How to Eat Like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One: More Than 250 Shortcuts, Strategies, and Simple Solutions

by Patti Breitman

Don't have time to cook? Don't like to follow recipes? Cutting back on meat but don't know what to serve? Want an easy way to eat healthfully? This is the book for you. The lists, charts, and hints in this book will reward you with meals, snacks, and surprises that are as easy to make as they are delicious.

Contents

* Two Hundred (and More!) Ways to Eat Like A Vegetarian
* How to Cook Like a Vegetarian
* Vegetarian Cooking without Recipes
* Everything In Its Season
* Thinking and Feeling Like a Vegetarian, If You Want To...
* Appendix Resources for Eating, Thinking, and Feeling Like a Vegetarian
* Appendix Guide to Ingredients

Genres: Vegetarian, Cookbooks, Vegan

214 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Linda Riebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book I've been waiting for. As a partner in a mixed marriage (one vegetarian, one omnivore), I've often wondered how to cook for both of us - and how to show my husband the fun and merit of leaving meat out of the equation. More importantly, I've wondered how to think in bilingual terms. Usually I have to grit my teeth when surrounded by meat eaters, which is most of the time. How do you explain your moral choice? The last sections of the book show, with just enough detail about the meat industry's practices, why most of us vegetarians choose a plant-based diet. And how do you explain that you're not deprived or slightly anemic? I think any omnivore who read this book would emerge reassured, piqued, and eager to get into the kitchen and try some experiments.
Another reason I like this book is that the authors, with gusto, positively encourage you to trust yourself in the kitchen, to play with your food, to experiment with quantities and ingredients. A few basic guidelines, a list of familiar and unusual ingredients, and a nudge might be all you need. Who knew cuisine could be so forgiving? Of course, there are dozens of actual recipes in the book as well, but the mood of play and variety resound from the first page to the last.
Cookbooks of all kinds should give readers this kind of self-confidence! I think that the recipe -- any recipe -- can be overvalued, treated as a kind of treasure map. I've seen some folks approach recipes gingerly, as if one little goof and you're off by a mile, like the treasure seekers in Poe's story The Gold Bug.
Besides making a valuable addition to your own shelf, How to Eat Like a Vegetarian would make a great gift.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a book to help yourself or others who are new to preparing whole plant foods, if you’re puzzled about what to do with tofu or kale, pick this up. The authors adopt a friendly, laid-back tone to meet readers right where they are in their eating habits, and exert no pressure to make sweeping dietary changes. “We aren’t inviting you to go for a PhD in vegan cuisine,” they write, “we’re inviting you out to the playground!” The book does contain recipes, but is mostly about putting together simple foods in simple ways. Every time I’ve shared information from it, the response has been enthusiastic. Many people want to eat more healthfully, but don’t want to commit to being vegetarian. They lack the time or interest to learn about unfamiliar foods. This will get them started down that path, and they’ll learn the ethical reasons as well as health considerations.

I’ve given away several copies of the book, and have used its “Ten” suggestion lists as handouts at tabling events. These lists include Ten Top Vegetarian Convenience Foods, Ten Ways to Eat More Dark Leafy Greens, Ten Fast Snacks or Easy Lunches, Ten Foods to Eat When There’s Nothing in the House, Ten Comfort Foods, Ten Recipeless Meals, even Ten Tips for Hosting a Reception and what to take when visiting the sick. And much more, all entirely vegan. Have you tried all of the Ten Things to Do with Flax Seeds?

[mad mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being Vegetarian/Vegan 101

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review at the publisher's invitation.)

The title of this (cook)book pretty much says it all: in just over 200 pages, authors Carol J. Adams (of The Sexual Politics of Meat fame) and Patti Breitman will show you how to eat like a vegetarian - even if you don't want to be (or in fact aren't) one. Since it's kind of a vegetarianism/veganism 101 primer (though categorized as a vegetarian cookbook, all the recipes are vegan), the book's likely target audience strikes me as newbie vegetarians and vegans; omnivores who are interested in eating fewer animal products, whether for health, environmental or animal welfare reasons; and the family and friends of vegetarians and vegans, new and old.

