Eat, Drink & Be Vegan
Dreena Burton
Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007
http://vivelevegan.blogspot.com/

What I like most about Dreena’s books, in addition to the great food photography, is that she doesn’t rehash the same familiar recipes you find in a lot of other cookbooks.  Plus, while her recipes sometimes call for ingredients you may not have used before, they remain simple to prepare and even unfamiliar ingredients can be found in your local grocery store or co-op.  As with Dreena’s previous books, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan is a wonderful collection of unique recipes that home cooks of all skill levels will enjoy.

We’ve had a lot of success with ED&BV around our house.  Dreena’s always been known for her inventive hummus and this time around, she devoted an entire chapter to the creamy, beany vegan staple.  I loved the Black Bean & Orange Hummus — the orange adds a whole new dimension and combined with the black beans (rather than chickpeas), this one is sure to turn some heads at potlucks.  The Roasted Red Pepper and Almond Hummus is a little more familiar but is the tastiest red pepper hummus I’ve had.  Fresh parsley used for garnish tops it off perfectly.  Other hummuses include a white bean hummus, a peanut-sesame hummus (!), and one geared specifically for kids.

From her soups and stews section, the Mellow Lentil "Sniffle" Soup has already become a go-to dish for us and my wife and I agree that the Sweet Potato Lentil Chili may be the best homemade chili we’ve ever had.

The main dishes we’ve enjoyed include the Lemony Cashew-Basil Pesto on Pasta (we substituted cilantro with good results since basil was far out of season), the slightly lemony Quinoa Chickpea Confetti Casserole (which went over well over the Christmas holiday and is simply delicious when drizzled with the Balsamic Maple Sauce), and Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes.  The Cran-Apple Quinoa recipe was another dish shared over the holiday ("Quinoa?  Is that how you say it?  This is good!").

This may be a first, but I haven’t made any of the desserts.  I am looking forward to trying the Pumpkin Cheese Pie and the Lime Sucker Coconut Pie.

So far, there have only been a couple of recipes that haven’t gone well for us, which isn’t bad considering how many we’ve made.  The Goddess Garbanzos didn’t sit well with me, but I’m also not a big fan of Annie’s Goddess Dressing, which probably explains it.  The Cinnamon-Lime Quinoa with Apricots & Almonds was alright tasting, but consistency was a bit squishy for my liking.

Dreena Burton’s third book, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, solidifies her as one of my favorite cookbook authors.  Her inventive recipes manage to balance innovation, accessibility, and health in a way few others can.  There’s no doubt you’ll want this one on your shelf if it’s not there already.

Everyday Dish (DVD)
featuring Dreena Burton, Bryanna Clarke Grogan, and Julie Hasson
YaYa Productions
http://www.everydaydish.tv/Shopping%20Cart/vegan_vegetarian_dvd.html

When you flip through the channels while Wife Swap is on commercial, you won’t have a tough time finding cooking shows.  Unfortunately, they usually feature Rachael Ray and her damn yummers EVOO (wow, two sentences in and I’m already insulting Rachael Ray).  In fact, when it comes to vegan cooking shows, you’ll come up empty (regional shows excepted, of course).  There have been a few decent vegetarian-themed cooking shows through the years (Regina’s Vegetarian Table and Delicious TV come to mind), but vegans often have to suffer through visits to cheese stores and recipes topped off with feta.

Everyday Dish features three vegan cookbook authors sharing a handful of their favorite recipes in a cooking show format.  First up is Bryanna Clarke Grogan, author of Nonna’s Italian Kitchen and many other classic vegan collections.  I’ve always been a fan of Bryanna’s very open sharing of her creations.  Some cookbook authors are notoriously stingy with their recipes, hunting down anyone that posts one online.  But if you search for vegan recipes online, it’s a sure bet that one of Bryanna’s will show up in the top 10.  She’s the master of the homemade mock meat and that shows with her selections for the DVD.  She serves up gravy, neatballs, chicken cutlets, and an ambitious pork tenderloin.

Dreena Burton, who you may remember from a few paragraphs ago, shows us how to make Chickpea Sensation Patties, assorted hummuses, Lemon Herb Tofu, Sundried Tomato Pesto, and Chocolate Mint Melties.  I’m pretty sure that in a future life, I want to be reincarnated as a Chocolate Mint Meltie.  Dreena has a great blog that gives some real insight into what it’s like trying to put together a cookbook while managing a family.  I’m pretty sure she only sleeps three hours a week.

Julie Hasson, who I had the pleasure of meeting last year at the DVD’s release party in Portland, serves up a simple and tasty-looking Deli Noodle Soup, Diner Loaf, Tacos and Salsa, Chocolate Cake, and Triple Chocolate Pudding (triple!).

All three of the chefs have personalities that lend themselves well to this type of endeavor.  Bryanna has a quiet, understated way of demonstration that makes even complex recipes seem accessible.  Dreena is the person you hope you’d bump into at the grocery store, because she’s so open and willing to share what she knows.  And Julie seems to have boundless energy and enthusiasm, but it’s genuine enthusiasm, not forced Rachael Ray enthusiasm.

In addition to the nearly two hours of cooking footage, the DVD also includes bonus recipes, printable recipes from the demos, and some other extras.

It may seem a little strange to buy a DVD of a cooking show in this age of "hey, it’s on YouTube" and with food blogs-a-plenty everywhere you look, but there is something nice about having a DVD you can lend to friends or show family, particularly those that enjoy watching cooking shows on TV.  And this is a good one to use - the production values are quite good.  About the only constructive criticism that I’d offer for a second edition would be to try and incorporate the use of an overhead camera to provide a bird’s eye view of the food and give some variety to the camera angles.

Be sure to check out all the videos at everydaydish.tv to get a good idea of what you’ll get on the DVD (and then some).  Julie also has a blog for the site with some great food photos and commentary.

Everyday Dish joins Post-Punk Kitchen and Regina’s Vegetarian Table as my one of my favorite veg cooking shows and is definitely worth checking out on DVD.  I hope there’s a second volume in our future.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten a number of e-mails from people or small companies looking to pimp their new vegan-friendly products. Rather than shill for each one individually, allow me to share a list of these products/sites that you may find interesting:

• Veganomicon by Isa and Terry. If this is the only veg blog that you read, you may have missed every other one on the planet discussing the long-awaited new vegan bible from the PPK’s Mighty Isa and Terry (yes, the “M” is capitalized). The book is out now in a beautiful hardback edition. I’ve got my copy and am having a tough time deciding which recipes to try first. I know you’re going to buy this, so I’m not going to say any more.
• Swanky Veg. A new site for “fashion conscious veggies,” hosted by Ali Berman, a former fashion model in New York and Paris. I’m about the least fashionable dude you’ll ever meet, but I’m glad sites like this exist. It makes veganism seem a little less weird to people.
• Nava Atlas’ Vegan Thanksgiving. Nava’s awesome. As the holiday that tortures vegan souls across the country approaches, Nava makes life a little easier by sharing a bunch of Thanksgiving resources. She’s also got a new ebook titled Nava’s Thanksgiving Favorites, available for a mere $8.50. A good portion of the proceeds go to an anti-hunger organization called Share Our Strength. Good stuff.
• Jinga Shoes. A couple of folks have created the first lightweight Brazilian shoe which are suitable for vegans. Tessa, one of the co-creators wrote that, “We have had our jingas approved by the Vegan Society as no animals were involved in any way or at any time were in involved in the making of our shoes, not even in the glue we used.” Nice!
• ABBA^® Pure Performance Hair Care^TM. “A comprehensive range of 100% vegan cleansers, conditioners, treatment and styling products formulated with natural plant ingredients specifically to enhance performance, not in spite of it.” Never tried them (see above, re: fashion), but hey, it sounds good to me.
• Artivist. Damn! I meant to promote this before the Nov. 8-11 showings in Hollywood. Well, if you’re in Lisbon or London, it’s still not too late to catch this great event that combines art and activism.

On Isa’s recommendation, I plunked down $2.50 for the new cookzine titled Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk. It’s slim, with a few pages of introduction and 13 recipes, but here’s the thing… cookzines tend to have a really high percentage of really good recipes. When someone puts a cookzine together, it’s usually because they think, “Hey, I’ve got a bunch of great recipes. I should write ‘em down and share them.” I imagine published cookbook authors thinking, “Hey, I’ve got a cookbook deal… I better create some new recipes!” With cookzines, you tend to get really good, well tested, familiar recipes. With cookbooks, you get more innovation, but also the occasional dish that doesn’t hit the mark.

