwave meal but that takes me back to the first point. What is your health worth? I also think once you begin cooking, you develop your kitchen skills and soon you’re a whiz at preparing healthy meals. In the beginning, it might take more time, but once you master some skills, it adds to the joy in your day. So hang in there and cook!
CV – What do you typically eat in the span of a day? Are you a snacker?
CP – I tend to eat three meals and one snack before my evening gym session. For breakfast, we generally have a soft whole grain porridge and some cooked vegetables. Lunch is simple; usually a soup and salad or leftovers from dinner the night before. Dinner is cooked fresh most nights beginning with a soup and then a whole grain (or pasta), a plant-based protein dish with lots of veggies and a salad. My snack involves fat and protein for the gym, like peanut butter on apples slices or whole grain bread.
CV – What is your favorite vegan indulgence?
CP – Really brilliant dark chocolate, 85% is my favorite.
CV – What vegan product could you not live without?
CP – My skin care products. They are organic, made form extra virgin olive oil, vegan, made in Italy and are the most luxurious skincare products I have ever used.