The last category seems a particularly suitable audience for How to Eat like a Vegetarian. For example, if you've recently gone veg, and your parents, siblings, partner and/or friends are giving you a hard time - "But where will you get your protein?" "Fish is vegetarian, right?" "You haven't joined a cult, have you!?" - allow Adams and Breitman to set them straight. The information contained in How to Eat like a Vegetarian can help teens and young adults assure their worried parents that, yes, it's not only possible but rather simple to consume enough protein on a veg diet, and help men and women reassure their partners that the household won't lapse into starvation because the primary cook (or taste tester) has banished meat from the kitchen.

At its core, How to Eat like a Vegetarian is a cookbook; as such, it features roughly 60 recipes (with a number of additional suggestions, such as quick dinner ideas or suggestions for no-prep, eat-what's-in-the-fridge, snacking-on-the-go eats). It's a rather diverse sample, spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, and includes soups, salads, sweets, dips and spreads, and - of course! - tofu dishes. Depending on your tastes, the selection can be hit-or-miss; while I love vegetable-based soups, for instance, I'm not big on "regular" tofu (though I do like the silken stuff!) - so I haven't yet, and probably won't, try the tofu recipes (although the Mr. and/or doggies probably will). The wide range of dishes can be taken as either a negative or a positive: on the one hand, the lack of a coherent theme binding the recipes together may mean that you only try half of the dishes. But, if you're an adventurous eater and don't know where to start your veg-etarian/-an journey, How to Eat like a Vegetarian might just be the place!

In addition to the recipes, Adams and Breitman offer "More than 250 shortcuts, strategies, and simple solutions." These include a number of helpful "top ten" lists, such as "Ten ways to eat more vegetables"; "Ten substitutes for using an egg in baking"; and "Ten different things you can do with chickpeas." You'll also find suggestions for seasonal eating; ideas for vegan appetizers; birthday food ideas; and tips for hosting a cruelty-free reception. In the final chapter, Adams and Brietman sneak in a 30-page discussion about the health, environmental and animal welfare reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet. (Vegan, really, but methinks they didn't want to scare jittery omni's away by using the more radical term "vegan" in their book and chapter titles!)

Over the past few months, the husband and I have tried out a number of the recipes in How to Eat like a Vegetarian. Without exception, all were fairly easy to prepare and quite yummy, if not downright delish. Of course, I did some selective sampling; while I loved the Scalloped Potatoes , the mere mention of Carrot Avocado Soup makes my face crumple, and alas we never made it. Chances are you're not as fussy an eater as I, so grain of salt and all.

(As an aside, if you've seen Baby Mama : That scene where Amy Pohler simply cannot bring herself to eat the organic green pea soup? Totally me. "I would rather be shot in the face than eat this food!")

I especially liked the "top ten" lists and random tricks - many of these are gems! I've been a vegetarian for 13 years now, vegan for maybe 5, and I'm always looking for shortcuts in the kitch! Adams and Breitman offer some inspired tips for recreating new dishes out of leftovers (something I've kind of been doing, albeit on a smaller scale, for a few years), improvising dishes and the like. Probably nothing new to the more advanced vegan cooks among us (you know the types, always making you drool over their food p0rn blogs!), but a dogsend to us amateur and intermediate chefs.

Note: You can read a lengthier version of this review - complete with plenty of gratuitous gourmet food photography - here.

[Wendyhodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the recommended reading options from An Introduction to Carnism. The recipes are a little soy heavy for my personal tastes, but looks like some interesting options and provides a very relaxed, here is how you can add to your meals approach.

[Rachel]

I ordered this am eager to look it over. Could be a good gift for my veg-curious friends for Xmas this year.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas and some recipes worth trying. Not as many recipes as I was expecting though.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Derivative, but a good basic intro to veg cooking.