Relish: An Adventure in Food, Style, and Everyday Fun

by Daphne Oz

Relish by Daphne Oz – bestselling author of The Dorm Room Diet, cohost of the hit daytime talk show The Chew, and daughter of Dr. Mehmet Oz – offers simple, practical, and personal advice to help you live your better life right now.

Daphne Oz made a splash by sharing her secrets for avoiding the dreaded Freshman Fifteen in the perennial bestseller The Dorm Room Diet. Now, this lifestyle guru shares essential advice on how to relish your food, your home, and your life in order to maximize health and happiness.

Illustrated in full color with beautiful food and recipe photos, images of real-world and aspirational decor examples, and lots of creative lifestyle ideas, Relish: An Adventure in Food, Style, and Everyday Fun will help you envision a life that’s highly desirable and eminently achievable.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Health, Culinary

352 pages, Hardcover

First published March 26, 2013

Reviews

[Sher❤ The Fabulous BookLover · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This was a cute cookbook/lifestyle book. I wasn't dying to make any of the recipes, but there was one or two that I'd like to try. I did feel like this book was all over the place. Is it a cookbook? Yes it had a lot of recipes, but there were a lot of other info like exercises, home improvement, etc. that I just didn't think was needed. It's definitely worth reading and I understand what Daphne was trying to do, but it just didn't work for me.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oz is only a few years younger than me, and yet I can't help but feel that I was being lectured by a teenage niece about how her grown-up life would be. It just had a naive feel to it. That said, the recipes look delicious and I can't wait to give a few of them a try!

[Toni Decker · Rating 4 out of 5]

So first of all the book is great and definately worth the read. Positives: The book is well written with anecdotes about Daphne and her family and contains some family photos. The book is more than a cookbook with information about organic foods,organization, style. Its a fun read with lots of helpful tips. The recipes look delicious and I can't wait to try many of them. Negatives: Many of the recipes are time consuming -the majority of these recipes are not for a weeknight when you need to get dinner on the table quickly. Secondly many of the ingredients are not readily available at your local Walmart (lol). Because I do want to try some of the recipes and eat healthier I have placed an order on Amazon for some items which leads me to the next negative- cost. Many of the ingredients are quite expensive. For example a recipe calls for organic tuna in olive oil, using the website recommended in the book 9 cans are $38.00. That said you can always use regular ole Chicken of the Sea as a replacement (which I will be!). As you can see by my rating overall it is a great book and worth checking out if your a cookbook aficionado like myself!

[JH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is half cookbook, half general lifestyle guide. I really liked what sounded like Daphne Oz's personality shining through- the stories about her personal experiences and life goals. The recipes also sounded delicious. What I wasn't crazy about what the fact that she tried to accomplish too much; I don't need a recipe for a cocktail, followed by her telling me I should meditate, followed by advice on what I should keep in my medicine cabinet. Plus, there was a tinge of a privileged background that seemed to be coming through (I could be totally wrong, but her dad is Oprah's favorite doctor, and she seemed a little out-of-touch as far as what normal people have access to).

In general, this book made me a Daphne Oz fan. I might watch 'The Chew' at some point, and her gorgeous looks and style certainly make her worth admiring. Way too general a book, though, if you're looking for anything in particular.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up because of the unique recipes which are predominately veg friendly. They are something new to me. What I didn't like about the book is that it over steps her boundaries as a nutritionist and starts into the lifestyle maven mode of we need to fit "all of who I am now in the spotlight of fame" as into my first book. While they may be helpful ideas for some; I would rather have more recipes.

[Brandy73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute lifestyle and cookbook. We tried the chai-raspberry chia seed pudding and it was quite good (and used up a lot of chia seeds). I'll definitely try more recipes and refer to the book for inspiration. I love the name of the book - relish - encouraging us to relish our lives more.

[Courtney Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes my inner hostess heart SO HAPPY! I love how Daphne inspires you to live life in the moment, and uses the love of food and cooking to bring joy into your home. I read this book several years ago, but just had to pick it back up for this fall season. I didn’t regret it

[Mahin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having recently read Daphne’s second book, I chose to read her first one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as the second. As always, Daphne is an engaging writer, but she inexplicably smushed a polemic railing against GMO and conventional agriculture in the middle of her book. Not only are her claims specious, but she doesn’t even attempt to substantiate them with facts. GMO are demonstrably safe as proven by a bevy of studies - to say otherwise is a lie. Organic food - whatever that means, given the many definitions - is not necessarily better for one’s health. In fact, chicken that is ‘organic’ is worse for one’s health - it’s full of arsenic metabolites due to the feed used. As someone who regularly gardens, I will concede that vegetables grown at home tastes fresher and ‘crisper’ than that found in supermarkets, but we can’t compare the products of small-scale farming to that of conventional farming. The latter does require ‘cutting corners’ in a sense by dint of economy of scale - this is obvious! It is irresponsible to hawk organic and non-GMO food when scientific studies show that GMO and conventionally-grown food is perfectly safe. If the goal is to promote healthy eating, why discourage people of limited means on the basis of pseudoscience? The author’s anti-science rant is infuriating and I knocked off a star for that reason.

