A Change of Appetite: where healthy meets delicious by Diana Henry – Review

This book arrived at exactly the right time for me. I didn’t know I needed it until I opened it, but once I did it quickly became a constant companion at my stove. Diana Henry’s A Change of Appetite: where healthy meets delicious is more than a cookbook; it’s a practical, evidence-aware guide to enjoying food that genuinely supports a healthier life without sacrificing flavour.

Accidentally healthy

Henry’s central idea is simple and appealing: make dishes that are delicious first, and healthy as a happy consequence. The recipes are designed to be “accidentally healthy” — so satisfying you won’t feel you are missing out. That philosophy shapes the tone of the book: food that celebrates colour, texture and seasoning while leaning on research about good nutrition.

…dishes that were so good (and good for you, too, but first of all delicious) that you wouldn’t feel you were missing out.

Her writing feels like a friend in the kitchen: practical, candid and full of useful tips. Unlike many recipe writers who may have never actually cooked what they prescribe, Henry’s instructions are rooted in experience. The chapters open with a clear, accessible summary of the science that informs her choices and explain how readers can adapt the ideas to their own lives. She’s not prescriptive — she acknowledges you might take the book’s insights and follow a different path — but her conclusions are well supported and eminently usable.

Seasonal cooking

The book is organised by season, and each section begins with a lyrical introduction to what’s available and how it tastes. Henry captures the sensory pull of seasonal food — the sticky juice of ripe stone fruit in summer or the comforting smokiness of autumn grilling — and uses that as the starting point for practical recipes that highlight fresh produce.

…you want the juice of a peach to run down your arm – or the smokiness of griddled chicken.

Photography and design complement the recipes, reinforcing the book’s emphasis on colour and appeal. The result is a manual for cooking with what’s in season while staying guided by nutrition and flavour.

Mini-essays

Between recipes, Henry includes short essays that explore the ideas behind the cooking. Topics such as the difference between calories and calories, how diets come and go, the pleasures of breakfast, and the art of eating a satisfying lunch are written with humour, empathy and clarity. These pieces deepen the reader’s understanding without getting bogged down in jargon, and they make the book as pleasurable to read as it is to cook from.

Recipes

The recipes draw heavily on flavours from the Middle East and East Asia, with generous use of spices, herbs, soy, citrus and fermented elements. I’ve cooked many of them and adapted others with great results. Standouts for me include Japanese ginger and garlic chicken with smashed cucumber, a delicate white fish pilaf with saffron and dill, chicken with pumpkin, soy and star anise, and a lamb dish paired with rhubarb and split peas. Breakfasts became more vegetable-forward, and lunches and snacks took on new life using simple, flavour-led combinations.

Henry frequently offers substitutions and variations so you can work with what’s available. That approach encourages improvisation — start with the idea and adapt according to seasonality, local supply and personal taste. Cooking this way makes the book useful whether you live in a city with access to specialist ingredients or further afield and need to substitute from local shops and online suppliers.

To make the most of the recipes you will benefit from a well-stocked pantry and some specialty ingredients, but Henry provides an extensive supplier list and bibliography to help you source items and dig deeper into the inspirations behind her dishes.

And so…

The practical effect of the book on how I cook has been noticeable. I now plan meals with fewer refined carbohydrates and choose whole grains more often. I include more vegetables at breakfast and think ahead to make leftovers that turn into quick, low-effort lunches. The book has changed not by preaching, but by offering delicious alternatives that are easy to adopt.

If you want a thoughtful, well-written guide that reconnects taste with healthy eating, offers clever seasonal recipes, and reads well in addition to being useful in the kitchen, Diana Henry’s A Change of Appetite is worth your time. It’s a book for people who want to eat better without feeling deprived — and to enjoy the process along the way.

Disclosure: Diana Henry kindly provided a testimonial for my book around the time hers was published. I purchased my copy of Diana’s book and wrote this review because I value it; I would not have published it otherwise.