Excerpt from Bragg Veg­e­tar­ian Health Recipes — Chap­ter 8
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Veg­eta­bles and fruit, both raw or lightly cooked, are among the “cura­tive” foods, and should rep­re­sent at least three-fifths of the diet. These foods not only con­tribute vit­a­mins and min­er­als to the diet, but add the fiber required for proper body func­tion­ing, in addi­tion to help­ing main­tain the alka­line reserve of the body. They add vari­ety, color, tasty fla­vor and tex­ture to your meals. For some peo­ple veg­eta­bles are an unap­pe­tiz­ing, unin­ter­est­ing food – sad loss! The cus­tom­ary method of over-cooking garden-picture veg­eta­bles and serv­ing them straight from a pool of sur­plus cook­ing water is cer­tainly an unap­pe­tiz­ing way to serve nature’s gifts. Any cook with inge­nu­ity can pre­pare a veg­etable to be a beau­ti­ful del­i­cacy. Prop­erly pre­pared veg­eta­bles, raw or cooked, com­bined with delight­ful herb sea­son­ing will enhance fla­vors and con­serve vit­a­mins, min­er­als, and food value. It is not nec­es­sary to pre­pare them with rich sauces or heavy spices. They can be stan­dard items of fine food, exquis­itely fla­vored and served in entirely new ways designed to excite the palate and nour­ish the body.

Cook­ing with herbs is a delight­ful and healthy expe­ri­ence. Herbs enhance the fla­vor of veg­eta­bles. The chap­ter on cook­ing with herbs and this veg­etable sec­tion should be used inter­change­ably. Veg­eta­bles can become healthy del­i­ca­cies rather than bor­ing foods to be regarded with distaste.

Buy­ing Organic Veg­eta­bles for Your Fam­ily
It is often very dif­fi­cult to buy veg­eta­bles for a fam­ily of two or even four peo­ple with­out run­ning the risk of hav­ing left­overs. Of all foods, veg­eta­bles have the least food value after they have been cooked and then stored. Veg­eta­bles are meant to be eaten as soon as pos­si­ble after cook­ing, to obtain the utmost of their vit­a­min and min­eral con­tent. Avoid sav­ing veg­eta­bles for a sec­ond meal or a sec­ond day. Instead buy wisely and cook care­fully to avoid waste or leftovers.