Maybe I’m making all that up. The point is, don’t hesitate to pay a couple bucks for baker’s dozen recipes.

Katie is the mind behind Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk (she turns 27 today — happy birthday, Katie!). She’s only been cooking for a few years, but it’s become her passion. Still, she likes to keep her recipes simple.

The three recipes we’ve tried so far have been resounding successes. We tried out the talked-up Tempeh Wingz when our friend Katherine came in town to visit a month or so ago. They were easy to make and combined with the simple sauce were just delicious. The spice was enough to provide a kick in the teeth, but not enough to actually knock any loose.

The Herbed Tomato Potato salad we served at two different birthday parties we had for our daughter. It’s a nice twist on the standard picnic staple and went over well with both crowds.

Last night we tried the Vegetable Fried Rice, a very simple and straightforward rendition of the classic take-out dish. It seriously hit the spot and is going to become a regular in our arsenal.

Other recipes I’m itching to try include a veganized Bob Evans Biscuit and a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. I plan to simply dive face first into the latter, manners be damned.

Katie’s finishing up the second issue as we speak. Can’t wait to see it.

I got my copy of Dreena Burton’s new Eat, Drink & Be Vegan in the mail last week and let me tell you, folks: this thing is great. I love the cover design and I love the layout even more. And if you’re a fan of Dreena’s food, this one will knock yer organic hemp socks off.

I’ve only made one recipe so far, the unbelievably good Black Bean and Orange Hummus, part of an entire chapter on our favorite vegan beany concoction. You can bet I’m looking forward to trying out the Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, too.

What I love about Dreena’s books is that they use ingredients that aren’t hard to find, but that you may not be accustomed to. I’ve learned more about using various grains (What?! There’s more than unbleached white flour?!) from Dreena than I ever imagined. Her recipes are inspired and unique, yet not “out there.” Think of them as the types of dishes you’d make for a dinner party and someone invariably says, “Wow, this is different! I’ve got to get the recipe for this.”

A more formal and thorough review is on the way, once I can make some more food, but I wanted to let you all know about the book now since I have a really rude tendency to be late with my cookbook reviews.

The Vegan Family Cookbook
Chef Brian P. McCarthy
Lantern Books

Late last year, Lantern books released Chef Brian P. McCarthy’s The Vegan Family Cookbook, the front cover boasting “over 400 recipes.” Sure, that number’s a bit fudged counting things like “brown rice” and “artichokes” (sole ingredient: artichokes) as one recipe each, but this 300-page book does pack an awful lot of food into its pages.

We had good luck with the high-protein split pea soup, the Morning Pancakes (add some ground flax for extra flavor), curry baked tofu (easy, tasty, and mild), the super-easy Teriyaki Tofu, and the creamy Pasta with Pepper Cream sauce. Our go-to recipe is the simple classic Red Beans and Rice.

While The Vegan Family Cookbook won’t be remembered for its unique recipes, it will be one that you find yourself grabbing off the shelf when you’ve got to throw something together with the ingredients sitting in your fridge about to go bad. Everything’s straightforward and familiar and will please palates of all ages.

Vegan Success
Susan C. Daffron and James H. Byrd
Logical Expressions Publishing
vegansuccess.com

Another entry in the “simple and easy” vegan cookbook category, Vegan Success offers up some great dishes you can pull together at the last minute. The faux cheese sauce is probably the easiest of its kind and tastes great as part of good old mac and cheese. The Curried Potatoes and Cauliflower with Cream Cheese is a good go-to dish and the Spicy White Bean Salad was really tasty, even when using a number of substitutions.

Slightly less successful was the Creamy White Bean Soup — it was “too beany” for my wife and “too mushroomy” for me. We also had an issue with the Blender Hummus — sure it tasted good, but it broke our food processor! See, our blender doesn’t blend things nearly enough for a good, smooth hummus, so we tried it in the food processor but ended up burning out the motor in the process. The story has a silver lining, though: we bought an awesome 14-cup behemoth to replace it.

All your favorites are here, from vegan biscuits to eggless egg salad to stews, soups, sandwiches, and desserts. This is one of those unassuming books that’s easy to overlook next to larger, more elaborately designed collections. But don’t let the ultra-minimalist design fool you: there’s good food to be had between the covers.

Please Don’t Feed the Bears!
Edited by Abjorn Intonsus
Microcosm Publishing

I love me some cookzines. Every one I own has turned out some amazing and often surprising recipes, despite their low-budget production values. Please Don’t Feed the Bears! is a compilation of one such cookzine. There’s a huge variety of dishes, plenty of attitude, and even obscure death metal recommendations for each recipe. I gave this collection respect before I even started because they managed to name a recipe after one of my favorite ultra-obscure films: Mystics in Bali(nese Tempeh). I haven’t even made it yet, but I know it’s gotta be disembodied-head-on-a-spine-floating-around-the-sky good.

Foodwise, I loved Curly Jim’s Chocolate Chip cookies, thinking they were about the closest to the classic chocolate chip cookie I’d tasted. My dad pointed out that it’s essentially the Toll House recipe, veganized. Hey, that’s fine by me.

Also good: the Broken Jaw Biscotti and Tofu Pot Pie In Your Eye (which I think would be just as good without the tofu).

You seriously get your money’s worth here: at only $7 from Microcosm, you get 160 pages absolutely stuffed with recipes. About the only bad thing I can say about this one is that there’s no freaking index. And with only six sections, it can be tricky to find a recipe you came across earlier. No worries, though. Sometimes serendipitous cooking is the best kind.

I dig raw food. I used to be a skeptic, but I became a believer. I don’t worry myself about the sub-110 degree rules or the enzymes or any of that: I’m just impressed with it as a cuisine.

Two new raw cookbooks found their way into the Veg Blog PO Box, so I thought I’d give them both a look and compare and contrast them a bit.

First up is Ani Phyo’s Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. Over the last 15 years, Ani’s tried, shall we say, a variety of things. According to her friend, Boing Boing’s David Pescovitz, she’s designed video art for raves, written a well-respected book on information architecture, and then most recently, founded SmartMonkey Foods, a company that makes packaged raw convenience foods.

Ani’s book is attractively designed and filled with conversational discussion of raw foods. There’s plenty of attractive food photography as well as photos of the author out and about in Portland, buying vegetables, walking her dog, and eating fruits. The recipes themselves are generally quite reasonable, though like most raw authors, she recommends the Queen Mary of blenders, the expensive Vita-Mix. Recipes are VEFH and only occasionally require a dehydrator.

We’ve made a number of recipes from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen thusfar with good results. The Ginger Almond Pate tasted wonderful as part of the Ginger Almond Nori Rolls, a simple dish where the pate is wrapped in nori sheets with spinach, burdock root (yeah, fat chance we had that around), and mung bean sprouts. A sharp knife is essential for this recipe. It’s really delicious and is one of those that will win over skeptics if they dig things like sushi.

The Sun Burger recipe was another success. Though we just ended up eating the burgers on regular bread (heresy!) and had to “dehydrate” them on our toaster’s “warm” setting rather than in a dehydrator (double heresy!), they were still delicious, with the celery, onion, bell pepper, sunflower seeds, and spices binding well with the flax seeds. These can be eaten right after they’re made or dehyrdrated for a more familiar burger texture.

We had slightly less success with the tasty-sounding Strawberry Kream Swirl, a cold dessert soup that would have been great except for the fact we couldn’t get the almonds “creamy” enough in our food processor. Maybe the Vita Mix would have done a better job.

There are two more recipes I’m really itching to try out soon: the Coco Kream Pie with Carob Fudge on Brownie Crust and the Fruit Parfait, which looks to be very similar to the one served at Blossoming Lotus in Portland.

Next up is World’s First Supermodel Carol Alt’s The Raw 50, co-authored with David Roth. Alt lends her name to the book, but all of the recipes come from others including familiar names like Dan Hoyt and Sarma Melngailis.

The Raw 50 is significantly different from other popular raw cookbooks in that it’s not vegan (or VEFH). It includes raw dairy, raw eggs (ick), and even fish. She includes proscuitto (cured pork) as an essential pantry item. Alt addresses this in a section titled “Vegan or Not?” She equates not being vegan with not being a 100% raw foodist, which of course requires completely avoiding the ethical issues. “I believe your body will tell you what it needs,” she writes, “Although you may want to be vegan, you may find that your body is genetically adapted to animal products; you may even need them.” She does add that if you are vegan, “my hat’s off to you,” but her casual coverage of veganism focuses only on the health issues and barely even touches the ethical side of things. If you’re not 100% raw, you’re only affecting yourself. If you’re not vegan, you’re also affecting other animals.

