What do you think?
Rate this book
Omari McQueen's Best Bites Cookbook
From the star of TV's What's Cooking, Omari? comes a cookbook full of delicious vegan recipes, for young and old.
Get cooking with the UK's youngest, award-winning vegan chef, Omari McQueen.
Learn how to make over 35 plant-based recipes from pizza to pasta, snacks to smoothies. This easy-to-use cookbook is full to the brim with delicious natural treats!
”I can't wait to inspire other kids to experiment and have fun with vegan food in the kitchen.”—Omari
Recipes include:
Happy Hummus
Go-Go Energy Smoothie
BBQ Jackfruit
Rasta Pasta
Rice 'n' Peas
Peri Peri Wedges
Strawberry Coconut Cheesecake
Cherry Brownies.
As seen on CBBC and YouTube:
Omari's TV series launched November 2020.
Find Omari on YouTube as 'Omari Goes Wild'.
Get cooking with the UK's youngest, award-winning vegan chef, Omari McQueen.
Learn how to make over 35 plant-based recipes from pizza to pasta, snacks to smoothies. This easy-to-use cookbook is full to the brim with delicious natural treats!
”I can't wait to inspire other kids to experiment and have fun with vegan food in the kitchen.”—Omari
Recipes include:
Happy Hummus
Go-Go Energy Smoothie
BBQ Jackfruit
Rasta Pasta
Rice 'n' Peas
Peri Peri Wedges
Strawberry Coconut Cheesecake
Cherry Brownies.
As seen on CBBC and YouTube:
Omari's TV series launched November 2020.
Find Omari on YouTube as 'Omari Goes Wild'.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 7, 2021
1 person is currently reading
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2021
Decent cookbook aimed at vegan children getting to know their kitchen. I bought this because my 7 year old loves Omari on TV and it's great for her to see a young vegan chef who cooks food like we do and eats like we do.
The recipes are typically very easy to follow, minimal fuss and have mostly come out very tasty indeed. Depending on the competence of your child they will be able to follow these with minimal supervision on certain things (my little one isn't draining pasta!)
This isn't a criticism but many of the recipes use Carribbean flavours and influences. That's not a problem in our home but they may not suit every palate (there is a spice guide to which helps tone things down which I wish my daughter read when applying spices )
I think there is an overreliance on replacement meat / dairy products so this is clearly aimed at transitioning / new vegans.
What brings the book down is that there is at least one recipe where a key ingredient and step is missing in the instructions. I could spot it straight away but I am not sure a child would. Proof reading is vital in most books, but especially cook books and particularly cook books aimed at children. I imagine it can be pretty disappointing for a child to prepare something for their family only to realise to late they have messed up a step and the meal is ruined.
The recipes are typically very easy to follow, minimal fuss and have mostly come out very tasty indeed. Depending on the competence of your child they will be able to follow these with minimal supervision on certain things (my little one isn't draining pasta!)
This isn't a criticism but many of the recipes use Carribbean flavours and influences. That's not a problem in our home but they may not suit every palate (there is a spice guide to which helps tone things down which I wish my daughter read when applying spices )
I think there is an overreliance on replacement meat / dairy products so this is clearly aimed at transitioning / new vegans.
What brings the book down is that there is at least one recipe where a key ingredient and step is missing in the instructions. I could spot it straight away but I am not sure a child would. Proof reading is vital in most books, but especially cook books and particularly cook books aimed at children. I imagine it can be pretty disappointing for a child to prepare something for their family only to realise to late they have messed up a step and the meal is ruined.
November 2, 2022
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
I've never heard of this young British vegan cook, but he must have quite the following! While this is a vegan cookbook, and has a lot of great food that doesn't rely on animal products, it's quite simple to substitute mainstream ingredients in the recipes. Omari's family is of Caribbean descent, so the recipes have a strong (and very hot!) flavor of that region-- again, it's not necessary to purchase ghost peppers in order to make the recipes. This is good, since I'm pretty sure there is not a single ghost pepper in my entire neighborhood! This does put a different spin on some of the recipes; the hummus, for example, did not involve cumin, and the salsa is made with canned tomatoes.
There's a nice range of recipes, from Light Bites to hearty lunches and dinner, with a few side dishes and deserts to round things out. I made the Jamaican patties with ground turkey instead of meat substitute, and they came out very nicely and smelled really good when I warmed them up the next day. The curry powder in the pasty-type dough is inspired. The sweet potato and spinach bake is one I might try next, and the lentil bolognese reminds me of my college days when I made a lot of Hamburger Helper with lentils.
There were a fair number of ingredients that were a bit difficult to find. I happened to be near my favorite Saraga market after reading this, and they did not have ackee or callaloo, although I could have gotten jackfruit, and have bought bulk tumeric there on a number of occasions. My area has more Latinx, Asian, and African immigrants than Caribbean ones, so it will probably depend on your location when it comes to obtaining ingredients not usually available at the neighborhood Kroger.
The photo illustrations are colorful and fun. I buy far more cookbooks than I should, so I may pass on this one unless I have a lot of students asking for vegan recipes; this would then be the top of the list to purchase.
I've never heard of this young British vegan cook, but he must have quite the following! While this is a vegan cookbook, and has a lot of great food that doesn't rely on animal products, it's quite simple to substitute mainstream ingredients in the recipes. Omari's family is of Caribbean descent, so the recipes have a strong (and very hot!) flavor of that region-- again, it's not necessary to purchase ghost peppers in order to make the recipes. This is good, since I'm pretty sure there is not a single ghost pepper in my entire neighborhood! This does put a different spin on some of the recipes; the hummus, for example, did not involve cumin, and the salsa is made with canned tomatoes.
There's a nice range of recipes, from Light Bites to hearty lunches and dinner, with a few side dishes and deserts to round things out. I made the Jamaican patties with ground turkey instead of meat substitute, and they came out very nicely and smelled really good when I warmed them up the next day. The curry powder in the pasty-type dough is inspired. The sweet potato and spinach bake is one I might try next, and the lentil bolognese reminds me of my college days when I made a lot of Hamburger Helper with lentils.
There were a fair number of ingredients that were a bit difficult to find. I happened to be near my favorite Saraga market after reading this, and they did not have ackee or callaloo, although I could have gotten jackfruit, and have bought bulk tumeric there on a number of occasions. My area has more Latinx, Asian, and African immigrants than Caribbean ones, so it will probably depend on your location when it comes to obtaining ingredients not usually available at the neighborhood Kroger.
The photo illustrations are colorful and fun. I buy far more cookbooks than I should, so I may pass on this one unless I have a lot of students asking for vegan recipes; this would then be the top of the list to purchase.
November 30, 2021
Was pretty interesting to see vegan recipes. I'm not vegan myself but the hummus, wedges, and flat angmor goreng pisang looks pretty good~
I'm a little confused by the ingredients selected for introduction. Why was a banana introduced but not tahini?
Overall still a good read, but many of the recipes will really need an adult to help out before the kid gets more adept at handling kitchen equipment.
I'm a little confused by the ingredients selected for introduction. Why was a banana introduced but not tahini?
Overall still a good read, but many of the recipes will really need an adult to help out before the kid gets more adept at handling kitchen equipment.
December 3, 2022
There are at least three really amazing things about this book that may get lost in the background - Omari is young, like early teen. He has a passion for cooking and can articulate his heritage. He is a committed visionary vegan. He has operated pop up kitchens. He has authored a good cookbook! This is someone to watch and someone to read. Amazing!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews