Cooking Vegetarian

by Tanya Coad

Since it first appeared on book shelves in May of 1994, Becoming Vegetarian has continued to delight vegetarians, near-vegetarians, and even a large number of meat eaters with its comprehensive approach toward diet and good health. Co-authored by registered dietitians Vesanto Melina, Brenda Davis and Victoria Harrison, Becoming Vegetarian has reached best-seller status, carving its own indelible niche in the global evolution towards a plant-based diet.

Two and a half years later, author Vesanto Melina, now a resident of Seattle, has teamed up with Vancouver-based chef and food consultant, Joseph Forest to create Cooking Vegetarian, a wonderful companion to its predecessor. Vesanto's impressive background in the health and nutrition arena seems beautifully complemented by Joseph's knowledge of professional food preparation. Even if you haven't perused Becoming Vegetarian, Cooking Vegetarian easily stands on its own as a completely accessible, multi-purpose tool.

Becoming Vegetarian explores the motivation behind making the increasingly popular transition away from an animal-based diet, while also supplying a thorough "how-to" course of action. Cooking Vegetarian, on the other hand, focuses more on the recipes themselves. Included in the recipes are lots of great nutritional and organizational tips, handy cooking charts for grains and legumes, and even a source list to help one track down specific products.

Cooking Vegetarian boasts more than 150 recipes, featuring exotic dishes from around the world, healthy holiday fare, fancy creations for special occasions, simple suggestions for fast and easy dinners at thome, and a select group of recipes from other acclaimed vegetarian cookbooks. Each recipe also includes a detailed nutritional breakdown, as well as helpful comments and interesting tidbits of information.

Most vegetarians eventually find themselves asked by a friend or acquaintance if they can recommend a good, basic vegetarian cookbook to help a novice get started. Suffice it to say that Cooking Vegetarian will be added to my desert island cookbook list!

Cooking Vegetarian is published by Macmillan Canada.

Editor's note:
If you are interested in reviewing a vegetarian cookbook for an upcoming issue of Canada EarthSaver, please contact the EarthSave office. We'd love to hear about your favourites!