More frustrating, though, is the introduction by Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D. where he makes an awkward connection between vegetarianism and the low-fat diet trends of the 1990s. Gonzalez spends a liberal amount of time quoting the research of Weston A. Price. The name may sound familiar: the Weston A. Price Foundation spends a lot of time promoting raw milk while spreading somewhere between half-truths and outright mistruths about vegetarianism and soy. It reads like a New York Times op-ed piece by Nina Planck. A lot of time is spent in the opening pages telling readers why being vegan isn’t important to a raw foodist, which had me in a foul mood before I even got to the recipes.

I’m not being hypersensitive about that, am I?

So. The recipes.

There are actually more than 50 of ‘em, split between breakfasts, lunches, dinners, drinks, and snacks. While I won’t be touching Tuna Ceviche or Raw Egg Mayonnaise with a ten foot pole, there are some interesting vegan inclusions worth mentioning. For instance, we enjoyed Muriel’s Sticky Granola, a simple, yummy blend of agave (subbed for that damned honey), ground cinnamon, dates, and raisins. The recipe calls for 12 hours of dehydration, but at the time we didn’t have a dehydrator on hand, so we just heated it at 200 degrees for a few hours.

We did have a dehydrator on hand for the deliciously-simple sounding Almond Coconut Cookies from Chef Dan Hoyt. We made the variation, which processes raw almonds and dried coconut flakes into a dry powder, then mixes them with salt (is it pretentious that it calls for specifically Himalayan salt? Yeah, kind of.), vanilla extract, and agave. It’s then dehydrated for 15-18 hours. No one ever said raw food was for those who needed instant gratification!

Unfortunately, while the cookies were a good consistency and had nice hints of almond and coconut, the saltiness was overpowering. Perhaps using sea salt instead of the Himalayan salt was a mistake after all.

In summary…

Ani Phyo’s book is a pleasure. Its recipes are reasonable, don’t generally call for bizarre ingredients, and are things you might actually serve to guests. Unlike Raw Food, Real World (which I love, but, seriously, there’s no way I’m buying a machete to hack open coconuts), this is a raw food book the average vegan could use on a regular basis. Ani’s personality comes across in the book, so it really does feel like a friend that’s sharing something she’s passionate about.

On the other hand, Carol Alt’s The Raw 50 made me more frustrated than inspired. There are some good recipes from a wide variety of raw chefs, but the almost anti-vegan sentiment is very off-putting and the inclusion of recipes with raw eggs, dairy, and fish alongside the promotion of raw meats keeps me from recommending this book.

Find out more about Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen and view video demos of some recipes. The book is available for $19.95 from Marlowe & Company. Carol Alt’s The Raw 50 is available for $17 from The Crown Publishing Group.

Quick-Fix Vegetarian
by Robin Robertson
2007, Andrews McMeel Publishing

Even if you don’t know Robin Robertson by name, you probably know her cookbooks. She’s responsible for over a dozen cookbooks, including the omnivore favorite Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes, the clever Apocalypse Chow (recipes to make when the power goes out), and the enormous Vegan Planet. Robin’s recipes are accessible yet varied, a testament to her 25 years as a chef, caterer, cooking instructor, and food columnist. Quick-Fix Vegetarian: Healthy Home-Cooked meals in 30 Minutes or Less is Robin’s latest, offering up (as the title suggests), fast and easy meals for those in a rush. All recipes are vegan, even though the title avoids saying so outright.

The chapters are pretty much what you’d expect, covering everything from appetizers to sauces to sandwiches and desserts. There’s also a chapter on slow-cooking and “one-dish wonders.” There are 150 recipes in just under 200 pages, each recipe featuring a one paragraph introduction, something I really appreciate in cookbooks. I like context to a recipe before trying it.

We’ve made a number of the recipes over the last couple of months and they’ve all come out nicely. The Potato “Dosadillas” are an interesting dosa-quesadilla hybrid. We thought they needed a little more spice (which could be because we doubled the amount of peas), but they were surprisingly good and easy. The Curried Couscous and Vegetables is another simple dish that stretches a long way. A few minutes in the kitchen will serve you well for dinner and several lunches thereafter. The Couscous Shepherd’s Pie was also plentiful — the only change we’d make to this one is to steam the tempeh first if you use it instead of veggie crumbles or tofu.

Perhaps the best recipe we’ve made thus far is the Panko-Crusted Tofu Cutlets with Lemon-Caper Sauce. Panko is basically flaky Japanese breadcrumbs and it provides a great crust when fried up on the tofu. And the sour-salty combination of the sauce is wicked good. The only complaint here was that it took significantly longer than 30 minutes to make (we had a similar issue with the Stir-Fried Tofu and Vegetable Teriyaki). That said, it was well worth the effort.

Even if you have some of Robin’s other books, you’ll probably want to take a peek at this one. There are a number of other interesting recipes I’m looking forward to trying: PDQ Pot Pie (the pot pie from Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes is a holiday stand-by around here), Green Onion Hummus with Lime, and Linguine with Edamame Pesto are all on our to-make list.

The book is simply laid out and the recipes are easy to follow, with one per page. The only complaint I have is the same one I’ve had with a few other of Robin’s books: there are no pictures of any recipes. Sure, there are some food pictures, but they’re all stock photos, and that’s no fun. People are inspired by seeing food photos, which is why food blogs are so popular. It’s a shame that there aren’t even a few nice color panels in the middle of the book.

So, thumbs up for Quick-Fix Vegetarian. A few recipes took longer than the promised 30 minutes, but the results have all been quite good so far. I suspect a year from now, this will be a well-worn book on our kitchen shelf.

The Veggie Queen
Jill Nussinow, MS, RD
Vegetarian Connection Press, 2005

It really is a great time for vegetarian cookbooks. If you’re into easy-to-make comfort foods, there are plenty of choices. If you like gourmet-style cooking, one of the Millennium books has you covered. If you’re into the tofu, seitan, tempeh, and fake meat, great choices abound. Jill Nussinow’s The Veggie Queen will appeal to those that want to focus on fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables and not mess around too much with meat analogs.

Much like Nava Atlas’ excellent Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons, The Veggie Queen is organized by season. Since eating locally grown, seasonal vegetables is the best way to ensure great taste and nutrition, this style of cookbook is a good one to have on your shelf.

The book starts off in the Spring and offers up unique and fresh choices like Minted Pea Soup, Orange and Onion Salad on Greens, and Mediterranean French Green Lentils. Summer brings warm weather favorites like an Italian Bread Salad, Smoky Gazpacho, and Andean Corn and Quinoa Salad. We had very good success with the delicious Summer Squash Vichyssoise served cold. During the summer we get an awful lot of squash through our CSA, and this recipe helped us make good use of them. It’s not terribly complicated, either, as it just has garlic, onion, potatoes, squash, basil, soy milk, and a little veggie broth powder.

The Autumn recipes include a Lemon Scented Spinach Spread, Potato and Kohlrabi Gratin, and Polenta Triangles with Roasted Red Pepper Relish. We had moderate success with the Pear and Toasted Walnut Salad, noting that it would be best to buy the ingredients the day we made the salad.

For the Winter, hearty soups and salads are the orders of the day. Curried Pear and Squash Soup, Lemony Lentil and Potato Chowder, and Tempeh and Wild Mushroom Stew are included. We loved the Layered Polenta Casserole which, while moderately intensive, had a nice payoff. Polenta is really satisfying here, used in combination with tomatoes, parsley, and soy cheese.

Two other chapters close out the book, one for “Anytime at All” and one with recipes designed for a pressure cooker. In the “Anytime at All” chapter, I loved the Seasonal Sweet and Sour Veggie Stir-Fry. I’ve never much cared for sweet and sour, but this is by far the best I’ve had.

Nussinow’s recipes range from relatively easy to time intensive. Her ingredient lists won’t throw anyone who belongs to a CSA or shops farmers’ markets for a loop, but they may be a bit daunting for vegetarians new to cooking. The recipes are all vegan, save for a few with honey, but do the standard agave-for-honey swap and you’re good to go. The book is well organized, printed on starkly bright white paper and features lots of fun and informative sidebars. There are a few mock meat-ish recipes like a Chinese “No Chicken” Salad, but they’re few and far between with fresh vegetables taking center stage throughout the book.

