Read an Excerpt

Introduction
My love affair with coconut began while I was growing up on the island of Madagascar, where it was a regular staple in our cooking. Trucks piled high with coconuts made their way to the capital city, Antananarivo, where we lived. And when we traveled to the coast on vacation, we bought fresh coconuts from local children who harvested them directly from their trees. We drank the water, scooped out the meat for dessert, and used the coconut shells as bowls for the simple meals of freshly caught fish and fruit that we cooked on a fire by the beach. Coconut was an important part of our simple and natural lives back then, and my childhood memories of the fruit are both nostalgic and comforting. 

Fast forward thirty years, and I have traded the beautiful red-earth island of Madagascar for the equally gorgeous but very different golden-green hills of Northern California. I have also radically changed my approach to food. A few years ago, I was living with chronic migraines and anxiety, and I had trouble maintaining a healthy weight. I knew something needed to change, and I looked
to food to help me on my journey toward healing. After eliminating gluten, most dairy, alcohol, soy, chocolate, caffeine, and a few other foods, my health issues completely cleared up. I knew then that I was on the right track, and I haven’t looked back since. 

I had to look for healthy replacements for the foods I eliminated, though, and as I explored new ingredients, coconut started making a stronger appearance in my cooking. With all its creamy goodness, it’s a natural and nutritious ingredient in countless recipes. It's more than a dairy, oil, flour, and sugar replacement; it can improve many recipes. Coconut milk is creamier and more flavorful than cow’s milk; coconut cream makes the most beautiful whipped cream you have ever seen; coconut flour and oil work superbly in baking; coconut water is a wonderful addition to smoothies and juices; coconut aminos are a low-allergy replacement for soy sauce in savory dishes; and coconut palm sugar and coconut nectar are natural, lower glycemic sweeteners. Best of all? Cleaning up my diet and using coconut in my cooking has helped me feel better
and more energetic than I have in years. 

One of the beautiful properties of coconut is that it lends itself equally well to sweet and savory dishes, which is very rare for any ingredient, let alone a fruit. And not only is it tasty, it is truly one of nature’s wonder foods, despite being high in saturated fat.

For years people avoided coconut, afraid it would cause heart disease, but we now know that the fear was misplaced. It appears that saturated fats from healthy sources (coconut, raw butter,
and pasturized eggs, for example) are actually very good for us. Moreover, coconut fat is different from other saturated fats in that it is mostly made up of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), the most well known of which is lauric acid. MCFAs are metabolized differently from other saturated fatty acids in our diets: they go straight to the liver and are turned into energy instead of being stored as fat, thereby boosting metabolism and reducing appetite. Easily digested, these fatty acids are believed to help lower inflammation and to support the immune system and the brain. Lauric acid is a powerful antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal fat; its concentration in coconut is unparalleled. It’s so important to the human body that one of the few places it’s found in significant amounts is in breastmilk—apparently, nature’s way of making sure that babies get plenty of it.

Coconuts have been a staple food in many of the world’s tropical and traditional cultures for thousands of years. I say it’s time for all of us to start enjoying the benefits of coconuts in our diet. They are a very versatile ingredient, providing sustenance in myriad forms: coconut meat, coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut water, coconut oil, coconut vinegar, coconut palm sugar, coconut nectar, and coconut aminos. All of these products can be found in the recipes in this book, and I encourage you to experiment with them and find your own favorite ways to use coconuts in your own kitchen. 

In general, you will find that the recipes in this book emphasize whole foods, minimally processed ingredients, and natural sugars. All the recipes are dairy- and gluten-free. For the omnivore recipes included, I offer suggestions on how to adapt them to a vegetarian diet. I only use unrefined sea salt in my recipes, and urge you to do the same.


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Cabbage, Carrot, and Jicama Slaw in Lettuce Cups

When the weather is warm and we need refreshing foods to cool us down, this veggie slaw in lettuce cups certainly fits the bill. It would be easy to turn it into a main dish by adding some tempeh or grilled fish or chicken. To save time, grate and shred the carrots, jicama, and cabbage in a food processor fitted with a grating and shredding disk. 

Slaw
2 large carrots, grated
1 small jicama (about
12 ounces), finely grated
1/2 small red cabbage (about 6 ounces), shredded
1 mango, finely chopped
1/4 red onion, finely diced
11/2 cups chopped fresh coconut meat
1/4 cup mint, finely chopped, plus more
for garnish
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons coconut vinegar
1 tablespoon coconut aminos
Lime zest from 2 limes
1/4 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Butter lettuce leaves, for serving

To make the slaw, in a large bowl, mix together the carrots, jicama, cabbage, mango, red onion, coconut meat, mint, sesame seeds, and salt. 

To make the dressing, combine the olive oil, coconut milk, vinegar, aminos, lime zest, chile powder, and salt in a blender. Process on high until smooth, about 30 seconds. Drizzle onto the vegetable mixture and mix well. 

Fill the butter lettuce leaves with about 1/3 cup of the mixture and sprinkle each with a bit of extra chopped mint and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.