Nutritious food to fight AIDS

On Aug. 13, 1994, you published a brief article taken from Reuters about a book named What to Eat When You Don't Feel Like Eating by James Haller, under the headline Chef's cookbook aims to help terminally ill patients, by Christine Gardner.

Following this article, I managed to contact the publishers in Canada and have just received a copy of the book. As the article noted, "the book guides the dying and their caregivers in preparing quick, nutritious foods," with cancer patients in mind. However, it is equally applicable to people with AIDS. The author stresses taste. "More importantly," he writes, "the food had to taste incredible. Not just good, but the food had to be delicious. It had to taste like it was doing something wonderful for you, because that's the essence of nurturing."

Naturally, the book is primarily directed to Western style cuisine. But much is equally applicable to Indonesian patients in a similar situation. It's recipes concentrate on colorful vegetables and fruit, but there are sections on chicken, fish and tofu. There is an introductory chapter on nutrition and another called "The Color Connection," which stresses the significance of colors in life--orange for change, green for growth and so on.

The publisher in a covering letter says that "people in many distant places are finding this book helpful." I think people in Indonesia may be among those. With postage the book costs C$ 9.45 or around Rp 15,000, but there is a 40 percent discount for quantities of 12 or more. I am willing to put together a bulk order if there is sufficient interest, but would like to reserve half of the discount for Yayasan Pelita Ilmu, a foundation working to address the challenge of AIDS in Jakarta.

Anyone who is interested to take me up on this offer, or would like more information, may contact me by telephone on 846-3029 or by fax on 846-1247.

CHRIS W. GREEN

Jakarta