The Veggie Queen is one of those cookbooks you may have overlooked in favor of more heavily marketed tomes, but this great little volume is a worthy addition to your collection. For those days when you want to really and truly feel good after you’re done a meal, The Veggie Queen proves she’s up to the task.

If history’s your thing and you’re vegetarian, there’s a new book on the shelves that may be worth your time to check out: The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times by Tristram Stuart.

When the book’s press agent (a vegetarian, it should be noted) sent this along, I got really excited about it. It’s got to be the most comprehensive and thorough book on the subject of the history of vegetarianism. But here’s the thing: there’s no chance I’m going to get a chance to read and review this book with the attention it deserves anytime before Rasine goes off to college.

At over 450 pages of content, it’s a dense book, to say the least. The bibliography is insane. The references are impeccably noted. It’s an impressive book and (from what I can tell so far), a well-written one, to boot. Here’s a brief rundown of what you can expect:

How Western Christianity and Eastern philosophy merged to spawn a political movement that had the prohibition of meat at its core

The Bloodless Revolution is a pioneering history of puritanical revolutionaries, European Hinduphiles, and visionary scientists who embraced radical ideas from the East and conspired to overthrow Western society’s voracious hunger for meat. At the heart of this compelling history are the stories of John Zephaniah Holwell, survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta, and John Stewart and John Oswald, who traveled to India in the eighteenth century, converted to the animal-friendly tenets of Hinduism, and returned to Europe to spread the word. Leading figures of the Enlightenment–among them Rousseau, Voltaire, and Benjamin Franklin–gave intellectual backing to the vegetarians, sowing the seeds for everything from Victorian soup kitchens to contemporary animal rights and environmentalism.

Since there won’t be a proper review here for The Bloodless Revolution before 2024, I encourage you to check the book out if history’s your thing. It may well become one of those books that we’ll be referring to 15, 20 years from now.

I got into zines pretty late in the game.  I have a few from high school that friends put together, but didn’t really start tuning into the “zine scene” until well after I should have.  There’s something special about the personal, handmade nature of zines that’s hard to resist. And since Portland is both the “zine mecca” and “vegan mecca,” it should come as no surprise there are a load of good vegan zines and cookzines out there.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while, and while I was working on it, I came across this page of vegan zines. It’s far more complete than this post will be. Here, I’ll just cover a few that I’ve collected over the last couple of years.

Cookzines:

• Soy Not Oi!: The classic that everyone’s heard of. Lots of recipes, essays, and nifty little illustrations. I wonder what the Hippycore Krew is up to ten years later.
• We Need to Eat: Similar in style to “Soy Not Oi!,” “We Need to Eat” focuses on affordable, quick meals.
• The Frugal Vegan’s Harvest & Holiday Survival Guide: We use this one a lot, all year long. Some successes we’ve had include the super easy curried potato-broccoli soup, the buckwheat pancakes, and the veggie pot pie. Also has fun holiday gift ideas (why did I never think of packing the dry ingredients of cookie mixes with a card about how to finish the recipe?).
• Don’t Have a Cow: Recipes from varied sources and lots of well thought-out writing on veganism and animal rights. This is one of those zines that you’ll read over repeated sittings so that you can take it all in. I’m sorry to hear, though, that the author’s not a big fan of Herbivore. But he is a fan of the veg blog, so I guess that gets him some bonus points.

Two (well, three, technically) cookbooks that are compiled from several issues of vegan cookzines — full reviews are forthcoming:

• Hot Damn and Hell Yeah/The Dirty South Cookbook: Two cookbooks in one here with lots of great stuff for people who want a little grease with their food. And for only $5? C’mon now, it’s a given. (You can hear my audio review of this on episode 41 of Vegan Freak Radio.)
• Please Don’t Feed the Bears: Every recipe has an obscure metal recommendation along with it. I just got this one and we’re still working our way through it, but holy seitan the chocolate chip cookies are amazing.

Some non-cooking zines from veg*ns (this is a very incomplete list since it seems lots of zinesters are vegans, so I’ve just included ones from veg blog regulars and folks I’ve talked with):

• Geraniums and Bacon, et al.: Lots of varied goodness from a veg blog regular.
• Invincible Summer: An Anthology: This anthology of Nicole J. Georges’ stuff is a great read and includes some gems about her time interning at Farm Sanctuary California.
• sisu: A thought-provoking zine by long-time veg blog reader johanna. #3 turned me on to a kind of fun book titled The City, Not Long After that I would have never stumbled across otherwise.

Any to add?

Isa and Terry’s youngest fan (click through for a larger photo):

The Glad Cow Cookbook
Summer Keightley
Glad Cow Publishing, 2005

Summer Keightley’s The Glad Cow Cookbook would be easy to overlook if it were on the shelf at Borders. It’s a small, unassuming book, coming in at just 64 pages, with no pictures and a very simple layout. One might mistake it as a bookmark for Vegan Planet.

And that’s why I like it.

We all have loads of cookbooks with tons of recipes that may or may not have been tested as fully as they should be. But when you flip through The Glad Cow Cookbook, it’s clear that Summer has taken time to develop and test these recipes. Each section (Baked Goods, Biscotti, Dips and Spreads, Main Dishes, Sides, Soups and Salads, and Sweets) is tiny, with less than a dozen recipes in each, but it’s easy to tell that what’s there is what you’re likely to find in Summer’s own fridge on any given day.

I was stoked to see a section on Biscotti, which features four recipes. My wife and I made up the almond biscotti and the oatmeal chocolate chip biscotti, put it in a nice jar and gave it to my mom for her birthday along with some Newman’s Own orange dark chocolate to melt and dip into. She loved them and they were gone quickly.

The Lemon Garlic Pasta is a delicious and simple alternative to the standard spaghetti with marinara sauce. It’s a perfect go-to dish on those busy nights. Another favorite is the Road Trip Quinoa salad, a very bright and light summer salad. This is the type you can make on a Sunday night and have for the rest of the week for lunch. Great stuff.

For a little something different, give the Tofu Piri Piri a try, a veggie take on a classic Argentinian dish. It came out a bit sour using all of the lemon and lime juice called for, so considering cutting back a little.

In terms of sweets, you can’t beat the Miracle Creamy Coconut First Try Pie, an experimental recipe of Summer’s that turned out right on the first try. It calls for a pound of silken tofu and a 16 oz. can of coconut milk, but it turned out just fine with 13 oz. of tofu and a 13 oz. can of coconut milk. It lives up to its name… it’s plenty creamy and is miraculously easy.

About the only place where Glad Cow came up short was on a black bean casserole recipe. It wasn’t bad, it was just kind of bland compared to the other very flavorful dishes we’d made from the book. It may have been the subbing of beet greens for kale on my part that did it, though.

While $12.95 may seem a bit steep for a 64-page cookbook, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it. There’s more variety in here than you’d expect and the recipes are inspired and unique. Plus, you’re supporting a fellow Veg Blog reader and a small press. So, really, it’s a no-brainer.

You can pick a copy up directly from Summer or through our friends over at Food Fight. And if you’re reading this and it’s still June, you can enter to win a copy!

Vive le Vegan!
Dreena Burton
Foreword by Erik Marcus
Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004

Dreena Burton’s The Everyday Vegan (2001, Arsenal Pulp Press) is one of those great general purpose vegan cookbooks, the type that you can lend to a non-vegan friend and they’ll get a lot out of it. Dreena’s latest, Vive le Vegan!, takes the next step with an even better batch of recipes.

Both The Everyday Vegan and Vive le Vegan! accomplish one important thing: they collect recipes that are accessible, but not the same ones you’ve seen a hundred times before. You’ll see a lot of ingredients you may not be familiar with, but used in such a way that you’ll be anxious to try them out. For instance, the recipe for Miso-Curry Roasted Potatoes takes basic yukon potatoes and tops them with miso, one of those ingredients that a lot of people don’t find until they become vegan and start exploring international cuisines for the first time. It’s an easy dish with complex flavors. And if filling, spicy meals are your thing, the Last-Minute Chili and Taco Filling will do the trick.

