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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16272 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781558322110
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
With 400 recipes, this is probably the biggest vegan (no animal products-meaning dairy- and egg-free) cookbook on the market. It's also one of the best. Robertson (The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook) is a likable guide to possibly unfamiliar ingredients such as flaxseeds and sea vegetables, and the recipe choices are almost overwhelming. Robertson relies on the usual trick of digging into ethnic cuisines (Thai-Style Leaf-Wrapped Appetizer Bits, Baked Sweet Potato and Green Pea Samosas are among the appetizers) for vegetarian options, but she also innovates in clever ways, as with Here's My Heart Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette with hearts of romaine, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm and celery hearts. Some of the most versatile options appear in a chapter dedicated to sauces and dressings, such as Eggless Hollandaise and Vegan B‚chamel Sauce. Chapters on breakfast ideas, sandwiches, wraps and burgers-with six different veggie burger options-ensure that all bases are covered. Occasionally, Robertson relies on packaged products like the soy sausage and mozzarella that appear in "Sausage" and Fennel Cannelloni, but most of these recipes simply make the best of vegetables, legumes and grains. A cogent foreword by Barnard (president of the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine) reports the startling fact that Americans-apparently misled into believing that switching from red meat to white will improve their health-now eat one million chickens every hour.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This ambitious new cookbook from the author of The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook offers dozens of imaginative vegan recipes inspired by a wide range of cuisines, from Five-Spiced Portobello Satays and Lebanese Fattoush (bread salad) to Cajun-Style Collards and Moroccan Fava Bean Stew. There are also vegan versions of such meat dishes as shepherd's pie and chili, as well as sandwiches like Curried Chicken-Less Salad and Seitan Reuben. Robertson's style is more down-to-earth than Crescent Dragonwagon's in Passionate Vegetarian, but Dragonwagon's book, which includes recipes made with eggs and dairy products, complements Robinson's. For most collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
When a vegetarian graduates to the more advanced status of vegan, all dairy products, eggs, and animal products disappear from the table. Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson appeals to the novice vegan with its simplified approach and whimsical typeface. She advocates that vegans be aware of nutritional issues such as incomplete versus complete proteins. She offers a surprising list of vegetables that originate in the world's oceans. Robertson understands the importance of using multiple and varied spices to prevent the vegan diet from becoming dull, boring, and tasteless. She uses plenty of seitan, a wheat gluten product that simulates meat's texture. Robertson even proposes a block of seitan stuffed with chestnuts and cranberries for a vegan Thanksgiving dinner. Bakers will recognize the vegan possibilities inherent in breads as Robertson offers a hearty multigrain yeast loaf as well as simple skillet combread and pumpkin biscuits. She finds a way to improve candy's general lack of nutrition by substituting ground dates for refined sugar in Chocolate Macadamia Clusters. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Good for you and delicious too!
This book makes an excellent gift for someone just starting to explore the vegetarian lifestyle. Surprisingly, it is also an excellent resource for the tried-and-true vegan.

For those just familiarizing themselves with the vegan diet, the author explains all potentially new terminology and describes common ingredients used in vegan food preparation: tofu, seitan, and miso for instance. For the most part, his recipes use readily-accessible ingredients, available in most supermarkets. In the rare cases where exotic ingredients are called for, the appendix lists mail-order sources for those who may not live near a natural food store.

The book starts with an excellent first chapter on nutrition. The author notes that a vegan diet provides all essential nutrients, though without proper supplementation it can be deficient in vitamin B12. This deficiency is often considered by those reluctant to switch to a vegetarian diet as the "Achilles Heel" of a vegan diet. In fact, having just one easily-remedied deficiency makes the standard non-vegan diet look pretty awful in comparison. While a standard dairy-and-meat-based diet may not be deficient in vitamin B12, it is certainly problematic in its propensity to cause heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, and a wide range of other serious illnesses. In fact, as the author points out, a comprehensive set of long-term studies on diet and health done at Cornell University indicates that 80 to 90 percent of all cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other forms of degenerative illness are directly linked to the consumption of meat and dairy products. Talk about an Achilles Heel!

Interspersed between the recipes in this book are lots of hidden gems including lists of 10 environmental reasons to go vegan, 12 really great health reasons to go vegan, 7 great reasons to eat soy every day, and 9 compelling ethical reasons to go vegan. The author provides useful kitchen tips, such as stove-top cooking times for 15 kinds of grains and for 13 different beans. Nutritional profiles are provided for many foods, including the vitamin, mineral, and fatty acid content of 16 different nuts and seeds and 10 different kinds of sea vegetables.

For those interested in switching away from use of white sugar, the author introduces the alternative natural sweetener called stevia. He also provides guidelines for using maple syrup in place of white sugar in baking (indicating how to reduce the liquid in your recipe when you use a liquid sweetener instead of sugar). Furthermore, the author explains how to bake using egg alternatives.

Gosh, I haven't even mentioned the recipes themselves yet! The collection of tempting tasties covers the whole spectrum from A (Adzuki beans) to Z (Zucchini). 20 chapters of recipes provide great ideas for tasty chutneys, gnocchi, curries, pizzas, burgers, pancakes, "cheesecake", and so much more. This is the most comprehensive vegetarian cookbook I've ever come across.

