| Vegan with a Vengeance |
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| Reviewed by Maureen Cram | |
| Wednesday, 28 February 2007 | |
 Author: Isa Chandra Moskowitz  First off, I would like to say that this book is not ‘just’ for vegans. Anyone wanting some easy to make, non-meat recipes will find them in this book.Down to earth, frill-free but still really tasty (my non-vegan husband says the pancakes I make from this book are the best he has had – and being American, he has had years of experience eating pancakes!) The author or the book, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, says she is a Post Punk. She was born and brought up on Brooklyn, New York and the book is full of anecdotes and her dry brand of humour. She scatters stories about her growing up, her mother, friends throughout the book – this is a book that makes cooking fun! The book tells you how to substitute eggs, milk and butter for vegan (usually more healthy too) ingredients. Using ground flax seeds to replace eggs, for example, gives you a healthy fix of those Omega 3s we need. It also has a great reference section explaining what you need in your kitchen in the way of equipment; things not to bother with; things that get used a lot – and also what to stock in your pantry. No salad recipes here either. I would rather have a book that devotes space to ‘Little Meals, Sammiches and Finger Foods’ – the name of one chapter – with recipes like black-eyed pea and quinoa croquettes with mushroom sauce, than endless variations of how to serve lettuce. After all, we know that vegans live on lettuce leaves, right? The book has interesting side bar facts from Isa’s cat, Fizzle. In the above recipe for example Fizzle says ‘one cup of quinoa contains more calcium that a quart of milk’. The book has colour pics of many of the recipes, which I always like. I find it far easier to decide to make a dish that I can see. How about these recipes to make your mouth water…ginger-macadamia-coconut-carrot cake… cherry-almond muffins… fresh mango summer rolls… balsamic-glazed Portobello mushrooms… no-bake black bottom-peanut butter silk pie, using coconut milk… or revolutionary Spanish omelette with saffron and roasted red pepper-almond sauce! A comment from the forward of this book states ‘Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipes are both exotically creative and comfortingly accessible’. Vegan author Erik Marcus says about the book ‘this is not your mother’s cookbook. VWAV has got plenty of attitude and killer recipes to back it up.’ I can only concur… and seeing as this book is the number one selling vegan cookbook on Amazon, many others agree with me! |
This is the powerful story of the author's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and how a healer's unusual prescription of mindful altruism - to 'give away 29 gifts in 29 days' - ignited her energy, her happiness, and invited more abundance into her life.
