554994 Fri Sep 05 13:26:20 -0700 2008 35 31 Home Cooking 0 4011682 Folks- I'm trying to put together a list of the absolute BEST vegan cookbooks. (This is a little tricky in that I'm not a vegan myself. And now that I think about it, I wonder if there are that many vegans on Chowhound.) Anyway, take a look at this list: http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Best-Vegan-Cookbooks/172 Tell me... 1. Did I miss anything? 2. Is there anything on that list that's not really all that great? Thanks in advance! Peter Fri Sep 05 13:26:20 -0700 2008 10109 Peter 1 4011718 "Millennium," "Veganomicon," "The Professional Vegetarian Chef," and "Great Chefs Cook Vegan." The last one is incredible. Fri Sep 05 13:39:22 -0700 2008 4011682 11995 pikawicca 2 4011874 I'm intrigued by your praise for Great Chefs Cook Vegan. Can you tell me more about it? The amazon reviews weren't very helpful. Are the recipes complicated? It sounds like it is a very pretty book, with wonderful sounding food, but is it actually useful too? Very interested but want more info ... Fri Sep 05 14:50:55 -0700 2008 4011718 56762 LulusMom 3 4011992 I would say that this is a cookbook for entertaining: knock their socks off dishes, not weeknight family fare. Some of the ingredients are hard to come by, but I can find most of them in Bloomington, IN. If not, substitutions can be made. What I really like is how it stretches your imagination as a cook. I'm not a vegan, but I love to cook vegan occasionally, just for the challenge. This book pushes me in a good direction. Fri Sep 05 15:38:41 -0700 2008 4011874 11995 pikawicca 4 4012096 Gotcha. With a 2 year old underfoot, I do what I can, but I need cookbooks right now that don't push me *too* much. Fri Sep 05 16:30:56 -0700 2008 4011992 56762 LulusMom 1 4011914 I bought How It All Vegan shortly before I bought Vegan with a Vengeance (which I love). I found How It All Vegan to be rather boring--uninspired recipes, overly cutesy writing. VwaV I've cooked from much more often--but be forewarned, it's not a healthy cookbook (and it doesn't claim to be, but for some reason quite a few people think that "vegan" must be synonymous with "healthy". One cookbook that I think is missing from this list is The Voluptuous Vegan, and not just for that vibrant cover! It's by Myra Kornfeld (who was a pastry chef at Angelica Kitchen, I think when Peter Berley was there). These recipes are NOT quick--definitely time-consuming. But I find them to be more "gourmet", if fussy. I've always enjoyed what I've cooked from it. FWIW, I'm not a vegan either, but I do enjoy the challenge of cooking vegan meals (and I eat many of them!) Fri Sep 05 15:10:24 -0700 2008 4011682 131171 nofunlatte 1 4011936 Peter your link did not work for me--eek i agree with Nofunlatte's post 100% but would add that veganomicon (2nd book) is even better than VwaV. the author of HiaV has at least one other book as well, and i think it was considerably weaker than HiaV, with even more pinup photos and stupid recipes. ETA: veganomicon is not really the 2nd book, there were some baking & cupcake cookbooks by the same author/duo that came out between the major cookbooks Fri Sep 05 15:17:15 -0700 2008 4011682 46030 soupkitten 2 4012442 oh great-- the link is working for me now, and i see all of these are on the list. if regular veg books are fair game i think crescent dragonwagon's, jeanne lemlin's, and didi emmonds' books are good-- most recipes vegan or convertible. i also like the little vegan monsters cookbook-- lots of gluten-free/celiac recipes in there too. Fri Sep 05 19:52:25 -0700 2008 4011936 46030 soupkitten 2 4013181 The cupcake book is called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Sat Sep 06 09:51:29 -0700 2008 4011936 10195 KTinNYC 3 4014213 thanks KT, i knew that- but couldn't think of the name, didn't take time to google it. i shouldn't post when i'm sleep deprived, i'm sure i'm less than helpful. :-P Sat Sep 06 18:51:40 -0700 2008 4013181 46030 soupkitten 1 4011968 In addition to the ones already mentioned, I can recommend a new book by Jae Steele called Get It Ripe. Dreena Burton's other two books, The Every Day Vegan and Vive Le Vegan are also really helpful resources. (Her blog just won an award for best vegan blog.) I gave my