As some of my long time readers may know, the last thing I need is another cookbook! And yet I can't stop myself! I've just bought Torontonian Jae Steele's newest vegan offering, Get It Ripe. I was intrigued by this one as Steele is a certified holistic nutritionist, something I find really interesting, and have considered studying before. She's also from TO, just down the road. And what is it with vegan cookbooks -- my favourites all have the authors on the cover, and they are all dark-haired, tattooed, and really funky. Nobody would guess that these women are influences on the very ordinary looking, librarian me. I really love Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard's series (and they are Canadian as well) :
I've used Isa Chandra Moskowitz' first 2 books often, and fairly recently have acquired her encyclopedic collection Veganomicon. Lots to try out there!
Now I have Jae Steele's, which I have only flipped through on a first browse, not yet marking any recipes as Must Try -- I save that for the second, more intense read through. But it looks good. I've checked her blog and found the perfect pesto recipe for my latest produce acquisition, garlic scapes.
I've also ordered the trendy Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. Ok, so I'm a follower. I received their first book, Skinny Bitch, free at a Book Expo a couple of years ago and while it's basically veganism as weight loss strategy, it was sufficiently interesting to actually read. So I'll check out their recipes as well. Still, despite all this excessive vegan coolness, I am also quite fond of a couple of long-owned vegan cookbooks which were written by middle-aged hippie-ish men, especially a self published set of 3 by James Mays (connected with Le Frigo Vert, a health food collective at Concordia University in Montreal; which, incidentally, also runs a vegan soup kitchen for students). I bought these 3 spiral bound, photocopied books way back when I was a poor Montrealer myself, at my favourite second hand bookstore which was selling them on consignment. They are low-tech publications from a 4th generation vegetarian, and I think they are great.
Alright, I think I've avoided finishing all my necessary book reviews for another night ... will get to those later this week, I promise! ;)
Totally jealous! I'd love to be able to get my hot little hands on the Sarah Kramer & Tanya Barnard's books, but alas I can't seem to find them in Australia. But Vegan with a vengeance and Veganomicon are so bloody awesome they make up for those I can't get!
ReplyDeletehey melanie,
ReplyDeletethanks for the mention. let me know how the recipes work out for you once you dig in to trying some of 'em out.
Antipodean Owl - I know that Sarah's books are now being published in the UK (with much uglier covers, btw) so perhaps they'll make their way to Australia sometime soon??
ReplyDeleteJae - great to have you stop by. I'm getting to the Post-It stage of my 2nd reading now so will be trying something soon!
You can't have too many cookbooks. Can you?? I like to think not myself. I'm considering ordering The Great Veg Challenge from the UK and have been salivating over Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook.
ReplyDeleteHey antipodeanowl and any other Aussies -
ReplyDeleteGet It Ripe will be available in your part of the world as of October 1!
(As my publisher's recently made friends with a new distributor.)
Just thought you'd like to know!
Have you tried Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"? I'm probably biased though. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not vegan, but I've used Isa Chandra Moskovitz's Vegan with a Vengeance a few times. Another of my favorites is The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. I really like its Macaroni Casserole recipe.
ReplyDelete