Breakfasts are well-represented with some wonderfully delicious, but easy choices. The Orange Mango Smoothie and Creamy Raspberry Oatmeal are both healthy choices, but the real stand-out comes in the form of Apple Oat Pancakes. We’ve made this recipe more than any other in Vive le Vegan! so far. It’s one of those recipes that as you’re making it, you think, “There’s no way this will turn out,” but magically, it does. The fresh slices of apple are the perfect compliment to the the oatiness (oatiness!) of the pancakes.

The Apple Phyllo Strudel was a bit tricky since we had never worked with phyllo pastry before, but the end result was a deliciously crispy and lightly sweet. Other desserts came out equally as well. I made the Pineapple Lemon Bars for a potluck and they got a good reception (though I think I ate more than everyone else combined… I had trouble keeping my hands off of them) and the homestyle chocolate chip cookies will be going into my cookie repertoire. But the real winner in the dessert chapter is the recipe for Coconut-Lime Cookies… holy crap they’re good. Thanks to the tanginess of the lime and the sweetness of the coconut, I’d rank them among the best tasting homemade cookies I’ve made.

In addition to the all the great recipes, one small–but very important–thing that Dreena and her publisher got very right with this book is the format. It’s attractively laid out, easy to read, and best of all: all of the recipes are listed in the table of contents rather than just the section headers. See, around our house, we rate recipes on the front page of each cookbook by noting the page number and + (good!), - (don’t make again), and ~ (requires changes) and then a longer comment on the recipe page itself. With all the recipes listed up front, we can put our notations right next to the recipe name and see everything at a glance, making life just a tad easier. It’s the small things, folks.

While The Everyday Vegan offered up a solid introduction to veganism, Vive le Vegan!’s big bonus is the “Feeding Your Vegan Baby and Toddler” section. Dreena’s done a lot of research on how to properly introduce foods to baby to avoid potential food allergies while also exposing them to a wide variety of flavors. It’s a handy guide and I’m glad Dreena shared what she learned.

The Everyday Vegan is a very good cookbook, but Vive le Vegan! is a great one, one that we’ve come to rely on. Dreena’s also been quick at responding to my stupid questions (”How much oat flour should I use if I don’t want to grind oats myself for the pancakes?”)… there’s something nice about that personal touch. I don’t think e-mailing Julia Child would have worked so well.

Well done, Dreena! We’re anxiously awaiting the next one to see what you come up with next.

La Dolce Vegan!
by Sarah Kramer
2005, Arsenal Pulp Press
Visit Sarah at GoVegan.net

I may be one of the only vegans that doesn’t have copies of How It All Vegan (maybe because I’m stupid) and Garden of Vegan on my shelf. I realize that admitting this will probably get me kicked out of the vegan club and/or encourage Sarah Kramer to come to my house and stab me with a tattoo needle, but I have to come clean.

I do, however, have a copy of Sarah’s latest, La Dolce Vegan, her third cookbook with the trademark funky design. After using it for the past few months, I’m not quite sure why I her first two books are missing from my collection.

La Dolce Vegan is packed with recipes. And though Sarah went the solo route this time around (her first two books were co-authored with Tanya Barnard), many of the recipes are gleaned from friends and GoVegan.net forum members. I don’t know exactly recipes are included, but every time I open the book, I find an new recipe–or an entire section–that I missed before. How’s she do that?

The recipes I’ve tried thusfar have all been easy to make and really tasty. The Cinnamon-Spice Roasted Veggies with Couscous hit the spot and is a great autumn go-to dish. Jessica’s “Cures What Ails Ya Garlic Soup” is… well… garlicky. Really garlicky. Two large servings contain an entire head of garlic. So, yeah… that’ll clear our your sinuses. And pores. I love me some garlic.

My wife is a big fan of the Mocked Clam Chowder recipe, which I also enjoyed. Nice and creamy and the potatoes stand in well for the clam. And we’ve gotten a lot of use out of a simple spice mix recipe called “Needs a Little Extra” Spice. It’s a blend of common spices that you use when something like potatoes or fries need a little extra kick. We put some in an old spice container and use the blend weekly.

There are a couple of recipes we’ve returned to a number of times, rare around our house since I’m so far behind in my cookbook reviews. One is the Veganica.com Cajun Sweet Potato Fries. We used this recipe a lot last fall when we got more sweet potatoes from our CSA than we knew what to do with. They’re spicy and really flavorful. The other recipe is Cindy O’s “Chicken” & Rice Soup for the Soul. Let me tell you something: if you’re sick and looking for a good chicken-ish soup, this is the one. The “chicken” is made with wheat gluten flour and is about as easy as can be (2 tbsp gluten flour, 2 tbsp water, mix, knead a few times, slice, use) and the soup has all sorts of great flavors from the spices and stock (use Unchicken broth if you can). Great stuff.

While I haven’t tried any of the dessert recipes yet, I did make the Coconut Pie Panckes, which are as good as dessert. These have a nice, sweet coconutty flavor and a very strong banana flavor. If you’d prefer not to have the banana-y flavor, use ground flax seed and water instead.

Of all the recipes we’ve tried, we’ve only run into a couple that we haven’t enjoyed or that we really needed to tweak to fit our tastes. Like the Festive Butternut Squash, which has a lot of spices and nuts, but came out surprisingly bland. Thankfully, these types of recipes are few and far between. I love how modern vegan cookbooks are weighed so heavily towards good recipes these days.

Sarah’s a strong personality and a distinctive aura, so it’s no wonder that she frequently gets recognized when she’s out in public. She sort of reminds me of Aunt Martha in Sleepaway Camp, but in a good way.

Huh. That’s the sound of a movie reference going over an entire audience’s collective head.

Anyway, her personality really shines through in this book. Indeed, some of the best stuff here is in the “Kitchen Wisdom” section, which has loads of great tips on how to use salt, how to make your own cleaners, and why you shouldn’t use old baking powder. She also takes on, with grace, complaints of people who say that they “could never be vegan.” Her response to “I’m too lazy to be vegan”?

“Good luck with that.”

I’m sorry that it’s taken me this long to introduce myself to Sarah’s work. La Dolce Vegan!’s a great cookbook and Sarah’s a genuinely good person. (Be sure to check out her interview on episode 28 of the Vegan Freak podcast.) Go snag your copy. Then, go forth, cook, and eat well.

Vegan with a Vengeance
by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Foreword by some jerk
2005, Marlowe & Company

Last year was a pretty amazing year for vegan cookbooks. High profile ones like La Dolce Vegan and Vive le Vegan! as well as ones released more quietly like The Veggie Queen and The Glad Cow Cookbook are well worthy of note. They’re all part of a new wave of vegan cookbooks that not only make vegan cooking accessible to the mainstream, but also bring new, creative dishes to vegans who have tried everything.

One of the most entertaining and useful of the new wave of vegan cookbooks is Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan with a Vengeance. Isa and her partner Terry made a name for themselves starting in 2004 with The Post Punk Kitchen, a Brooklyn-based public access cooking show. The show is shot a small apartment kitchen and features not only creative recipes, but some great music and personality. It’s the one show that most deserves to be on The Food Network and for that very reason, never will be.

Isa’s debut cookbook is as entertaining as it is useful. “Punk Points” scattered throughout the book give helpful cooking tips and shortcuts while Isa’s cat Fizzle keeps you filled in with further detail about ingredients. In addition, Isa includes short essays about running a breakfast cafe, shopping for kitchen gear at thrift stores, and the Food Not Bombs program. Vegan with a Vengeance at times reads more like a zine than a cookbook. (That’s a good thing.)

Even though it came out at the end of the year, we’ve already tried more recipes out of this cookbook than any other one we own. It’s fast become a favorite in our house. One big reason: we’ve rediscovered breakfast.

We’ve had more weekend breakfasts and weekday breakfasts-for-dinner in the last four months than we’ve had in the last four years, I think. We have yet to come across a mediocre recipe. The Pumpkin Waffles are like having pumpkin bread in waffle form: absolutely delicious. My wife declared the Oatmeal Banana Raisin Waffles “the best waffles ever” and combined with some well-marinated tempeh bacon, they make the perfect breakfast. And if you’re the type that always used to order chocolate chip pancakes as a kid, you’ll love Isa’s Chocolate Chocolate Chip pancakes. They’re sweet enough to be eaten for dessert.

Other American fare is well represented. The recipe we’ve made more frequently than any other is the Tempeh Reuben, a truly amazing creation that captures the flavor and texture of the original reuben without the disgusting ass corned beef. And even if you don’t make the whole sandwich, the vegan thousand island dressing part of the recipe alone is worth the effort.

