Title: Essential Purée – The A to Z Guidebook with 67 gourmet recipes for a soft diet (2015)
Price: 24.95$ (www.amazon.ca)
Written by Diane Wolff, author and American journalist. She had to care for her 80 year old mother presenting dysphagia.
Book of soft recipes which eventually end up in purée! The nutritional value of these recipes is supplied for energy, proteins, carbohydrates, sugar, fibers, lipids, saturated fat and sodium. The proposed foods are current and vary from quinoa, to sweet potato, beet salad! In her introduction, the author tries to inscribe a note of culinary and nutritional knowledges. She also brings information, sometimes inaccurate, on the benefits of raw or organic food or an encouragement to purchase locally. Unfortunately, there are sometimes factual errors (ex: patients with dysphagia cannot eat food too hot or too cold!) or a classification of meals which does not seem close to our eating habits (ex: barley soup or tuna salad and avocado for breakfast – there might be a section header missing?)
Conclusion: This recipe book is not a medical reference and provides a non-scientific perspective in the soft texture and pureed food for the treatment of dysphagia. It is not a safe reference in the nutritional treatment of dysphagia. I would not recommend this book to my patients. For clinicians, the sets of flavors and textures can be inspiring for the development of adapted foods. To use diligently.