daughter The Candle Cafe Cookbook by Joy Pierson and she says it is great but I have not tried it myself. Fri Sep 05 15:30:45 -0700 2008 4011682 103601 mvi 1 4011980 Do I sense a meat-eaters prejudice that vegans or vegetarians don't enjoy food?! ("And now that I think about it, I wonder if there are that many vegans on Chowhound.") As a vegetarian and avid cook who enjoys flavor, smell, texture and the look of food, it is possible to eat well without meat. Now off my high-soyhorse - cookbooks I use and enjoy (I haven't used all from your list): Vegenomicon - I use it and enjoy many of the recipes. It does seem a tad 'twigs and grains' to me at times. How to Cook Everything Veg - my default daily cookbook Vegan Lunch Box - I've used tons of her recipes from the web and am waiting for the release of the book The two Greens Restaurant cookbooks by Deborah Madison My very favorite - Veg Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. About half of the reicpes are vegan but an incrediably useful cookbook for everyone including meat-eaters. Fri Sep 05 15:34:10 -0700 2008 4011682 155034 alwayscooking 2 4013005 I cook from all the Deborah Madison books regularly and love them. Recently the Cookbook of the Month here on the Home Cooking board was "Flexitarian Table" by Peter Berley with Zoe Singer. It features a series of menus for each season of the year and each menu has both vegetarian/vegan and meat option components. It's an intriguing book and worth consideration. We are not vegetarian nor vegan but, like Lulu'sMom, like to have several non-meat meals each week. Sat Sep 06 08:08:13 -0700 2008 4011980 75332 Gio 1 4012099 Anyone know anything about Vegan Fire and Spice? My amazon search for Great Chefs Cook Vegan showed me this as an alternative, and it looks interesting. I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian, but I do like cooking without meat once or twice a week, and love lots of strong flavors, so thought this might do the trick. You know what I hate (and this happens all the time now that I live in the south)? People think that if you don't want meat, you don't want strong flavors. Exactly the opposite for me! Fri Sep 05 16:32:36 -0700 2008 4011682 56762 LulusMom 2 4012120 I'd add Vegan Gourmet to the list. I have the original and I have heard people don't like the revised version as much but I haven't seen it so can't compare. I also love Vegetarian Celebrations by Nava Atlas. Virtually all of those recipes have vegan modifications available. Fri Sep 05 16:41:37 -0700 2008 4012099 211732 drucie 1 4012247 My husband and I are long-time vegans (30+ and 15+ years). Our cookbook collection includes: Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman The Vegan Epicure by Hermine Freed Sinfully Vegan by Lois Dieterly My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky Spicy Vegan by Sudha Raina The Gluten-Free Vegan by Susan O'Brien The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein Everyday Vegan by Jeani-Rose Atchinson along with a several on your list. Fri Sep 05 17:55:10 -0700 2008 4011682 169792 lgss 2 4012793 Which of these do you find yourselves turning to most often? Which have the tastiest, best written recipes? Sat Sep 06 04:54:52 -0700 2008 4012247 56762 LulusMom 3 4012985 I cook from Vegetarian Celebrations all the time, and I have 2-3 go-to recipes from Vegan Gourmet (tempeh burgers with mango salsa is amazing - so good! I cannot serve it without people asking for the recipe.) But in general, I don't like crunchy granola, natural/healthy tasting foods. That's just not my style of eating or my taste preference. A lot of vegan & vegetarian cookbooks seem to use ingredients that I just don't cook with. My preference is for dishes that just happen to fit in with what we eat - no faux meats, no substitute ingredients, etc. So, most of what I cook on a daily and weekly basis are recipes I've collected over the years that just happen to fit in with vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, but are from regular cookbooks & magazines. I love Sunset and have a ton of Sunset recipes, for example. I have a bunch from Gourmet, Bon Apetit, newspaper clippings, friends, etc. My favorite pizza recipe was clipped from Vogue. Most of these I've made so often I can make