It’s not all Euro-centric fare, though. The Potato-Edamame Samosas with Coconut-Mint Chutney is one that fans of Indian fare will want to try. Though my attempt came up short, it was probably due to my own poor skills with dough than the recipe itself. The filling was extremely tasty, so I suspect that this one will become a favorite once I stop being so lame with dough.

Among the other internationally-flavored meals include Falafel, Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers (one I’ve been meaning to make for months now), and Kabocha Squash Stuff with Butternut Vindaloo.

And, it should come as no surprise to anyone that’s tried any of the sweets on the Post Punk Kitchen site (five words: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies), the dessert section of Vegan with a Vengeance will help you on your way to a sugar headache mighty fast. One taste of the Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies will have you rethinking the boring old pumpkin-in-a-can recipes you’ve come to rely on. Also wicked good: Blueberry Coffee Cake. Favorites on the PPK forums include Fauxstess Cupcakes, Raspberry Blackout Cake with Ganache-y Frosting, and Fig Not-Ins. Believe me, they’re all on my “to make” list.

In addition to being packed with great recipes, Vegan with a Vengeance is a pleasure to use. It’s well-indexed, features eight pages of gorgeous food photography (”food porn”), and history behind the recipes. It’s nearly as much fun to read as it is to cook from.

Since it came out, when someone asks for a recommendation of a vegan cookbook to try, I immediately recommend Vegan with a Vengeance. The food is accessible, the recipes are well varied in difficulty, and it fights the notions that vegan food is either uninventive (does anyone really still believe that?) or that it’s too reliant on processed faux meats. Plus, the stuff just tastes good. Can’t ask for more than that.

Last night I made a potato and brocolli soup recipe from The Frugal Vegan’s Harvest and Holiday Survival Guide, a cookzine I picked up in New York last year. The zine itself is nicely laid out with lots cheap, tasty recipes and fun commentary and gift ideas. This recipe in particular was perhaps the easiest soup recipe I’ve ever made and may become a good go-to dish when time or patience is short. The base recipe was a bit salty, probably due to the vegetable stock (in this case, a Better Than Bullion base). Otherwise, it was a thick and creamy soup worthy of repeat performances. I’ll post the recipe shortly.

As a side note, I’m not that enamored with the Better Than Boullion vegetable base. Sure, their slogan (”You’re in for a Treat! It’s the Bouillon Made from Meat.”) sucks, but it’s more that the flavor really doesn’t offer anything over a decent low salt powder. (Time to come clean: I rarely make vegetable stock from scratch. I know I lose points and may be kicked out of the vegan club.)

I’ve got seven books in the queue to be reviewed. This is the first of those seven, with the rest of them following in the coming weeks. This one’s long overdue.

An abbreviated version of this review will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Clamor Magazine.

Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World
[ Purchase - use code punkrocks111 for 20% off! ]
Bob Torres and Jenna Torres
Foreword by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Tofu Hound Press, 2005

There have been a couple of “Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World”-type books written in the last few years (Erin Pavlina’s Raising Vegan Children in a Non-Vegan World and Carol J. Adams’ Living Among Meat Eaters come to mind), but our friends Bob and Jenna’s Vegan Freak takes a fresh look at the challenge of living an animal-friendly life (apologies to Eric) in a world that makes it hard to do so.

Vegan Freak sets itself apart right from the start, letting us know that the “health nut” and “the hippie” aren’t the intended audience for this book. Rather, the focus is on ethical vegans looking to recharge their batteries and lacto-ovo vegetarians who are looking for that last nudge. They also let you know that you’ll be seeing the word “fuck” a few times in their book, something you probably won’t come across in the more family-friendly books. Reading Vegan Freak on a lunchbreak at work is like sitting across from your favorite swearing friends at a restaurant: they’re hilarious to be around and you love every minute, but you hope your first grade teacher doesn’t walk in and hear them talking like that.

The first chapter, “Vegan and Freaky,” takes a look at how the authors came to veganism and what it really means to be vegan. They advocate the “cold tofu” approach—going right to veganism for three weeks rather than slowly transitioning. It’s an interesting idea, one that’s worked well for a number of people. That said, I don’t think it would have worked for me. My gradual transition wasn’t about not being able to give up cheese, but was slow because I didn’t have all the facts yet. During my transitional phase, one that was admittedly too long, I was educating myself about the dairy and egg industries as well as learning to cook without both. Once I was fully informed, however, the phasing out of dairy and eggs was a fast process. So the “cold tofu” approach will probably work best for those lacto-ovos whose favorite line to vegans is, “I know I should be vegan, but…”

In the first chapter, Bob and Jenna also discuss their own pathways to veganism and take on the vegan police.

Chapter two, titled “In Which We Get All AR On You,” takes a high-level view at the ethical arguments for veganism. While most of the material in this chapter won’t be news to those who have memorized Diet for a New America and Meat Market, it’s thorough while also being concise. A nice, thick recommended reading list is included.

With all the reasons to go vegan laid out, next up comes the most difficult part of going vegan. It has nothing to do with nutrition or finding suitable substitutions for cheese. Nope… the worst part is having to deal with other people, particularly if you’re the quiet, non-confrontational type. Chapter three, “Hell is Other People,” deals with exactly this issue. The recommendation: don’t be aggressive, but don’t be meek. This includes when dealing with anti-vegan vegetarians (because milk doesn’t kill the cow!) and perhaps the worst group of all: the vocal ex-vegan. The personal antecdotes stand out, particularly the rant on Bob’s Uncle Bill (listen to podcast 22 for a rundown on Bob and Jenna’s Christmas 2005 run-in with the unapologetic meat-eating uncle).

Chapter four covers what to eat, both at home and in restaurants. This is a great chapter to show your parents (unless there’s a lot of cursing in it, which I can’t remember if there is) so they can see exactly what a vegan is and what types of things are off-limits. One omission I was surprised at, though, was in the paragraph about eating out in Italian restaurants. While they mention that you should ask about what’s in the sauces, they don’t mention that a lot of freshly prepared pasta contains eggs. A lot of restaurants will stick with dry pasta which is less likely to contain animal products, but it’s still worth asking the first time you eat somewhere if their pasta contains eggs.

The fifth chapter focuses on what to wear. This includes not only alternatives to leather and wool, but what you wear when you’re playing like Marvin Gaye and getting it on (vegan condoms) and what you wear on your skin (making sure your tattoos are vegan). While many vegan books cover the issue of wool, leather, and even silk, not many touch upon tattoos, condoms, and sex toys. Bravo.

I would liked to have seen some discussion of the environmental issues surrounding the production of pleather, a petroleum-based leather alternative suggested in the book, but I think it’s outside the scope of what they aimed to cover. Perhaps they’ll discuss it as a topic on their blog or something.

The book closes out with a basic, but important wish: Go Vegan, Stay Vegan. Bob and Jenna realize that it’s not just about transitioning to veganism, but living a vegan life for the long-term. Vegan Freak will help you do just that.

As with any good non-fiction book, the learning doesn’t stop when you finish the last page. You’re not left out to dry here: Vegan Freak has an accompanying website, blog, podcast, and forum as well as a great resource appendix I think they’ll even come to your house and talk you down from a cheese-induced high if you ask them to.

There’s more support now than ever for new and transitioning vegans. 2005 saw the release of more vegan-themed books and cookbooks than any recent year that i can remember and of those, Vegan Freak is one of the essential reads, particularly for young vegans. Vegan Freak reminds us that being different is OK… and it’s OK to be a freak. Thank goodness.

Apparently, Vegan With a Vengeance is shipping almost a month early from Amazon. Go order now!

(In case you haven’t heard me mention it about a thousand times already, Vegan With a Vengeance is the awesome new cookbook from Isa at the Post-Punk Kitchen. I wrote the foreword. If you love me and you love puppies and you love all that is good in this world, you’ll buy the book.)

(First of all, I’ve gotta say I’m pretty embarrassed about this. I got this book several years ago from Dreena to review and thought I had reviewed it. Recently, I checked back and realized I hadn’t. So, this is a late review with many apologies to Dreena.)

