Vegan With A Vengeance
A Cookbook Full of Tasty, Healthy Recipes Free of Animal Products
It all started with an offbeat public-access TV cooking show The Post-Punk Kitchen. Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbooks have accrued a following even outside of the vegan circles. Prestigious magazines have praised Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, but her first cookbook, Vegan With A Vengeance (Da Capo Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1569243589), does not pale in comparison.
The book delivers what it promises on the cover: over 150 delicious cheap animal-free recipes. The "post-punk ideology" is about cooking real home-made food, not just taking a bunch of frozen soy nuggets, topping them with tofu "sour cream" from the supermarket and calling this a recipe.
All kinds of foods are included: soups, casseroles, pastas, curries, stews, sandwiches and desserts - and dishes with fancy names like bisque, tagine and orecchiette. A special focus is on breakfast and bruch foods: pancakes, waffles, tofu scramble and frittata, "sausage" patties and "Fronch" toast. There are also dozens of recipes for baked goods.
A Whirlwind of Flavour
Some of the recipes present down-to-earth home cooking or familiar comfort foods, but many are intriguing creations of fusion kitchen with names to get the reader drooling, such as fresh mango summer rolls or kabocha squash stuffed with butternut vindaloo. Vegan With A Vengeance is a flavourful trip from Brooklyn to Italy, from Morocco to Thailand.
Vegan With A Vengeance introduces the reader to ingredients like seitan, nutritional yeast, watercress and pomegranate molasses. Dijon mustard, maple syrup and lemon zest seem to be among Isa's secret ingredients. If you think that vegan food is bland, think again.
There is also plenty for those accustomed to more traditional flavours. Many classical foods from pizza to hostess cupcakes have had a vegan makeover. Some would fool any omnivore. Others, like tempeh bacon, might not be that close to the real thing, but are delicious nonetheless.
The book is a little less "gourmet" compared to its successor Veganomicon, but there are plenty of dishes to impress even omnivorous dinner guests. However, Isa likes to use some ingredients and seasonings that are not everyone's cup of tea like olives, capers and coconut, so some dishes might divide opinions.
What Makes the Book Stand Out
The best part are the baked goods found in four different chapters. The book would be worth buying just for the apple pie-crumb cake muffins and the raspberry-chocolate chip blondie bars alone. Even though - or perhaps because? - the cookies, brownies and cakes contain no eggs or dairy, their texture is perfect. Even the plain scones are a delight.
Most of the recipes have detailed instructions and are easy to make. Many also include tips and suggestions for variations. There are tutorial pages about things like cutting tofu into pretty shapes and holding anarcha-feminist potlucks. Isa's chatty and quirky style is present throughout the book.
Because of all the recipes in the book are free of dairy and eggs, Vegan With A Vengeance has become a hit among people with dietary restrictions. But even those who aren't vegan and don't have allergies can enjoy this cookbook. Those who think they don't like parsnip or Brussels sprouts might be in for a surprise.
The only downside to this book is the complete lack of images. Luckily one can find pictures of most dishes in the Vegan With A Vengeance Flickr group.
