Lisa Barrangou is a food enthusiast, food educator and advocate for healthy living. She is a former corporate food scientist turned personal chef for infants. Lisa has been making homemade baby food and teaching parents to do so since 2005. She holds a B.S. in Nutrition, Food and Agriculture from Cornell University, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Food Science from North Carolina State University. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and three children.
RealSmart Baby Food Book Synopsis:
RealSmart Baby Food is a comprehensive guide containing everything needed to know about feeding baby solid foods. In addition to providing a novel time-efficient strategy to produce 3-months worth of baby food in 3 one-hour blocks of time, this beautifully photographed book includes over 70 individual whole food recipes, as well as menus, tips on how to shop for and select individual whole foods, feeding timelines and milestones, in-depth nutrition information, safe food handling and preparation guidelines, and information about how to manage food hazards (allergies, choking, foods to avoid) and specialty diets (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free). RealSmart Baby Food provides simple nutrition principles and meal planning techniques to prepare parents for feeding baby healthy foods for a lifetime, and proves there is no reason to resort to overly processed, nutritionally inferior, void-of-taste jarred baby foods, when making premium homemade baby food, from fresh whole foods, is so easy to do.
Why readers should read your book?
Written by a Ph.D. food scientist, former personal baby chef, healthy living advocate, and mother of 3, RealSmart Baby Food leaves no detail spared, providing a comprehensive guide containing everything needed to know about making homemade baby food, in a concise, well organized format, all while directly addressing time constraints of busy new parents. RealSmart Baby Food offers a novel time-efficient strategy to create a large supply of baby food in an amazingly efficient amount of time. Who wouldn’t want to have a 3-month supply of premium homemade baby food purées at their finger tips, with the tools to effortlessly combine those purées into flavorful, fun meals like Peachy Strawberry Salad, Coconutty Mango Lassi, Plum Gingered Broccoli Quinoa, and Purple Papaya Flax Yogurt? It’s gourmet baby food made simple. RealSmart Baby Food is not only a complete go-to resource for making premium homemade baby food, but also a valuable guide to understanding how to feed baby healthy foods for a lifetime. No other single resource is available to match its
content.
How did your book come to life?
My college studies lead me into the fields of nutrition and food science, and eventually into working in the food industry, where I saw first hand exactly how processed foods are made. When I became pregnant with my first child, I knew that these would not be the foods for him. I was adamant about giving him fresh, real foods, right from the start. I took so much pleasure in creating his food for him, and eventually my two additional children, watching them happily eat foods like kale and beets, that I myself had not even tried until my adult years. I began advocating making homemade baby food to my friends with infants, but found that most of them struggled with how to provide a diverse offering of foods, without spending countless hours in the kitchen creating them. I then had the idea to start a homemade baby food service, and I began making the baby food for friends and eventually other local clients. That service lead me to create a system that produced 3-months worth of baby food within 3 hours, all safely made in the clients’ kitchen, conveniently packaged and compactly stored in their freezer, taking up no more space than a small basket. Realizing how many parents could benefit from my knowledge and efficient baby food making system, I turned it all into the book, RealSmart Baby Food.
What other books are most similar to yours?
Nothing is quite like RealSmart Baby Food. Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron is the closest.
What sets your book apart from others similar to yours?
RealSmart Baby Food’s 3-months in 3-hours strategy is the first distinguishing characteristic. Rather than providing a plethora of complex gourmet recipes, RealSmart Baby Food offers single ingredient recipes which combine to build flavorful, nutritionally balanced meals. RealSmart Baby Food is a comprehensive guide for feeding baby, packed with concise information, in a very organized, easy to follow format. Additionally, RealSmart Baby Food is set apart by offering more than just a book. A kit providing essential baby food making supplies is also available to purchase (www.RealSmartBabyFood.com) to complement the book.
Who inspires you?
My children. Food. Nature.
What are your thoughts on self-publishing verses traditional publishing?
I have only experienced the self-publishing route. I knew I was going to write RealSmart Baby Food before ever considering how it would be published. After researching the two publishing processes, I quickly realized that self-publishing was going to be my best option. I had a very specific vision for how I expected the book to turn out. This book was my baby, and I wanted full control of all details. I did not want to hand it over to a publisher who would make critical decisions for me. That’s not to say I could have even found a traditional publisher to pick up my book, since I didn’t have what is considered to be an “established platform”. I also quickly understood that trying to find a traditional publisher was not going to automatically buy me an audience. I would still have to be doing to the self-promotion that I am responsible for now, and I would be getting a fraction of the profits. Self-publishing is a lot of work, but there is a lot of satisfaction in it. After going the self-publishing route, I’m honestly not quite sure that I would be interested in traditional publishing.
Do you like to travel? If so where is your favorite city?
Yes! Definitely Paris. The city is so beautiful, romantic, and filled with amazing food.
What is the best book you’ve read?
Omnivore’s Dilemma
What is your favorite genre?
Non-fiction. I find it difficult to sit down with a fiction book when there is so much real information to learn about!
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