Forum

Hello, my name is Ruth and I am from the UK.  I recently made a decision to cut right back on animal products and sugar, but I am now struggling to navigate a world of new ingredients (tempeh, chia, tahini??) and new cooking techniques (sauteeing without oil, using seeds as a gel in baking).  I don't know which cookbook authors to trust.  If there is anyone out there with a similar experience, recommended recipes  or writers, or thoughts on great ingredients to try, I would love to hear from you.  I am not a purist and not interested in giving or receiving lectures on the whys or wherefores of what I am doing - I get enough of that from well meaning relatives :)

Thanks everyone!

Today the new cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz comes out - I Can Cook Vegan. She’s one of the top vegan cookbook authors and I highly recommend her. This new book is for everyone apparently but especially newbies. I have all of her cookbooks and they are wonderful. Another must have is Vegan Richa’s second cookbook (Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen) and the first one is also amazing if you love Indian food. Check out their websites and try some recipes! You won’t be disappointed.

Chloe Coscarelli makes a good series of vegan cookbooks, especially if you like baking. I found Food52 Vegan to be a great book for more experienced home cooks. Heidi Swanson's books, though technically vegetarian and not vegan, have a lot of great and simple plant forward dishes that are easy to make vegan.

In terms of ingredients, try going down the internet rabbit hole of looking up all the things you can do with aquafaba. It's pretty amazing!

In terms of learning technique, Cook's Illustrated has a vegan cookbook and I find their explanations of the science of recipes are always very helpful. Finally, Kenji Lopez-Alt at seriouseats.com does a vegan series every year and I'm always really impressed by the results. He does an excellent job of explaining his technique and I find I learn a lot from his recipes even if I don't end up making them. 

Hi adewar - since you are in the UK, here are the most popular UK vegan books with EYB members. You can check out the recipe indexes for those we have indexed and see what appeals. Also many vegetarian books have recipes that are vegan or can easily be made vegan - these are the most popular UK vegetarian books.

Originally Posted by: Lglen

Today the new cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz comes out - I Can Cook Vegan. She’s one of the top vegan cookbook authors and I highly recommend her. This new book is for everyone apparently but especially newbies. I have all of her cookbooks and they are wonderful. Another must have is Vegan Richa’s second cookbook (Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen) and the first one is also amazing if you love Indian food. Check out their websites and try some recipes! You won’t be disappointed.

Thanks so much Lglen, I love Indian food :)

Originally Posted by: Rodrigaba

Chloe Coscarelli makes a good series of vegan cookbooks, especially if you like baking. I found Food52 Vegan to be a great book for more experienced home cooks. Heidi Swanson's books, though technically vegetarian and not vegan, have a lot of great and simple plant forward dishes that are easy to make vegan.

In terms of ingredients, try going down the internet rabbit hole of looking up all the things you can do with aquafaba. It's pretty amazing!

In terms of learning technique, Cook's Illustrated has a vegan cookbook and I find their explanations of the science of recipes are always very helpful. Finally, Kenji Lopez-Alt at seriouseats.com does a vegan series every year and I'm always really impressed by the results. He does an excellent job of explaining his technique and I find I learn a lot from his recipes even if I don't end up making them.

Thank you Rodrigaba, I like to understand the science behind my food so these recommendations are perfect.  I have used food52 in the past for technique tips so I will have a look at that.

Aquafaba - a work colleague of mine showed meringues made with this ingredient - I must investigate this more! 

Originally Posted by: Jane

Hi adewar - since you are in the UK, here are the most popular UK vegan books with EYB members. You can check out the recipe indexes for those we have indexed and see what appeals. Also many vegetarian books have recipes that are vegan or can easily be made vegan - these are the most popular UK vegetarian books.

That's great for UK books - so kind of you to help! 

I love Amy Chaplin's books; her new one, At Home in the Whole Foods Kitchen has a lot of ideas for variations on menu building blocks.

Thank you CCAV, I like the look of Amy Chaplin's book and it explains how to do basic things like making nut milk - it would be a good starting point for me :)

I have a nephew who is a vegan and an excellent cook. His approach for teaching his non-vegan relatives how to cook for him include 

Plum: Gratifying Vegan Dishes from Seattle's Plum Bistro by Makini Howell and Charity Burggraaf and 

Sushi Modoki: The Japanese Art and Craft of Vegan Sushi by iina

This gave us excellent, familar food that happens to be vegan i.e. a very easy path to the transition.

Dear Churchim808, I am indeed quite wary of going oil free just yet.  I am reducing the amount I use by about half for now.  Thanks for the advice and your interest :)

I am really enjoying Vegan Pressure Cooking by JM Fields, especially as some vegan foods like beans and brown rice do take such a long time to cook without a pressure cooker.  The author really knows about flavour.  

I have also got the original Moosewood Recipe book from back in the day, which has quite a few vegan recipes in it.  The classic minestrone soup (without the parmesan) is really good.  Sometimes I like using older recipe books because it is so much easier to find the ingredients.

I also have the Happy Pear cookbook; Healthy Easy Delicious food to change your life, which is written by Irish twins Stephen and David Flynn.  The Irish Root Veg soup in this book is very good indeed but I have found some of the other recipes don't work for me.  Maybe not enough recipe testing was done.  However the book itself is such a happy book to read, I love it!

There seem to be many good plant based milks available in the UK now and I even tried tempeh for the first time yesterday. (It looked a bit like vomit when crumbled into my pinto bean stew, but tasted acceptable!

So far my plant based diet is going well but I am dreading a forthcoming visit to see relatives.  It is so difficult to know what to say when I feel I am still in the experimental phase of this adventure.   

Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice, R

Dear SenseiHeidi, Thank you for your recommendation of America's Test Kitchen Vegan for Everybody.  I sometimes watch their videos on Youtube.  I will look for that book in the UK.  

Jane

You listed the most popular Vegan UK books.  Do you have a similiar list for US?  Thanks

Any member can do these searches themselves using our filters. I selected Vegan under Book type, Eating style then USA under Country:

Most popular vegan books published in USA

Originally Posted by: Jane

Any member can do these searches themselves using our filters. I selected Vegan under Book type, Eating style then USA under Country:

Most popular vegan books published in USA

Great tip!  Thank you Jane!