them by heart. I also cook from the Gourmet cookbook (Ruth Reichl-edited big yellow thing.) I forgot to add this other cookbook I use ALL the time - though it's vegetarian, not vegan, and most of the dishes do use eggs, or cheese, or butter (everything uses butter.) It's French Vegetarian Cooking from the "In a Nutshell" series and it is a wonderful little gem. I have two other books from this series and they are nothing special but this one is just terriifc. Sat Sep 06 07:54:05 -0700 2008 4012793 211732 drucie 4 4013162 I LOVE French food, so I'll be on the lookout for that one. Thanks for the tip. And many times, like you, I have simply adjusted a recipe to fit with my own eating habits. Once you get in the habit of doing it you can read almost any cookbook (ok, maybe not Henry's Big Book of Pork BBQ) and think of how you can adjust things. Sat Sep 06 09:38:29 -0700 2008 4012985 56762 LulusMom 3 4013788 Others we have which I failed to include on the list: 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld Of the ones I listed earlier, we've used Simply Vegan a lot, so much so that we make some of the dishes without getting the cookbook out. Of the ones listed by the original poster we use ExtraVeganZa a lot. We also have Vegan Planet, My Sweet Vegan, Vegan World Fusion, and recently go Alternative Vegan. We also have a number of vegetarian cookbooks the recipes of which we veganize and de-glutenize. We use Lorna Sass ' Short-Cut Vegetarian and Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure (which I didn't mention earlier) a lot. We're renovating the kitchen so our cookbooks are less organized than usual. Sat Sep 06 15:03:39 -0700 2008 4012793 169792 lgss 4 4013877 We also have Gabonaételek by Nap Ajándékai but haven't had a chance to translate the recipes from the Magyar (Hungarian) yet. So far, just the index and some of the ingredients. Sat Sep 06 15:46:18 -0700 2008 4013788 169792 lgss 1 4013492 These are not vegan but many of the recipes are in fact vegan or easily adapted for vegans: Madhur Jaffrey World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, many other indian cookbooks including MalviDoshi's two gujarati bookshttp://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Along-Ganges-Vegetarian-Heritage/dp/059524422X and Chandra Padmanabhan's south indian books, excellent http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Chandra%20Padmanabhan - I could eat veg indian cooking happily for the rest of my life. Another area for wonderful vegetarian/vegan recipes is the mediterranean, and Paula Wolferts books, particularly, provide terrific vegetarian dishes, including Mediterranean Greens and Grains and Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean. Sat Sep 06 12:39:38 -0700 2008 4011682 11130 jen kalb 1 4015429 I have Sarah Kramer's "La Dolce Vegan" and I think it's horrific. Most of the recipes are absolutely disgusting and use HUGE quantities of "vegan cheese", "vegan mayo", etc. If her other books are at all similar I would cross them off the list right away. Sun Sep 07 12:36:36 -0700 2008 4011682 131149 Jetgirly 1 4033880 Folks- Thanks so much for all the great replies. I'll start collating the suggestions and see what should be added. Now here's a question that I asked earlier but no one really answered: Are there any books on that list that should NOT be there? In other words, they're just not really that good. Oh, and here's the list again so you don't have to scroll all the way back to the top: http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Good-Best-Vegan-Cookbooks/172 Thanks in advance! Peter http://www.FlashlightWorthy.com Sun Sep 14 09:42:08 -0700 2008 4011682 10109 Peter 2 4034016 We have a lot of vegan cook books and use them all. I have recommended some of our favorites to you. Have you read any of these cookbooks yourself? Can you share which ones you like or dislike? I have not found any that are "not that good"- so can't add to that, I am afraid. Good luck with your list. Sun Sep 14 11:00:23 -0700 2008 4033880 103601 mvi 2 4034556 Peter--I would NOT include How It All Vegan in this list. I have this cookbook and find it not worth the money. The authors are earnest and well meaning, but I think the recipes are dull and too many of them seem like