Healthy-ish by Emma Petersen – Review
By Gail Schuster
Emma Petersen has carved out a niche for herself with her innovative approach to healthy cooking online and now with her debut cookbook, Healthy-ish. People may already know Emma from her content on social media platforms as @thefitlondoner. Emma had run her social media platforms as a ‘side hustle’ from 2016, alongside her studies, and eventual qualification, to become a solicitor in 2023. Having followed her dream of becoming a corporate lawyer in the City, she realised she was losing everything that was important to her: time with her family, exercising, socialising with friends and spending time cooking and sharing her passion for it online. She left law on the day she qualified and threw herself into her social media platforms.
Healthy-ish has a refreshing take on everyday meals, balancing taste and health. It connects recent dietary trends such as high-protein, plant-based, and air-fryer cooking. Her recipes emphasize the use of fresh, whole ingredients, making healthy eating accessible and enjoyable for everyone. The dishes are budget-friendly, convenient, and free from ultra-processed foods, helping people maintain balance and uphold healthy eating habits. Emma focuses on making mealtimes enjoyable and stress-free and aims to demystify healthy cooking, proving that it can be both simple and indulgent. The book contains nutritious suggestions for meals which have their origins in various cuisines from around the world.
“Modern and on-trend”
Instructions for breakfasts, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinners and sweet treats, provide inspiration for food at any time of the day, but the thing that stood out for me about the book was its flexibility. There is a key on each page which tells you which dietary restriction the recipe can be adapted for and instructions at the bottom of the page of how to change it to gluten free, dairy-free, vegan and so on. It is possible to adapt almost all the dishes to meet different dietary requirements, so if you have a vegan or someone who can’t eat gluten coming round to dinner then it makes life easier.
The ingredients used throughout are easily found in supermarkets and are used in other recipes, helping to keep costs down and avoiding waste.
The recipes are modern, on trend and cater for current tastes and eating habits. We particularly enjoyed the edamame smash on toast as a tasty weekend brunch. There are ways to jazz up hummus and simple ideas for lunch in jars. There is a particularly delicious idea for cod coconut curry and udon noodles which can be on the table in under 30 minutes. There are nods to South American cuisine with easy salmon tacos and mango jalapeño salsa and a different take on campfire bananas, a dish I like to make when we cook on a barbecue or a fire. There are some meal suggestions for those who like to eat meat, such as pulled chipotle chicken burrito bowl which also has a vegetarian or vegan option.
Beautifully presented by Pavilion Books, there is a photograph for each recipe with clearly laid out instructions. I am very much looking forward to trying out more of the dishes in this practical, attractive book and I think this will have a place in my kitchen for quite some time.
‘Healthy-ish’ by Emma Petersen is published by Pavilion Books
