This book will give you some deliciously memorable meals and it may also help save your eyesight. Not bad for a modest investment.
Indulge me for a moment in a back story. Months after my 39th birthday, my ophthalmologist told me I might go blind from an eye disease I had never heard of and could barely pronounce: macular degeneration. For a while I called it “molecular degeneration.” This was in early 1993, pre–World Wide Web, and at the time most doctors thought there was little, if anything, that could be done to stop the disease’s progression. I was shocked and confused. Like most people, I’d heard of cataracts and glaucoma, but I had never heard of macular degeneration. Why was that? And where was the information I needed to find out more about my condition?
I quit practicing law, started talking to researchers who knew a lot about macular degeneration and, with the help of many, founded the American Macular Degeneration Foundation. I couldn’t prevent others from getting the same bad news I had received, but I could at least provide the information, support, and resources to do something about the situation.
As I came to learn, macular degeneration affects central vision and is the leading cause of legal blindness in people over 55 years old in the Western world. In the United States alone, it affects ten million people, some in midlife like me, and the number is expected to grow as baby boomers age. What it is not, however, is a sure sentence of blindness. Twenty years after my diagnosis, I can still see and read, though with a bit of difficulty. I drive, even at night, work, and function well. Do I consider myself lucky? Certainly: I feel fortunate that 20 years ago, some researchers shared with me the names of foods and supplements they believed might help slow the progress of my disease.
Two decades of ongoing research have proven the scientists right. This issue is so important to me that I opened up my home in rural western Massachusetts to a talented team of food professionals and over the course of many months we created this book. All these meals were created in my kitchen at my table from seasonal ingredients. This cookbook is a way to incorporate the science behind vision health and overall well-being into daily life. The recipes are easy to live with and tasty to boot. Red curry vegetables, grilled salmon—these are not exactly deprivation foods, and they’re good for the eyes. I’m glad to know that my runny, gooey, yolky eggs also benefit my vision. I love corn, blueberries, strawberries, and sweet red peppers anyway, and now that I know they’re medicine for what ails me, I eat them more often. You owe it to yourself to dig in. With the help of such diverse recipes in this book, I don’t get tired of the foods I need most. Admittedly, the mighty kale has been more of an acquired taste, but it can be prepared to suit your palate. Everyone can benefit, even if your eyes are just fine.
I am grateful to those doctors who spend their professional lives searching for prevention and treatment for macular degeneration. Now there is a book that takes some of that knowledge and puts it in our own hands. So get reacquainted with your produce aisle and your local farmers market. Shop and cook from the recipes in this book. Eat and enjoy. These recipes are, literally, a feast for the eyes.
Chip Goehring
President, Board of Trustees
American Macular Degeneration Foundation