With respect to the recipes, there are a few good recipes. I’ve always liked her approach to cooking - healthy, clean and easy, while using butter and sugar whenever necessary instead of substituting with unappetizing alternatives.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun, but not my favorite. It's a cookbook/lifestyle book. Funnily enough I was sure from the advice and presentation that the author was much younger than me and obviously did not have any children, much to my surprise she's only a few years younger than me and has four kids! Who would have thought!?! Not the people reading this book! The lifestyle bit was interesting but a bit to glitzy for me, I'm not sure who she is intending her audience to be?

My advice is to check it out at the library like I did! Made some notes for a few recipes but could leave the rest.

[Ali Rachelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love, love everything about "Relish". This is a whole lifestyle guide. It talks about everything from relationships to working out to food to getting stains out of things to how to build a bar cart and set up your dining area to what pieces of clothing are worth investing in. I know most people will pick this up for the food and IT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT! The veggie mac 'n' cheese to the fudgy banana flax muffins -- there is something for everyone's taste buds made in a wholesome way.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really surprised at how many recipes I truly wanted to try and they came out delicious!

This book is geared towards those who are in there 20-30's, it has a bit of lifestyle advice and creating your own way in the kitchen.

There are recipes that have healthy substitutions, that are worth a try.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the mix of recipe + lifestyle and wellness content. As I love to "read" cookbooks. You will find some hidden gems and useful tips in here. I was surprised at the number of recipes I want to try. If not directly re-creating some of the recipes, I still learned something about healthy/delicious cooking from Daphne. I like her approach in this book and her as a person :)

[Kenzie Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daphne Oz is so cute. I enjoyed this book because instead of only containing recipes, there were also little chapters with Daphne's advice on beauty, decorating, throwing a party, travelling, and even relationships. I thought she had a few good tidbits, and I might try one or two of the recipes, but this was more of a "read once and be done" experience for me.

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:
would have been better if it was just a cookbook, I love so many of her recipes; other book sections on health, party hosting, clothing, organizing and home decorating were rather pointless; this book tried to do too many things at once; chocolate fudge banana muffins were amazing though

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best cookbook/style books I've read. All of the recipes I've tried have been fantastic.

[Deborah Martinez · Rating 2 out of 5]

More lifestyle than cookbook, but I may try the fish taco recipe!

[Lizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many healthy recipes for various eating styles!! Beautiful book and I loved the lifestyle tidbits in between the recipes.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saved some recipes for later. This was a good mix of a cookbook with self help ideas.

[Angelica · Rating 2 out of 5]

i found gordon ramsay's cookbook easier to follow than hers. some of the recipes are difficult to make. the book is all over the place.

[Aspasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, Daphne Oz is Dr. Oz's daughter!
This is more of a lifestyle book (hence, all the tags I gave it) than just another cookbook. Daphne ties the concept of relishing the moment, relishing our lives to food and how we treat ourselves physically and emotionally. She wants her readers to enjoy life now, not when they're older, "For some reason or other we convince ourselves that ...we're not supposed to have it [the life we want] until we're pushing retirement." (x) "Who taught us that the life we've been waiting for kicks in when we're older, wiser, wrinklier?" (x)
Thank you, Daphne! I've also wondered why we wait until "someday" to work on our bucket list, pursue a hobby, travel, or even relax. I have heard or seen so many people wait until retirement to enjoy life but by then they are too tired or ill to travel or pursue their interests.
So how does this all tie in to food? Daphne talks about her struggles with weight and love of food as a teen. She still loves food but has gained mental control over her feelings toward food which helped jumpstart her weight loss and keep it off. She encourages her readers to be smart food shoppers and cooks so that they can have the energy, endurance, and vitality to pursue the life they want now, not in retirement.


**You can read more of my book reviews on my blog: www.thesouthernbookworm.blogspot.com***

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an excellent example of "it's fine". There are about 15-20 recipes I bookmarked as cooking possibilities.

