The Soft Gourmet: Eating Well On A Soft Food Diet by Cathy Katz is a cookbook and guide written by a caregiver-cook for others cooking for patients who must follow a Soft Food Diet after oral/maxillofacial surgery, dental implant reconstruction, cancer treatment, or other medical conditions. The information in this book is based solely upon the author's personal experience and is not intended as professional advice. The author is not responsible for any consequences arising from a reader's use of this book. Any person should consult with their own physician about their own medical care and approaches to diet and healing. Katz explains: "My husband of 57 years was undergoing a full-mouth dental reconstruction, having had radiation to his head years earlier as part of cancer treatment. I originally thought following a Soft Food Diet would be easy. But five weeks post-surgery, I was spending too much time every day to plan what I could feed him-he was already losing weight and the healing was taking a lot out of him. He was eating less, many small servings a day instead of three main meals.

I was constantly preparing food. And it was certain he'd be following a Soft Food Diet for many months ahead, maybe a year! As his caregiver-cook, I needed a strategy." The Soft Gourmet: Eating Well On A Soft Food Diet emerged as Katz documented their recovery successes. The cookbook includes 77 healthy and delicious recipes adapted to a Soft Food Diet, pantry lists, and even "First Foods," a 16-day post-surgery menu. Includes 85 color photographs taken by Jenny Katz of the actual tools, ingredients, and results of recipes adapted for The Soft Gourmet by Cathy Katz, in their own homes. Cathy Katz (a former administrator) and her husband, Michael, (a jazz piano player and Vietnam veteran) are retired, with a pollinator habitat-farm in Western Massachusetts. "The Pollinator Garden Planning Deck" (ISBN 978-1-7972-2628-6) is another Cathy Katz offering.