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Plant Power by Professor Luigi Fontana

Book Review | Apr 2025
Plant Power
Our Rating: (3.5/5)
Author: Luigi Fontana
Category: Health & personal development, Lifestyle, sport & leisure
Book Format: paperback
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
ISBN: 9781761450884
RRP: 37.99
See book Details

What if the secret to living longer is on your plate? Plant Power dives into how plant-based eating fuels longevity and vitality at any age.

Written by physician-scientist Luigi Fontana, a leader in longevity research, with recipes from chef Marzio Lanzini, Plant Power blends science with culinary expertise. While the bulk of the book focuses on recipes, its heart lies in the first 35 pages, where Fontana distills his research into a digestible chapter. He outlines how plant-based eating supports long-term health. While the language can get technical, Fontana makes it accessible.

The recipes align nicely with the book’s longevity focus. The ratatouille filo cups were fun to eat and the mixed lentil soup was delicious.

While the recipes were enjoyable, they didn’t always stand out. The spicy chickpeas needed pairing suggestions, and some ingredients were expensive or hard to source. There were no time estimates, making planning tricky.

To convert people to healthy eating, recipes should be more affordable and meal-planning friendly. The real aim here is to encourage readers to explore a greater variety of healthy foods. It got me asking, ‘How can I add more veggies or legumes to this meal?’ And the answer was often simpler than expected.

More than just a cookbook, Plant Power makes a compelling case that a longer, healthier life might just be in your next meal. It’s an inspiring invitation to rethink food – not as a fad diet, but as a lifelong approach to health. Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian, there’s plenty of inspiration here.

Reviewed by Heather Morcom

Professor Luigi Fontana, author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD is a highly skilled physician scientist who is recognised as the leading world expert on longevity. Professor Fontana recently was invited to join the University of Sydney as the Leonard Ullmann Chair of Translational Metabolic Health and Director of the Healthy Longevity Research and Clinical Program at the Charles Perkins Centre. He was for many years Professor of Medicine at Washington University, one of the four most highly regarded medical universities in the USA.

Visit the publisher’s website

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