Title: Mayim's Vegan Table: More than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours
Author: Mayim Bialik, Jay Gordon
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: February 11th 2014
Source: Netgalley & Da Capo Lifelong Books
★★★
Three stars.
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Mayim's Vegan Table: More than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours is a collection of, you guessed it, family favorite vegan recipes from actress, mom, and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik.
The first part of this cookbook is full of really useful information; who the authors are and why you should listen to them, advice for getting your family to eat healthy, tips and facts about nutrition, and other useful background information that help form a good foundation of vegan cooking. If you are already living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, this might not be news to you. However, I am a meat-eater, so that was new to me. On that note, I am a lover of food- meatless, meat-chocked, or otherwise. My eating meat in no way is reflected in my rating of this book.
The recipes in this collection are divided by course, making it easy to find a specific recipe for your family. There's also tips and nutrition tidbits included with each recipe. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to find "fake" ingredients included so much. By fake, I mean things like vegan cheese or vegan sausage or vegan egg substitute. There's nothing wrong with these ingredients, but I don't really need a recipe book to tell me to swap out real meat for the vegan section kind. In addition, I'm a very visual person when it comes to cooking, and it bummed me out that no pictures were included.
Despite those hang ups I have with this cookbook, Bialik does a great job of representing a lot of different cuisines. There's Mediterranean, Mexican, Vietnamese, Jewish, and so many more cultures represented here. Props- it can't be easy creating vegan dishes from so many places. A few recipes I'm interested in trying are Corn Bread Thanksgiving Dressing, Sushi in a Bowl, Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies, and Spanakopita.
If you're looking to start eating healthier, or if you're a vegan/vegetarian looking for new takes on recipes, this is a book for you. Just be warned that there's no pictures. For me, that's a massive hindrance. Thank you to Netgalley & Da Capo Lifelong Books for my chance to read this.
Hmm, yeah, not liking fake ingredients. But still sounds like a good cook book.
ReplyDeleteIt's a solid collection, that just irked me.
DeleteThis sounds like it would've been a great thing to have during my vegetarian kick, but even then I wasn't so much a fan of fake substitutes. Other than that, this sounds like a good book for some healthier recipes, I wish it had pictures though.
ReplyDeleteI would be curious about some of the recipes. While I am not Vegan I do like to have a few meals every week with no meat. I too prefer a cook book with pictures for the recipes. My husband is so picky and sometimes I can tell if he is going to eat something by the picture alone. Great review!
ReplyDelete