This book is a great addition to any library of cookbooks, helpful to vegetarians and soon-to-be vegetarians alike. (Even meat-eaters won't feel deprived by the very creative recipes in this book.) I can't resist giving Vegan Planet my highest recommendation.

Fantastic addition to any kitchen's repertoire
I'd been a long-time lacto-vegetarian and recently decided to take the plunge and cut out the dairy as well, and in doing so, decided that I needed to find some new cookbooks to go along with this lifestyle change. Though many of my vegetarian cookbooks offer some vegan recipes as well as some vegan alternatives for non-vegan recipes, I was still finding that I didn't have much to draw from. Not every vegetarian recipe can be easily substituted for, and not all vegan substitutions come out tasting all that great. After hours spent at bookstores sifting through vegan cookbooks and asking myself "how many of the recipes from each will I actually, truly try making?" I settled upon Vegan Planet, and I'm quite glad that I did.

I love that this book is more than mere recipes. For example, the whole first chapter is called "Vegan Basics" and includes several worthwhile informational tidbits. Robertson includes descriptions of differences between each of the various meat alternatives, such as seitan, TVP, and tempeh, and various ways to buy and cook each. Also included in this first chapter are sections on stocking the vegan pantry with a list of staples every vegan should have in their kitchen, a section on what it means to buy organic, and a section on how to avoid hidden animal products. Robertson also addresses vegan health concerns such as making sure you're getting enough protein, and the infamous vitamin B12 issue.

As for the recipes themselves, with 400 recipes to choose from I'm sure everyone could easily find dishes they enjoy in this weighty tome. Some recipes I would recommend are the Udon Noodles in Shiitake-Ginger Broth, the Tofu and Vegetable Lo Mein, the Yuba-Wrapped Seitan and Vegetable Rolls, as well as the various pizza recipes. Most do not require any hard-to-find ingredients, and many do not require an excessive amount of time in the kitchen to prepare, making this a great cookbook for those with busy lifestyles (though I would recommend a food processor to cut down on prep time) who don't want to sacrifice colorful and flavorful foods from their diet. So many cookbooks on the market have a few great recipes that one might turn to over and over again, but this one has several.

Some small downsides to this book, though far overshadowed by the pluses, include the lack of pictures and lack of inclusion of nutrition facts. Furthermore, as with any cookbook, there are a few recipes that are not going to appeal to every taste. For example, I had to throw out the vegan macaroni and "cheese" as my husband and I found it simply inedible (though I believe it's just difficult to find a truly enticing vegan substitute for that particular dish). However, as was previously stated, these minor quibbles should not be a deterrent to picking up this great addition to anyone's kitchen.

Overall, this is a great cookbook for someone making the switch to veganism, the "occasional" vegan looking for healthy, low fat recipes, or the seasoned veteran looking to add a few new dishes to their repertoire. Very highly recommended!

Vegan Planet -- Culinary Worldbeat
In her newest cookbook Vegan Planet, Robin Robertson creates the culinary equivalent of worldbeat music: an intriguing fusion of elements from diverse culture. Like worldbeat, her recipes interweave the familiar and exotic in surprising, enjoyable harmonies.

This global trek takes many colorful excursions into less-charted cookbook territory: "Chutneys, Salsas, and Other Condiments," "Food that Sizzles," "Simply Stuffed," and "New World Pizza." Robertson also makes numerous side-trips beyond the recipe border, with sections on nutrition, food selection, cooking techniques, serving ideas, menus, and much more.

Every recipe I made produced a flavorful result. The "Tuscan-Style Pasta with Chickpeas, Zucchini and Rosemary" was deliciously seasoned. The "Balsamic-Glazed Carrots and Kale" and "Quinoa and Pan-Fried Corn with Orange Zest and Chives" complemented each other as parts of one meal. Combining corn with quinoa is a great idea, as it adds much-needed textural interest; the orange flavoring works beautifully in this. The "Ultimate Shepherd's Pie" was so good, we could hardly stop eating it.

I did make the occasional adjustment due to personal preferences. For the "Farmhouse Vegetable Soup," I felt the vegetables were just-right after simmering for only twenty minutes, rather than the recommended forty. I reduced the tempeh by one-third in the "Curried Chickenless Salad Sandwiches." The resulting ingredient balance seemed perfect, and still made four generous servings. Finally, the "Curried Lentils with Carrots and Peas" turned out both very tasty, and Indian-restaurant hot; I'll cut back on cayenne next time.

I enjoyed all the recipe results so much, that I'm sorry to interject a less-positive note -- but for me, the book was somewhat hard to use. For one thing, the ingredient lists -- in tiny, mustard-color print -- were very hard for me to read, especially while trying to work fast. Moreover, Robertson's basic ingredient palette is quite different from mine. Parsley, celery, olives, chipotles, shallots, alcoholic beverages, shiitake and oyster mushrooms -- all common in these recipes -- are rarely on hand in my kitchen, which meant a number of extra trips to the store. Finally, a lot of the recipes are labor-intensive, with much chopping, parboiling, and making separate sauces; none of them took me less than an hour to prepare.

But these are minor quibbles. They may mean that Vegan Planet won't become my first choice for weekday dinners, but I'll certainly turn to it often when I entertain. Here's the bottom line: every recipe I tried was delicious, looked attractive, and worked.