What you need to know:

1. This book reads like a blog in terms of structure & format. Recipe, story, recipe, household tip, DYI, recipe. Nothing wrong with that. Just be ready for it. Also, when something is written in a blog-like fashion, you sometimes look at the writer's life and then at your own and think, "Good night. When I am going to get it together like that?" Remember: we all have our off moments, everyday.

2. It is probably best for 20-somethings newly on their own. I love you non-20-somethings and know you probably could get some great tips and recipes out of this. But, most of us have already figured out the included tips and perhaps some variant of the recipes.

[Qrious · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a great lifestyle book, you should definitely try Relish. This beautiful book offers easy & healthy but delicious food. It also offers easy tips to decorate one's home, basic sewing tips, how to enjoy your life and spend quality time with one's family, and relish a good life. You are invited into Daphne's world, where you share moments of her family and work life. I was given the chance to meet Daphne, and I was honored. She is a lovely person who makes you feel like you have known her for a long time, even though we just met. She shares some of her favorite things, recipes and memories. Daphne is wonderful, and her book invites you to try some of her tips to reinvent your life so that you can enjoy it to the fullest.

[Dora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relish

I think that this is a good book for the 20-30 crowd. The chapter on relationships should be required reading for everyone. There is a lot of gold in that chapter not just the part about significant others but also about friends in general.

I think that the book tried to take on a little too much i.e. healthy eating, exercise, make-up advice, clothing advice, how to set up your home, giving parties, communication, career advice, recipes, etc. It might have been better if the focus was narrowed.
However, I have to acknowledge that I am not the target audience for this book and perhaps they prefer a more scattered approach.
I did enjoy the book. The parts that are good are very good. I like the tone of the book.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as the cover says relish an adventure in food, style and everyday fun. That is exactly what Daphne Oz has done. I had no idea who the author was nor had I ever watched The Chew, although I do think that is such a fabulous name for a show. This book was recommended by Ree Drummond on her cooking blog. The recipes just weren't for me. In many of them she uses coconut milk which is a flavor I only like occasionally. But, the layout, her writing, her thoughts, and the photography were the best.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Relish: An Adventure in Food, Style, and Everyday Fun" is an adorable, fun, and uplifting book. As the title suggests, Ms. Oz writes about a variety of subjects. Each section is well-thought-out, easy to read, and filled with good and useful information as well as many humorous moments.

Although I am older than the demographic she was probably aiming for, I still got a lot out of this book and found reading it to be a pleasant, even joyful experience. Her writing style is very conversational, and it's easy to imagine every word in her voice. There's something for everyone, and I highly recommend it.

[Alexandra Consolver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love everything about Daphne Oz's love letter to life. The recipes are inventive, exotic, and fun - but also extremely approachable! In addition to the many recipes shared here, there is a wealth of advice and knowledge shared about entertaining, traveling, fashion, decor.... you name it. Oz feels like an old friend when you read this, and I benefited greatly from her wisdom, and have loved EVERY recipe that I have tried so far! She even shares funny anecdotes about entertaining woes, and how she's learned from her mom to go with the flow.

Read More Here:http://simplyalexandramyfavoritething...

[Ginger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though I only got this book because it looked pretty-and Daphne is pretty as well, I was really hoping for more of a cookbook. And a cookbook with easier recipes. There was too much of a gourmet vibe. I can't (and don't want to) have that in my life right now.

I did, however, like her philosophy about food and how she eats healthy but doesn't deny herself a bite of the treats too.

And if you are going to call a book "Relish" would it be possible to have a recipe for relish in the book? Or at the very least, a picture?

[Victoria Colotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is beautifully designed. The images are amazing and layout is perfection. Each of the recipes in the book look just as good, if not better than the one before. And then there are the sections on style and living life. I will be honest, I wasn’t too sure about those sections. In the past, I have read books that deal with all three aspects and they have fallen flat. This book is the opposite. I actually liked reading the pages of stories and text. In fact, I started to go back and re-read sections as I flipped through the book at night.

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very disappointed. Oz thinks she's some sort of life coach, but she uses faulty logic. She says organic food is more expensive when calculated per calorie. No, Daphne Oz, the organic banana costs a quarter more than the non-organic banana! It has nothing to do w/ being more calorie-dense. Also, she makes tons of scientific assertions with no references or citations at all. If this were a high school project, it would receive a D.

[Kim Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really disappointed by this book - had to force myself to finish. Was looking for some new healthy recipes. However, this book had few recipes and was mostly essays by the author. I was not looking for tips on how to become like Daphne Oz; I just wanted some new recipes. I did make the Fudgy Chocolate Banana Flax muffins and they were quite good. Most of the other recipes in the book were too formal and would not appeal to children.