The Adaptable Feast: Satisfying Meals for the Vegetarians, Vegans, and Omnivores at Your Table

by Ivy Manning

After marrying a vegetarian, meat-lover Ivy Manning developed a collection of recipes that each had a "fork in the road" to a few vegetarian servings of a meaty dish or a few omnivore servings of a vegetarian dish. Over the years, the author has assembled a diverse and delicious array of recipes from cuisines worldwide that are flexible enough to accommodate everyone at the table. Typical entries in this beautifully illustrated cookbook include elegant Japanese Eggplant and Halibut with Miso Glaze, and a sumptuous Spaghetti Carbonara for gourmands of all persuasions.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Ivy Manning is a Portland, Oregon-based freelance food and travel writer, food stylist, and author of The Farm to Table Cookbook. Her work has been featured in Cooking Light, Sunset magazine, Fine Cooking, ediblePortland, Food & Wine magazine and on Culinate.com. Additionally, Manning is a regular contributor to the Oregonian FOODday section with her Vegetarian Flavors column.

Her most recent book, The Adaptable Feast: Satisfying Meals for the Vegetarians, Vegans, and Omnivores at Your Table (Sasquatch Books, 2009) guides readers through the uncharted territory of cooking for mixed-diet families. Mannings book shows busy home cooks how to make delicious meals that feed everyone in the family, from meat eaters to vegetarians or vegans, without dirtying every dish in the kitchen.

Manning attended the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon, followed by an externship at the award-winning Paleys Place restaurant. Ever since, Manning has been cooking, writing, and teaching culinary classes.

Mannings interest in writing and cooking has led her to travel the globe studying the cuisines of every country she visits, including cooking trips to Thailand, Italy, France, Mexico, and the South Pacific.

When her bags arent packed, she is writing; blogging (ivysfeast.blogspot.com); cooking for her vegetarian husband, Gregor (the photographer for her books); and petting her retired greyhound, Mini."

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I am vegetarian and my husband an omnivore, the title of Manning's book hooked me like a noose. Who wouldn't want to quickly (and with excellent results, no less) adapt a meal for every eater at the table? I rushed to order a copy of The Adaptable Feast: Satisfying Meals for the Vegetarians, Vegans, and Omnivores at Your Table by Ivy Manning, knowing full well it couldn't be done. But, hey, I wished to be proven wrong.

Maybe a less confidant cook would need to be told how to make a vegetarian meal and then add roasted chicken as a finishing touch. I certainly do not. So let's just say I was disappointed with the recipes at first review. What won me over is how Manning balances protein and calories for both the meat and veg dishes in the recipe. Rather than re-imagining the entire dish and ending up in unfamiliar territory, she substitutes veg ingredients, adjusts the recipe, and continues to make the dish with flavors you'll recognize. Easy peasy, or at least it seems that way.

Pad thai to potpie, the major plus to this book is the world cuisine it offers up to both vegetarians and meat eaters. With a slew of fragrant spices, the Vegetable and Chicken Korma with Cashews smells and tastes authentic. A true weekend recipe with multiple steps, Moussaka with Lamb or French Lentils is a masterpiece of slow cooking that you'll savor, even if — like me — you're too tired to make it ever again.

Particularly exciting to me are recipes that don't include any variations at all, like the ingenius Indian Spaghetti Squash Cakes with Yogurt Raita, or a one-dish dinner of Quinoa-Stuffed Heirloom Tomatoes with Romesco Sauce, or the doubly nutty Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage and Walnut Brown Butter. I'm being generous if I say that a quarter of the recipes can easily be made vegan, though Manning's single dessert is chocolate vegan cake with vanilla frosting in a lilting recipe that sounds like a gathering dream. Yes, there's a photo of that one, folks.

Some of the recipes are a bit long and definitely not for beginning cooks, but overall Manning offers a solid selection of recipes to appease a variety of palates.

[Meredith Henning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great options here for vegetarian dishes as well as meat eaters. She's captured an interesting market in that there is something for everyone without the stigma. Many very doable and yummy recipes, still trying some...

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is really a standard american diet cookbook with some vegetarian and vegan meat substitues thrown in. It relies a lot on things like TVP. I would prefer a book that was primarily whole food vegan cooking with a few omeat options thrown in. I.e. something that used a lot of beans and lentils and meat was an optional ingredient. Also looking at the recipes they seem pretty complex and time consuming for dishes that I think can be made simpler.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a great collection of meals that allow for flexibility for who ever is coming to the table.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having first perused the Farm to Table cookbook by Manning (and finding it interesting, but its ingredient lists daunting) I expected more from this book. Being a fairly experience cook who been a vegetarian for several years I found these just wasn't any new information here. Well, duh, I can substitute TVP, Soy Crumbles, Tofu or Tempeh for meat. Any novice knows that. I was especially frustrated, because the title made me believe that Manning had found recipes savory and interesting enough that carnivore's wouldn't miss the meat - or vegetarian recipes with a meat option - not the opposite. Maybe I could have overlooked the cop-out approach to vegetarian substitutions, if any of the recipes were remotely interesting looking. I think I can figure out shepherds pie without this book - thanks anyways! Maybe 1 star isn't fair - I didn't try any of the recipes - but I didn't want to. I'm glad I saved my money and borrowed this one from the library!
Format wise - the book is very text heavy - with dense, long paragraphs. Not being able to skim over key steps or see what it looks like is a real deterrent when you want a book to inspire you to cook.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book cause though I am a meat eater, I eat mostly vegetables most cookbooks there are alot meat recipes and a few vegetable recipes. This has mostly vegetable recipes that you can cook one portion of the meal with meat for omnivores and one portion for vegetarians. But the recipes are mostly vegetables with a small amount of meat. The recipes are brilliant and do take you to the next level of cooking. There is a mixture of simple recipes easy to prepare and complex ones that take longer. I am working my way through, trying each recipe and loving it.

A plus side for me my son who has sensory processing disorder has trouble with the texture of meat so roasts or anything with big chunks of meat are out for me. Because these recipes you have portions for a vegetarian another for omnivores; I can cook a portion with meat for my husband and I and have a small substantial vegetarian portion that my son will eat too.

[Storm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was hoping to find some recipes that didn't include Tofu or Seitan or other 'hard to find' ingredients, but alas, that was not the case. The recipes sounded amazing, but for someone on a super-tight budget like me? It just won't work. I can't barely afford the veggies, so tofu and mock meats/cheeses are out of the question.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have two vegans in my house and five omnivores, so I've been doing something similar to what this cookbook purports to help with for a while. But, most of the most appealing entrees (for me) didn't have vegan options, unfortunately. Most of the tips offered are very basic, so it would be good for inexperienced cooks who are cooking for vegetarians (not vegans) and omnivores.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needlessly complicated, but a few nice recipes.

[Jessica Garner · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ingredient lists are pretty extensive and a bit overwhelming.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually thought some of these recipes might be helpful when I have to cook for vegans and omnivores at the same time.

[Susy Q]

no comment

[Robert]

Wonderful book. Must have