Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

this cookbook is comprehensive, full of wonderful vegan recipes and is well written (and funny). I am so glad i bought it!!

This is not just a cookbook, it is a fun-to-read, text-book-sized instruction manual on how to use your vegan kitchen and almost everything in it. Not only are these recipes tasty (the ones I've had time to try, listed below), they are thoroughly explained, step-by-step, in a delightfully humorous fashion. My boyfriend was teasing me for "reading" a cookbook, but I just couldn't put it down! I have read it cover to cover since last Friday when I received it, and I am thoroughly impressed.

As a relatively new vegan, I'd been suffering through trying to "veganize" standard recipes with fake meats and fake cheeses with marginal success. This book moves beyond using store-bought fake ground beef, etc and gives you home-made, unique, and delicious alternatives. So far I have made the Almesan (vegan parmesan topping - YUM!), marinara sauce (so delicious and easy that I will never buy sauce in a jar again!), tofu ricotta (wow, it even looks like ricotta!), spinach lasagna (my omni boyfriend LOVED it), and jelly donut cupcakes (big hit at work).

The book starts out with an introduction on the terminology and a description of some of the "unusual" ingredients with which a new-ish vegan may not be familiar. Then there are 3 sections on basic things you need to know to be successful in the kitchen before you try a recipe - "How to cook a bean," "How to cook a grain," and "How to cook a vegetable." If you don't learn something from these sections, then you probably don't need to buy a cookbook to begin with and should just open your own restaurant immediately!

While some of the recipes are decidedly "gourmet," this manual is filled with so many great tips that go along with the plethora of recipes, and tips for vegan kitchen use in general that you should be successful even if you've never boiled water before. However, the style of the writing makes the in-depth descriptions interesting even if you are an advanced cook who doesn't need all the details provided.

My recommendation: Buy it. Read it. Laugh. Cook. Eat. Smile!

Update (8/28/2008): I have since originally writing this review made the Cashew Ricotta (used it in manicotti), Tempeh Shepherdess Pie, and Mac Daddy MacnCheese - I really enjoyed all of them.

I bought this book as my fourth vegetarian cook book based on the good reviews and for some more variety. So far I've tried about six recipes. I'm not a picky eater and have actually had to throw out two because they were so bad! One was good and the rest ok. Some of the ingredient proportions also seem off. I like how the book is organized and the ingredients are not too exotic, but think there are better out there.

this is the cookbook of my dreams. so well written, well researched, and fun to read. it will certainly replace Joy of Cooking for me because of all the super general info about ingredients. and the recipes are DELICIOUS. this is a must have cook book for all, herbivores AND omnivores alike. a bargain at twice the price!

If your Vegan cookbook collection needs a benchmark book, this is it. If you're new to being a Vegan, this book will save you months of salad boredom. If you're an old timer and you don't have this book, you must live under a tempeh rock somewhere.

Buy this book. Do it now!