- ISBN13: 9781558322110
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
With 400 recipes inspired by vegan cuisines around the world, Vegan Planet introduces a variety of scrumptious meal options, from breakfasts to desserts, chock full of delicious, nutritious, and satisfying whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and proteins from plant sources. Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or simply looking to eat healthier, Vegan Planet is the perfect resource…. More >>
$9.99
Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World
It is hard for me to understand how a book with the title Vegan Planet totally ignores the planet’s predominant vegetarian tradition. The Buddhist vegetarian practice has been going strong for well over two thousand years, with far more practitioners and much greater experience than Western vegetarianism. Rooted in Hindu vegetarianism, Buddhist vegetarianism, also called su vegetarianism, forgoes not only all animal products, but also the fetid vegetables: garlic, onions, leeks, scallions, and so forth. Buddhists know that these rancid vegetables hold back progress in meditation; long before Buddhism arrived, Chinese doctors knew that these are bad for your health.
Unfortunately, Robertson has not bothered to look into this rich experience, so many of the menus in this book would not be considered vegetarian in Asia. Needless to say, there are many great recipes to be found here, and you can just remove the offensive foods from most menus, although I don’t know what to do with the three onion pie or scallion pancakes.
I personally believe that Western vegetarians would do well to see if they can’t learn something from the su vegetarian experience. There is more to the planet than the North Atlantic.
Rating: 3 / 5
I came back to see what other people thought about this book and since everyone seems to love it, I would have to recommend it for those who are already vegetarian or vegan minded. I still find it preachy in places as I stated below but with all the good reviews, it seems to be right on target for vegans. My original review is:
I bought this book because I have a vegan friend and wanted to be able to cook things that she could eat and enjoy. There are plenty of recipes and plenty of good information on alternative proteins. HOWEVER, some of the reasons the book lists to become a vegan are a bit preachy and misleading. The author has definitely stated the truths that are convenient to promote veganism and not completed some of the phrases. For example, the book states that beef contains growth hormones. Period. While that is definitely a concern, beef without hormones does exist, you just need to search for it sometimes. That said, the rest of the information is good, especially if you are a meat loving person like myself but want to be able to make sure you treat your vegan friends with the respect and hospitality they deserve.
Rating: 3 / 5
I got this book as a birthday gift. I am not a vegan, but I like to try different kinds of food so I thought it would be a good book. Overall, I like it a lot. I think that most of the recipes are really tasty, and easy to prepare. I love the miso soup with baby spinach, it is by far my favorite recipe in the book. I am not as impressed with the desserts, however. The smoothies and drinks were really good, but a lot of the cakes and stuff were not. I especially thought the vegan chocolate-chip cookies were awful. I will stick to my traditional recipe with butter and eggs, thank you.
Interestingly, i find that a lot of the side dishes go well with meat. I know this is not what the author intended, but I find that the lemon risotto goes well with salmon. I also think that the indian-spiced quinoa goes well with (horrors!) lamb. I also like to add shrimp to the thai coconut soup, I find that it complements the tofu and mushrooms in the dish very well.
My only real complaint about this book is that it’s very preachy about animal rights and how bad animal products are for you. I think that these sections are unnecessary as they are unlikely to convince carnivores and are basically preaching to the choir for the peta crowd. I think the sections on nutrition are very useful for those who are adopting the vegan lifestyle, and for those of us who just want to eat a more healthful diet.
A couple of other great books by this author are Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker (another of my favs) and the Vegetarian Chili Cookbook. The recipes are wonderful, and those books don’t contain the lectures on animal rights.
Rating: 4 / 5
My husband is a vegan who got this book as a gift. If you do not enjoy foods with strong spices, or different ethnic foods, this is not a book for you. As a non-vegan, I was expecting the vegan foods to try to closely imitate the tastes of their non-vegan equivalents. This is not the case and it left me quite disappointed.
Rating: 2 / 5
Although I have only made three of the recipes in this cookbook but so far, so good. I made the 3-nut burgers, the brown gravy, and the pasta (macaroni) salad. My husband who is a vegetarian,(and adamantly not a vegan! He likes to slather everything with cheese, and generally hates vegan cooking) loved the burgers with the gravy. He said it reminded him of Thanksgiving. Indeed, it does taste a bit like stuffing with gravy, but is obviously more nutritous (cashews, walnuts, and almond butter). The macaroni salad he found a bit bland, and perhaps next time I make it, instead of a tofu-mustard, lemon juice mix, I’ll experiment more with the ingredients.
Anyway, I have tried many cookbooks, and I hope that this one turns out to be a real winner. I like that on the bottom right hand of the page, it tells you what section you’re in. That is very helpful when you’re in the middle of cooking, and are flipping around in the book trying to make multiple recipes.
I have decided to try the other recipes that were recommended by the other customer reviews.
Cheerio!
Rating: 3 / 5