Hollywood Dish: More Than 150 Delicious, Healthy Recipes from Hollywood's Chef to the Stars

From the Orange County Register July 7, 2006 by Judy Bart Kancigor, author of Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family When I was growing up I lived for the movies. I devoured Photoplay magazine from cover to cover and daydreamed I would meet my idols like Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter. Well, Rock is long gone, but who knew that decades later I'd be eye to eye with Tab still gorgeous after all these years. I attended the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA in April mainly for the food demonstrations at the cooking stage, but it's a huge venue, and just about everyone hawking a new book was there, including Tab, signing his memoir for adoring fans. Back at the cooking stage, Akasha Richmond, private chef and caterer to the stars, was dishing some Hollywood trivia herself as she demonstrated recipes from her new cookbook, "Hollywood Dish," a collection of 150 health-filled recipes interspersed with fascinating tidbits and Hollywood gossip. Richmond's client list includes such A-list luminaries as Michael Jackson, Carrie Fisher, Al Pacino, Pierce Brosnan and Richard Gere. When Billy Bob Thornton wanted a wheat-free, dairy-free Thanksgiving dinner, he called Richmond, who began her career in the late seventies as chef of the Golden Temple, one of LA's first vegetarian restaurants. When celebrities started clamoring for her healthy menus, she began catering Hollywood parties and became personal chef to Barbra Streisand among others, later moving on to cook for the MTV awards shows, Sundance Film Festival and the Grammies. Richmond is passionate about using healthy and organic ingredients to produce such tempting dishes as Thai Chicken and Daikon Curry, Almond Eggplant Balls, even her spectacular Sundance Chocolate Torte, her "wheat-free, soy-enhanced version" of Alice Medrich's Chocolate Walnut Torte. "I'm allergic to dairy, so I use soy milk in everything," she revealed. "The only thing I can't do with it is flan." The book does, however, offer a Honey-Goat's Milk Flan from famed spa, Rancho La Puerta, which began, she reports, as a $17.50-per-week retreat where guests brought their own tents and helped with the cooking, going on to become the exclusive getaway it is today. "Hollywood Dish" is so much more than a collection of recipes. Richmond chronicles the history of healthful eating in America, interweaving stories of old Hollywood and the food preferences of stars from Gloria Swanson (she carried avocadoes in her handbag) to Woody Harrelson (a raw-food proponent) to Rudy Vallee, whose penchant for frozen strawberry daiquiris helped put the Waring blender on the map. Hollywood embraced healthy eating, and the nation soon followed, Richmond noted. "At the turn of the century Germans from the communes, who were into eating healthy foods, came to California for the cheap land, abundant fruit and sunshine," she said. "They started teaching here and opened juice bars in the movie studios. T

I was very pleased with how this book flowed. There are great stories of old and new hollywood and the recipes are easy to follow, and there is not one that I have not enjoyed. If I had to pick which recipe I loved the most it would have to be the CINNAMON-RAISIN BREAD, it is just outstanding and no one in your family would be the wiser that they actually are eating healthy. A must buy for anyone!!!

Years ago Akasha Richmond won my heart with The Art Of Tofu. This time she has taken me to a whole new level. Hollywood Dish is a gem. The recipes are inventive yet easy and fun to make. The Vegan Carrot Cake tastes better than the real thing, the Kombucha Squash soup, warm and soothing and the historical stories and anecdotes are so much fun. This is the perfect gift for any foodie or novice alike. Hats off to Akasha. Hollywood Dish is the real thing.

I loved this book! You don't even need to cook to enjoy it -- the stories and sidebars are a delightful read just by themselves. And if you do cook -- WOW! the recipes are different without being strange, with interesting twists on some standards, and some great new ideas, and all of them are healthy and yet sound utterly delicious. I've already done a dozen or so recipes, and every one was a huge hit. I have a lot of cookbooks, but this one instantly became one of my favorites. DOn't miss it!

This is more than a cookbook. The recipes are imaginative, fun and really tasty. I made the Kabusha Squash soup and it was yummy. The added history of healthy food in Hollywood is the "icing on the cake." It made this book stand out from all the rest. Who knew old Hollywood was so healthy? I love reading about Mary Pickford and all the way up to Billy Bob Thornton and their healthy eating habits. This is a real find!!