Linda Hymes shares a full repertoire of delicious and healthy recipes suitable for dancers and non-dancers alike on The Dancing Gourmet: Recipes to keep you on your toes. Heck, these are recipes to keep you in shape. Hymes knows the secrets to preparing tempting dishes that won’t add to her waist: she trained at the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York City before becoming a professional ballerina for fifteen years. After retirement, she devoted herself to her greatest passion, food, and attended the world famous Le Cordon Bleu in London.

the dancing gourmet it is a perfect marriage between gourmet food and elegant aesthetics. Anyone who loves ballet or wants to look like a dancer by eating well will enjoy the deliciously colorful photos of food and Hymes during some of her best dance moments; both seem to jump off the page. The Dancing Gourmet is flavored with humor throughout its pages: the recipes are categorized by the positions of the ballet feet, from first position (appetizers and small plates) to fifth position (main courses). The final section involves the prerequisite visit to Candyland (a reference to the second act of the much-loved Nutcracker) that shouldn’t be missing from any ballet career or gourmet dining experience.

Eating well doesn’t have to be a punishment. In fact, it can be quite pleasurable. Options in the third category of salads (not just rabbit food! according to Hymes), such as Grilled Chicken Salad with Spicy Blackberry Dressing, Thai Pickled Garlic Eggplant Salad, and Flounder and Rolls Salmon with a maple glaze are appealing, or the banana curry. dumplings with masoor daal and cold sesame soba with tofu for vegetarians. Top it with a cup of fresh chai and a slice of pavlova cake. Well done!