The Everyday Vegan, Dreena Burton’s first cookbook, takes a different approach to vegan cooking than other cookbooks near it on the shelf. Since veganism is usually associated first with ethics and animal rights and secondarily with health and environmental issues, most of the popular vegan cookbooks have been written for those that gave up meat, dairy, and eggs for ethical reasons. However, as time goes on and “vegan” becomes a less alien word for the world at large, I think we’ll see more cookbooks marketed towards people who are simply interested in eating a vegan diet and learning more about it, no matter what path led them to it.

Here, Dreena starts out with a surprisingly lengthy section introducing veganism, food information, and the health side of things. In fact, a full quarter of the book is dedicated to covering ingredients, food preparation and storage tips, and individuals’ stories of coming to a vegan diet. The nice thing about The Everyday Vegan is that it’s about as far from heavy-handed as could be, so it’s extremely accessible for people who are just looking to add more vegan recipes to their repetoire.

Dreena covers everything from gravies and sauces to main dishes and desserts. About the only thing you won’t find is a dedicated breakfast section, though the “Muffins and Snack Loaves” section offers up some tasty suggestions that would work well in the morning.

One of the benefits of being extremely late in writing this review is that I’ve gotten the chance to try out quite a few recipes. Among the many that I enjoyed are warm, hearty recipes like the Creamy Potato Leek Bake, a very garlicky alternative to the standard mashed potatoes. It uses two bulbs of roasted garlic and five cups of leeks to form a base with mashed russet potatoes. It’s combined with a tasty sauce of vegetable stock, molasses, spices, and tamari.

Even more garlicky is the Creamy Garlic Tomato Sauce, which uses three bulbs of roasted garlic. This sauce took a somewhat long time to prepare and cook–about an hour–but it’s a great weekend sauce for those of us that love when a garlic aroma comes out of our pores.

The Everyday Vegan is single-handedly responsible for introducing my wife and I to the correct way to eat kale. Before this, we got kale and looked at it a little funny, trying to figure out how the heck to prepare it so that it didn’t taste bitter. Dreena’s simple recipe combines just the right amount of olive oil, sea salt, and shallots to result in a perfectly balanced set of flavors that make eating those dark leafies quite the pleasure.

There are a number of other quick and easy recipes for less-than-standard veggies, like asparagus (Quick Asparagus Saute) and fennel (Roasted Fennel with Carrots and Shallots).

I had slightly less success with a delicious sounding recipe in the dessert section, Blueberry-Orange Crisp Cake. Seriously, how good does that sound? While the flavorof the dish was fine, my version of it came out squishier than I would have liked. I suspect this was because I used a baking dish rather than a baking pan, because I didn’t have a pan of the right size at the time. I definitely want to give this one another shot, because just looking at the ingredients makes me hungry.

The recipes are well organized and the lists of ingredients very easy to read. Though the instructions are presented in paragraph form rather than step-by-step format, even longer recipes are easy enough to follow. There are eight pages of gorgeous color photos of the food in the center of the book, which will certainly inspire you to try them. There are no washed out, embarassing pictures of brown lentil loafs here.

The Everyday Vegan is a great addition to your cookbook shelf. Not only are the recipes accessible and tasty, but the information early in the book is a great read for people new to cooking or new to veganism while also making the reader excited about what they’re learning. It’s like, “Who put that reference book in my cookbook?” “No, who put that cookbook in my reference book?”

The Everyday Vegan is available from Arsenal Pulp Press. Dreena’s second book, Viva le Vegan was published in 2004.

After being vegetarian for almost five years and vegan for ten months, I feel like I’ve read most of what there is to read when it comes to animal rights literature as related to veganism. I’ve read Slaughterhouse, I’ve read Fast Food Nation, I’ve read Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, I’ve read The Food Revolution. But when I got Erik Marcus’ wonderfully written and impeccably-researched and -reasoned second book, Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money, I realized that there are a lot of new ideas floating around worth thinking about.

The first three chapters cover material that will be familiar to long-time AR activists. But even so, there are still some worthwhile nuggets in there that will surprise you. Erik starts off by talking about the economics of animal agriculture and how dramatically the farming landscape has changed over the last fifty years. Long gone are the days when small farms ruled and you knew where your eggs were coming from. Now animals are grown more quickly, forced to produce a higher output (whether it be meat, eggs, or dairy), and are killed at an earlier age. One fact that struck me: in 1950, it took 70 days before a chicken reached slaughter weight. Now, it’s down to 47 days. And on that 47th day, the chicken is 2/3rds larger than a 70-day old chicken from 1950. Even if the argument that “eating meat is ‘natural’” is true, that kind of physiological change in an animal is anything but.

The “Farmed Animal Lives” chapter summarizes the pain and suffering animals go through throughout the meat/dairy/egg production process. Not too much new ground here, but the ethical argument for not eating meat is summed up so succinctly here, I wouldn’t hesitate recommending this as the one chapter to show to meat-eating friends and relatives. The facts are presented in such a straightforward way with just enough detachment that it’s powerful and moving without being preachy. This chapter made an impression on me, causing me think very differently about eggs. Erik contends, and it seems correctly, that egg-laying hens are the more tortured animals in all of food production. The pain and suffering they endure goes beyond even what veal calves endure. Clearly, it’s not a walk in the park for any animal subject to such a life, but if you’re a lacto-ovo vegetarian considering veganism, this might be the chapter that helps push you the rest of the way. I got this book just before I completely gave up eggs and dairy, and it was definitely one of the deciding factors in nudging me the rest of the way.

In the “Possibilities for Reform in Animal Agriculture” section, Erik discusses how it’s technically possible to provide slaughter-free eggs and dairy, but it is economically unfeasible in our current climate (it would cost about a dollar an egg). I always thought about how one could perhaps ethically eat eggs since hens will lay unfertilized eggs, but finding a place to get such eggs proves to be an extremely difficult task. Free-range and organic labels are intended to make consumers feel better about their purchases, but truly, the difference is miniscule, if anything, to the animals. Eggs are a torturous business, no way around it.

The main focus of the book comes in part two which talks about “dismantlement.” Sure, you’ve heard of animal rights, animal welfare, and vegetarianism as approaches to reducing animal suffering, but Erik introduces this idea of dismantlement as the ideal fourth movement that all animal activists can get behind. It’s a lofty goal: bring down the industry systematically not by telling people “You need to change your diet!” but by introducing them to the cruelties of factory farm life. “Animal agriculture takes a small hit whenever somebody becomes vegetarian or vegan,” Erik writes, “but the loss of one customer is something the industry can live with. What the industry won’t be able to endure is a steady stream of new activists [from the general public] seeking to put an end to animal agriculture.”

The argument for dismantlement is a strong one, and Erik does a very good job of outlining the problems the animal rights movements have had in the past and how they can be avoided. Everything from poor use of money to hostiliy towards hierarchy has hurt the movement, and these organizational issues need to be addressed before the dismantlement movement can really get off the ground.

It can be frustrating for an activist to look at the animal rights/protection movements over the last 20 years and see that while there have been incremental gains, public awareness of the issues isn’t really noticeably higher. Or, at the very least, the number of people that have converted to veganism has only increased slightly. Whether or not the idea of dismantlement is the answer remains to be seen. But perhaps the most valuable thing that Meat Market will do is cause activists to talk and consider new ideas. Erik wants his idea critically examined, just as he wants every other aspect of animal rights and protectionism examined. As a movement, it behooves us to make sure we have not only rock-solid science behind health and environmental claims, but a firm, clearly stated argument about the misery caused by factory farming.

Erik argues that the movement has been split evenly between health, ethical, and environmental issues and that it needs to shift primarily towards ethical issues in order to be most effective. I’m not completely convinced this is the best route to take. Perhaps it’s because I’m becoming a bitter old man when it comes to my view of humanity. I feel like people, in general, care more about taste and their “right” to eat what they please a lot more than they care about how animals are treated. Sure, organic and free range meats have gained in popularity, but I’m convinced it’s more for taste and health reasons than anything resembling a true and honest concern for the animals.

That said, I think that what Erik suggests as a new direction and focus can be true. What we have to do first, though, is help the average person not cringe when they hear the phrase “animal rights.” We have to show them that for every goofy PR stunt PETA pulls, they do a world of good that doesn’t get reported helping farmed animals. We have to remind people that there really isn’t a difference between their dog and a pig other than that one winds up on their plate in a particularly heinous fashion. I think that once we can shift public perception of the animal rights/protection movement, we’ll be able to drum up a lot more support for fighting the factory farm machine. We’ve begun to see this shift on the vegetarian side of the movement, where even though not significantly more people are becoming full-fledged vegetarians, more people are becoming aware of vegetarian foods and don’t automatically think of someone eating tofu raw out of the carton. I’m not completely sure how we can cause similar change in perception on the AR side of things, especially on a large scale, but I think it can be done. And once it is, then the concept of dismantlement will be ready to roll full-force.

