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The Cookbook for People Who Love Animals
This unique collection of vegan menus and recipes includes breakfast, soups and sandwiches, salads, dressings and sauces, side dishes, main dishes, treats and beverages, and even meals for dogs and cats. More than 300 delicious recipes to choose from completely accommodates any vegan diet.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 27, 2010
Today’s vegan cookbooks have stylish layouts and snazzy professional photos; they’re urbane and gourmet—sometimes to a fault. Welcome back to the old school. The Cookbook for People who Love Animals was first published in 1980. It features typewriter text and sparse line drawings by somebody’s 5th grade sister. Here’s a cookbook that hearkens back to the day when veg*nism was still heavily influenced by the 60s counterculture; when health food stores were dark and dusty little nooks—not sprawling megacorporations.
That said, it’s not a bad little cookbook. Aside from the wheatgrass concoctions, it contains recipes for dishes I enjoy eating and preparing. This book ‘s authors see diet and activism as intertwined. I’m pleased to see the humane reasons for a plant-based diet presented along with recipes, but some of the over-earnest, New Age-tinged material had me wincing. Honestly, is an activism march set to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” going to convince anyone to choose a cruelty-free lifestyle? Much better to leave in the timeless quotes by Gandhi and Tolstoy, ditch the silliness.
What also should have been left out of subsequent printings, but for a far more serious reason, is the chapter “Recipes for Dogs and Cats.” The authors posit that cats can be healthfully maintained on a homemade vegetarian diet, advice that tends to result in sick and dying felines. The authors also suggest a grain-heavy diet for cats—which is in fact a nightmare for a cat’s system and can result in deadly urinary tract blockages and diabetes. Finally, several of the recipes include onions, which are toxic to dogs and cats! These diets won’t help your companions “evolve into gentler, healthier pets,” but they will rack up some impressive vet bills. Not exactly a good way to love animals.
If you disregard the misinformed section on pet diets, this is still a decent and friendly little cookbook. You’ll find yourself referring to it when you want to cook simple, homestyle meals.
That said, it’s not a bad little cookbook. Aside from the wheatgrass concoctions, it contains recipes for dishes I enjoy eating and preparing. This book ‘s authors see diet and activism as intertwined. I’m pleased to see the humane reasons for a plant-based diet presented along with recipes, but some of the over-earnest, New Age-tinged material had me wincing. Honestly, is an activism march set to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” going to convince anyone to choose a cruelty-free lifestyle? Much better to leave in the timeless quotes by Gandhi and Tolstoy, ditch the silliness.
What also should have been left out of subsequent printings, but for a far more serious reason, is the chapter “Recipes for Dogs and Cats.” The authors posit that cats can be healthfully maintained on a homemade vegetarian diet, advice that tends to result in sick and dying felines. The authors also suggest a grain-heavy diet for cats—which is in fact a nightmare for a cat’s system and can result in deadly urinary tract blockages and diabetes. Finally, several of the recipes include onions, which are toxic to dogs and cats! These diets won’t help your companions “evolve into gentler, healthier pets,” but they will rack up some impressive vet bills. Not exactly a good way to love animals.
If you disregard the misinformed section on pet diets, this is still a decent and friendly little cookbook. You’ll find yourself referring to it when you want to cook simple, homestyle meals.
August 22, 2022
I've loved this book for 2 decades now - it was one of my first vegan cookbooks and it's still one of my favorites. The book is a good vegan primer with information for new vegans or those interested in the lifestyle. The recipes are delicious and relatively easy to prepare, although many of them contain a large number of ingredients. But the cover tells the truth that it's for cooks "from beginner to gourmet" and if you can find a copy, I'd recommend getting it.
January 18, 2024
The Cookbook for People who Love Animals is about as charming a cookbook as you are going to find.
Reminiscent of Louise Hagler and Dorothy R. Bates' vegetarian classic, The New Farm Cookbook, VfPwLA is compiled as a labor of love, with scattered hand-drawn illustrations and floral border art and littered with sentimental, inspiring quotes and snippets of poetry.
Originally written in 1983, language specifying a vegan diet (as separate from vegetarian) was virtually unknown... During this era, awareness of health and nutrition was very limited and foods like yogurt and tofu and granola were considered extreme.
But rest assured, Dear Vegan, this book is for YOU.
NO meat.
NO dairy.
NO eggs.
NO honey.
(Also... NO sugar 😭 NO cholesterol 😭)
Just a compilation of 300 classic menu staples that would reasonably be part of traditional family meals (sans animal products) without the bougie bs.
University of Illinois college of medicine graduate, Michael A Klaper, M.D., is prominently active figure in the compilation of these recipes, supplementing included recipes with easy-to-understand nutritional analysis and insights as to our bodies' nutritional needs, separate from the needs of those who promote their corporate agenda.
This is the type of cookbook that is useful, not only for those who practice a vegan diet, but for survivalists, who may wish to lessen their dependency on the food system or processed foods.
⚠️ Warning ⚠️ Some quotes in this book are by practitioners of eastern religions, so if this is an issue in your family, be warned. Respecting others' freedom of choice regarding religion does not necessarily indicate bringing them into your own home.
Reminiscent of Louise Hagler and Dorothy R. Bates' vegetarian classic, The New Farm Cookbook, VfPwLA is compiled as a labor of love, with scattered hand-drawn illustrations and floral border art and littered with sentimental, inspiring quotes and snippets of poetry.
Originally written in 1983, language specifying a vegan diet (as separate from vegetarian) was virtually unknown... During this era, awareness of health and nutrition was very limited and foods like yogurt and tofu and granola were considered extreme.
But rest assured, Dear Vegan, this book is for YOU.
NO meat.
NO dairy.
NO eggs.
NO honey.
(Also... NO sugar 😭 NO cholesterol 😭)
Just a compilation of 300 classic menu staples that would reasonably be part of traditional family meals (sans animal products) without the bougie bs.
University of Illinois college of medicine graduate, Michael A Klaper, M.D., is prominently active figure in the compilation of these recipes, supplementing included recipes with easy-to-understand nutritional analysis and insights as to our bodies' nutritional needs, separate from the needs of those who promote their corporate agenda.
This is the type of cookbook that is useful, not only for those who practice a vegan diet, but for survivalists, who may wish to lessen their dependency on the food system or processed foods.
⚠️ Warning ⚠️ Some quotes in this book are by practitioners of eastern religions, so if this is an issue in your family, be warned. Respecting others' freedom of choice regarding religion does not necessarily indicate bringing them into your own home.
June 30, 2007
This is the cutest cookbook ever! I absolutely love it!
October 13, 2007
One of my favorite cookbooks.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews