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The 30-Minute Vegan: Over 175 Quick, Delicious, And Healthy Recipes For Everyday Cooking (2009)

by Mark Reinfeld(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0738213276 (ISBN13: 9780738213279)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Da Capo Lifelong Books

review 1: Pretty good cookbook. I like the ethos of this book - good quality vegan meals that can be knocked out in less than 30 minutes. One of the issue I have at the moment with a young family is making decent food quickly after work and before the little ones are bathed and in bed. We rarely eat processed food and I needed a shot of inspiration. This book gave it to me that's for sure.I've tried a few recipes in here and I did do them all in 30 minutes. One of the good things about the book is that it suggests substitutions if you don't have all the ingredients and enhancements. The enhancements add to the recipe time. That may seem like a 'cheat' but from what I can see the recipes are fine and all the extra bits will help or add variation but are not necessary. I think... more the core strength of the book is the fact that the recipes are not prescriptive and the author gives 'recipe followers' like me room to be creative. It encourages the chef for certain.A downside for me is that there is a lot of text and sometimes it's not very engaging. I'd like some more pictures in here. Another downside for me (which may be a positive for others) is that the book is aimed at new / non-vegans starting their journey. For those who are aware of vegan diets and it's benefits there is a lot in here that you've heard before and there is plenty to skip. It's also aimed at beginners in the kitchen - if you're an experienced cook then again there will be plenty to skip. Negatives for me personally but I can see how for both beginner chefs and new vegans the information would be useful.Some people may find the authors a little 'preachy' in their ethics and views on the world - the flipside of this is that there are tons of resources for further reading in the book.I've read other reviews which have drawn attention to the ingredients for the recipes. Since the book is aimed at American readers and I'm based in the UK some of the ingredients are a little difficult to find. The author is based in Hawai'i and as well as all the Fusion cuisine based there (from East and West) the author draws heavily from South American cuisine and other areas of the world. It's notable that he seems to put quinoa with everything - that's pretty expensive on the UK but to be honest the recipes are adaptable enough. I can imagine small town vegans from anywhere having trouble with ingredients but if you're from an ethnically diverse area pretty much anywhere in the world you'd be able to get something out of the book. My only bugbear from a European point of view is his insistence to measure vegetables in cup sizes - personally I find that difficult to know how much to buy and just guess - liquids and dry I'm fine with. Maybe it's just me!What's the food like? Well everything I've cooked has turned out good but I've not cooked anything that has blown me away. I did buy the book for quick evening meals not for dinner parties and I've got books for that. Probably not going into my favourite cookbook pile but will probably be a resource I use often.
review 2: I just have this from the library, so don't have lots of time to try out the recipes, but it's not really my kind of cookbook. The blurb on the cover from an author of Skinny Bitch, which I think is terrible for people, probably put me into a mood to find the authors smug/diet-y, but there definitely are some recipes in here that sound good. If someone's looking for simple-ish raw or wheat-free recipes, this would probably be really good for hir, but for me there was nothing that really distinguished it from cookbooks I already have. I was hoping that everything would look really simple and fast but these recipes don't, and prepping the ingredients isn't included in the 30 minutes so many could actually take a lot longer. less

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