The next section of the book features guest essays from activists on topics such as leafleting, working for school lunch reform, and promoting vegetarian diets as a nutrition expert. There’s a lot of inspiration in these brief essays and everyone will find something here that will encourage them to get up and make a difference in their own way.

Meat Market closes out with a set of appendices that take a critical look at the facts behind the arguments the movement uses, like the difficult question of hunting and how it’s not as black-or-white of an issue as either the traditional AR stance nor the hunter’s party line. This is what makes Meat Market a successful endeavor: it has a crossover appeal and it doesn’t lay everything out as “this is the only thing that is true and the other side is totally wrong about everything.” It’s a refreshing take on the issue and one that we have to consider, debate, pick apart, and act on in the coming years in order to keep our movement from stagnating and losing its true focus.

You can order Meat Market in both hardcover and paperback.

I’ve plugged Isa’s upcoming Vegan With a Vengeance cookbook here a few times before, but expect the plugging to be even more pronounced in the coming months.

Why? Well, Isa kindly asked yours truly to pen the foreword. And so I did.

While I always hoped that I’d have a book published by the time I was 30, I’m perfectly happy having a foreword in someone else’s super crazy awesome book a month after I turn 30.

More fun announcements to come. But now, go pre-order!

Isa, the Mighty Queen of The Post Punk Kitchen, is coming out with a cookbook later this year. Want a sneak peak at some of the photos from the book?

You got it.

Tell me that Chocolate Orange Pudding with Citrus Macadamia Creme doesn’t look freakin’ amazing.

I’ve just posted an overdue cookbook review (and have a couple more waiting in the wings). This one is for Nava Atlas’ The Vegetarian Family Cookbook.

Cookbook author Nava Atlas has penned a series of successful vegetarian cookbooks with a special appeal to families and those looking for simple ways to prepare unique meatless meals. Books like The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet, Vegetariana, and Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons have been go-to books on my shelf since I became vegetarian and her latest, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook is a great addition to her previous publications.

One of the notable differences you’ll find in The Vegetarian Family Cookbook is that while not all the recipes are vegan, there are many expanded vegan options, a difference that reflects a change in Nava’s own life since her previous book. In the lengthy and informative introduction, she discusses soy mayonnaise, non-hydrogenated margarine, and soy milk as well as the reasons she and her family have eliminated cheese and eggs from their diets.

Also included in the introduction are a list of compelling reasons to “go organic,” a list of essential cooking tools, and the best oils to use for cooking.

Onto the recipes.

One of the first recipes I tried was for “Seashells in the Sand,” a simple couscous/bulgur-based dish with small shell pasta. The recipe as it’s listed is quite bland, but the recommendation for “adults” is to season it with fresh herbs or pine nuts. For me, a little marinara sauce did the trick.

A more successful pasta recipe was Pasta with Enlightened Alfredo Sauce. I opened for the vegan version and the end rich was light, yet relatively creamy.

The Baked Tofu Nuggets were tasty, but could have used a bit of a kick. They were made a bit better, though, with an excellent, very easy-to-make vegan tartar sauce on the next page.

One of the best, and simplest, dishes I tried was the Macaroni and Cheese with Secret Silken Tofu Sauce. Why “secret”? Because most people won’t even notice it’s in there. Again, I made the vegan version using Soymage vegan cheddar and the end result was very good. One of those simple, kid-friendly comfort foods that doesn’t require a disgusting packet of powdered cheese. But while this one is good hot, it’s even better cold the next day. This one is served well by some steamed spinach (I needed a whole bag) and some sun-dried tomatoes mixed in. It would probably also work well with some of the new Tofurky kielbasa or Italian sausages chopped up and tossed in.

The favorite around our house, though, was the exceedingly easy but fresh-and-tasty Middle Eastern Pita Bread Salad. With plum tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, parsley, and a few other ingredients, this fattoush is a great go-to meal, especially in the summer when bread salads taste even better with fresh, locally grown vegetables.

The Vegetarian Family Cookbook features over 275 recipes in the normal categories (breakfast, soups and stews—something Nava Atlas excels at, as seen in her excellent Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons, main dishes, side dishes, and sandwiches) as well as a few categories you won’t normally find in “family” cookbooks (tofu and seitan get a thorough treatment as do “wholesome baked goods”).

What’s great about Nava Atlas’ latest effort is that while there are good “family-style” cookbooks and good vegetarian cookbooks, the two categories have not been married in such a successful way to this point. The recipes are simple and while some may be too simple for advanced adult palates, the “Embellish It” tips suggest easy ways for adults to spark up a dish. Who knows, perhaps this cookbook will inspire families to actually eat the same meal, or only slight variations thereof. That would be quite an accomplishment.

Visit Nava Atlas’ web site In a Vegetarian Kitchen and order her book through the Veg Blog’s affiliate link.

The new issue of The Green Goat, a vegan zine, is out and it has a fun article by our buddy and yours, Vegan Porn’s Herman Thrust. The article is titled “Cookbook Archeology” and discusses vegetarian cookbooks of old and how people in the future will view our vegetarian cookbooks:

In the future we’re faced with two possibilities. In what we’ll call Evil future, all cookbooks will be meaningless because so many plant species will have been wiped out due to rampant strains of genetically modified crab grass (animal-based cookbooks will have similar problems with extinction). In Good future, people won’t have any trouble finding the products mentioned in today’s cookbooks because they’ll be all that people eat. Hey, we never said how far we’re going into the future! In fact, the real puzzle may be over comments like “this tastes a lot like chicken,” because people will figure that’s just a sick joke, like “this tastes a lot like grandma.” Let’s take a moment to be thankful that the grandma phrase never showed up in the books of the past, shall we?

Herman’s all over the place these days. In addition to VP, he writes columns for both The Green Goat, Herbivore, and his own blog. I suspect there’s some sort of plan for world takeover in the making, but I can’t prove it yet.

Herbivore Clothing, makers of the super-cool “Praise Seitan” shirts I mentioned recently, are preparing to debut a new “vegetarian culture” magazine titled Herbivore.

“Vegetarian culture?” Sure. Because being vegetarian (and, especially, vegan) goes beyond just diet, it becomes part of what you stand for and how you live. The debut issue will cover ethics and environmental issues, music (” Family life with hardcore band H2O”), vegan roadtripping, and the bound-to-be-interesting “White trash vegetarianism.” They’ll also interview people active in the vegetarian movement like our friends over at Vegan Porn and they’ll have reviews of new vegetarian products. I pre-ordered the first issue and look forward to receiving it at the beginning of May.

When Mollie Katzen wrote the original Moosewood Cookbook 20 years ago, I doubt she ever imagined that her collection of vegetarian recipes would become one of the ten best selling cookbooks of all time. Well-known amongst vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, Katzen has developed quite a name for herself. Sunlight Café is Katzen’s latest vegetarian tome, providing over 350 breakfast recipes for those looking for some bright morningtime tastes without the use of meat.

Sunlight Café is organized into 12 sections, including beverages, fruit, grains, eggs, vegetables, and “breakfast bars, coffee cakes, and sweet somethings.” Each section offers a good number of recipes and numerous variations on many. Most of the ingredients are readily available from the grocery store or a health food market and should appeal to everyone, not just vegetarians. Though there is a section dedicated to tofu and other soy products (I’d imagine that tempeh makes a great breakfast accompaniment), there’s not a heavy emphasis on them like in many vegetarian cookbooks.

The recipes are all appropriate for lacto-ovo vegetarians, as many use butter, eggs, or milk. However, in most cases, it’s perfectly acceptable to do the magic vegan ingredient replacer trick and swap in some soy milk, non-dairy spread, or Ener-G egg replacer. There are no fish recipes, as in many of the Moosewood cookbooks (and you’d be surprised how many cultures include fish as part of their breakfast).

The recipes and ingredient lists are presented in a visually appealing, easy-to-follow way, most peppered with great little tidbits of information about specific ingredients or the history of certain dishes. It was through one of these sidebars that I learned about the best way to extract pomegranate seeds (hint: it involves a bowl of cold water), usually a very messy job. And did you know you can freeze pomegranates for months? Or that egg