just a hodgepodge of leftovers. I've tried a couple of recipes and have been very disappointed. I think the book also could use some editing with respect to serving sizes (there's a recipe in the children's section for nutty broccoli that calls for *four* cups of broccoli, yet serves 1-2. I hope this is a typo, because it's a rare ADULT that will eat that much broccoli in one setting! Also, one recipe calls for 1/8 cup Braggs or soy sauce, yet in other recipes the amount is listed as 2 Tbsp; both of these are equivalent. That said, some of the non-food recipes (i.e. shampoo) look interesting, though I haven't tried them. And I can see where this book would appeal to people who haven't spent much time in the kitchen. But I really don't think it belongs on a "best" list. I notice that you have another book by the same authors on this list (The Garden of Vegan). I have not looked at that one. Sun Sep 14 15:19:31 -0700 2008 4033880 131171 nofunlatte 1 4042266 I would be very cautious about listing five star Amazon books as the best vegan cookbooks without actually trying them,award winning or not. Many vegan cookbooks are very bad and get five stars simply by virtue of being vegan. I would cross off any that rely heavily on processed foods. I would remove Joy of Vegan Baking. Wed Sep 17 12:16:59 -0700 2008 4011682 30090 maxie 1 4287058 One vegan cookbook I rely heavily on is Lorna Sass' "Complete Vegetarian Kitchen" (all the recipes are vegan). Her recipe for Oriental Baked Tofu is the best tofu recipe I own. I also love her recipes for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Peanut Butter Granola Cookies. Although the author tends to emphasize the use of a pressure cooker in most of her recipes, she always includes standard stovetop directions as well. She also has a handy section in the front of the book on the Principles of Food Storage. Wed Dec 31 22:27:14 -0800 2008 4011682 253088 oilygoily 1 4535879 Anything by Ian Finn "Punk Cookery," "To Cook is Divine" "Gluten-free Guide to Vegetarian Recipes" etc. Also: Bharti Kirchner, Molli Katzen, Deb. Madison, the New Farm Cookbook. Wed Mar 25 00:29:38 -0700 2009 4011682 277220 waygreatestcook 1 4536724 Just adding yet another title to this growing list and recommendations for vegan cookbooks: "The Voluptuous Vegan: More Than 200 Sinfully Delicious Recipes for Meatless, Eggless, and Dairy-Free Meals". Here's the link at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609804898/heidiswanson-20/# I haven't read through it yet, but I've seen some high recommendations in the blogs I read. Looks interesting to me who is neither vegetarian nor vegan. BTW: I own 2 Madison books and use them frequently. I believe there's room for some meatless, etc. meals on our daily menus. Wed Mar 25 09:09:05 -0700 2009 4011682 75332 Gio 2 4537020 Yes, I saw this book on Heidi Swanson's blog today, and was intrigued by it. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/favorite-cookbooks-ginny-evans-recipe.html Not vegetarian or vegan either, but sometimes have trouble eating meat, so I'm always interested in veg meals. Wed Mar 25 10:21:05 -0700 2009 4536724 12813 Katie Nell 3 4538498 Yes Katie.... That's where I first saw reference to this book. Looks like it would be a good addition to any kitchen library...... Wed Mar 25 17:08:21 -0700 2009 4537020 75332 Gio 1 4538703 The Joy of Vegan Baking book is awesome. Also, Tofu 1-2-3 is a really good one. Any book by Isa Chandra is a winner as well. Wed Mar 25 18:25:22 -0700 2009 4011682 229028 marietinn 2 5077599 Hi, I couldn't find the list of best Vegan cookbooks (link doesn't seem to work anymore) but my 3 absolute favorites are: The "Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook" by Jo Stepaniak, "Vegonmicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, and Vegan Brunch by Moskowitz. I've reviewed the books on my site http://vegandietadvisor.com if anyone's interested. Sun Oct 04 00:54:00 -0700 2009 4538703 1113777 williamsantoro 1 4538978 Not completely Vegan, but I like the Rebar restaurant cookbook. Wed Mar 25 19:57:01 -0700 2009 4011682 134437 salsailsa 1 5078734 Recently got Vegan Lunchbox, Pure & Simple, Vegan Soul Kitchen, and Vegan Lunchbox Around the World Sun Oct 04 16:15:53 -0700 2009 4011682 169792 lgss