“There is a misconception that veganism is a relatively new trend that started in the West and spread from there to other parts of the world. But the truth is that there are many countries, including China, that have a long vegan tradition, dating back hundreds or even thousands of years,” Yang Liu writes in the book. Vegan Chinese (Dome Books).
At the beginning of the 20th century, chef Xue Baochen wrote the book: Brief introduction to vegan cuisinewhere it includes more than 170 vegan recipes ranging from the preparation of basic condiments such as soy sauce to fermented tofu, soups, desserts, pasta dishes… “The book also contained a very interesting recipe for vegan ham”, underlines the author, “which was prepared by stuffing a very ripe pumpkin with seasoned soy sauce and leaving it hanging in the house for seven months and then steamed and cut into slices.” Thus, the book, curated with beautiful photographs, explores the past and present of Chinese cuisine to offer a recipe book as varied and, at times, surprising as the different suggestions for cooking with tofu or the use of the garden in a spicy cuisine: red taro stew, Chinese pumpkin soup with tofu bags, Sichuan sweet noodles, Baozi stuffed with pickled cabbage and sweet potato noodles.
In the book we also find the technique for caring for the wok or the vegan recipe for preparing a vegan breakfast based on youtiao (Chinese churro).
How to prepare vegan chorizo? A breast or something similar to chicken? A cheek with Pedro Ximénez sauce? Some meatballs? Tofu, seitan, lentils, wheat gluten… “When people think for the first time about what vegan gastronomy is, they imagine strange things, with many ingredients they don’t know and half a million steps to get to the final dish” writes Johnny Cross in the book The Vegan Butcher. 100 traditional recipes, with the same flavor as always, 100% vegetables (Grijalbo) “With this book I intend to teach the world that vegans don’t just eat lettuce, that tofu is not tasteless and that we can prepare steaks, pork rinds and meats of all kinds with just a bag of wheat flour and a little imagination (…) Let us learn a little more about plant-based cuisine and the philosophy behind it.”
The book begins with mise en place perfect and continues with an original, elaborate and varied recipe book for every day of the week. From Eggs Benedictine to start the day, to the Jerky appetizer (vegan version of dried meat, pure American style) up to the ceviche for lunch or the Tofish Burger for dinner, to name some of the dishes in this highly original book.
Meera Sodha, author of books such as Made in India, East OR Indian vegetarianjust published Dinner 120 vegan and vegetarian recipes for the most important meal of the day (Neo Person). The book was created to answer a daily question: “What are we having for dinner today? I thought that preparing a delicious dinner every evening is one of the most important ingredients for enjoying a good life”, explains the author. This book was born with this philosophy and with a good dose of “small efforts and great satisfactions”, writes the author. “This is my favorite technique for preparing a snack or appetizer: do almost nothing except boil or blend something, simply bake something or, at most, fry it in a pan.” to continue, with yet another question: “What do I want for dinner? Desire gives me the clue as to what I will cook: curry, dal, noodles, roast, salad, rice…”; and finally, the author incorporates a number of garnishes and sauces. So he suggests cooking roasted aubergines with chickpeas and cherry tomatoes; Crispy Taipei pancakes with gruyere and kimchi; Iraqi White Bean Stew; Eighteen-carat laksa; Carrot falafel with pickled onion; Fried tofu with tomato sambal and coconut rice or, for dessert, a slice of baked vegan vanilla cheesecake.
Of all the vegan cookbooks that appear every year in our culinary library, the most complete is that of Jean-Christian Jury, Vegan Cuisine: Gastronomy (Phaedo). “Vegan cuisine is, at its essence, vibrant, tasty and fresh, making us feel good inside and out. The recipes in this book are a celebration of the vitality and variety that these plant-based products offer us. Its possibilities are delicious and almost endless,” the author writes at the beginning of the book. What will we find? 500 vegetable-based recipes: mushroom carpaccio with orange tartare, broccoli and tofu with peanut sauce, Karachi gnocchi or bananas Foster with vanilla custard, for example. The book is illustrated with photographs of the final table and beautiful illustrations. Furthermore, it has a final section in which guest chefs such as Dan Barber, Blue Hill, Michel Bras or Xavier Pellicer, among other prestigious Michelin-starred chefs, donate their vegan recipes to what, today, is the most complete manual in gourmet bookstores.
