vegan cookbooks

today i am posting my favorite cookbooks. i have a lot of cookbooks, and they are pretty much vegan, because that is how i mostly cook. vegan cookbooks can be a real quagmire, so i hope this list is useful.

the new farm vegetarian cookbook is probably the classic vegan cookbook (as far as i know it was the first to use nutritional yeast as a cheese substitute), and it is a great first cookbook for new vegans or people just learning to cook. it is not a convenience cookbook in that it includes making staples like bread and tofu from scratch, but a lot of the meal recipes are extremely simple and/or quick. plus, it's pretty comprehensive for such a small book, including breakfasts, dinners, snacks, desserts and so on.

the new whole foods encyclopedia is not really a cookbook, but it can introduce you to lots of new ingredients and give tips on how best to use them. it's a surprisingly interesting read and a great reference.

millennium and the voluptuous vegan are my inspirational cookbooks. they are both too complicated for daily use, but the recipes are amazing. millenium is the most involved (recipes include saffron lasagnette with white bean and seitan sausage ragout and baklava with pomegranate sorbet), and it has beautiful photos. the voluptuous vegan is slightly more accessible (for example, hot and sour soup with dumplings and a really good pecan pumpkin pie); i actually make recipes from it occasionally.

tofu cookery is pretty much what it sounds like. this book taught me how to cook with and not resent tofu. it's not exactly health food by today's standards, as many of the recipes use plenty of salt, sugar and oil, but it's good.

vegan cupcakes take over the world. ok, yeah, these cupcakes are actually really good. nothing too earth-shattering, but the recipes are solid (or even better, fluffy), and there are lots of interesting ideas. good for serving to people who think they hate all vegan food.