Cookbooks

Posted by Jill Harris Jan 6, 2008

I’ve just posted a review of Veganomicon -, which claims to be the “ultimate” all-purpose vegan cookbook. Its massive scope (250 recipes!) got me thinking about cookbooks.

There are more than 1000 vegetarian cookbooks in print, but recipe searching on the Internet is also popular. What could be easier than typing in “vegetarian nachos recipe” and having pages and pages of possibilities thrown your way? But there is still a place for cookbooks in the modern kitchen.

Foodies read cookbooks like they’re novels, and I’m no different. Nothing beats glossy photos of food prepared with gourmet flair, accompanied by useable tidbits and entertaining anecdotes; print-outs from websites just don’t have the same charm. I brought Veganomicon to my parents’ house for dinner on me. My mother wasn’t particularly interested in the recipes, but read all the notes and anecdotes aloud as pre-dinner entertainment.

What impresses me about Veganomicon is how it integrates into the Post Punk Kitchen website. Readers try recipes, then go online to post pictures, discuss the book, and alert the authors to typos. The best part is that Isa and Terry actually respond to their readers, making cooking an interactive experience. As another great feature of the web, I have also been given permission to post a recipe here - so take advantage of "taste like they took all day" Cheater Baked Beans as a preview.

Back to cookbooks: don't be shy when it comes to making notes on the pages. It might seem wrong to mark something permanent, but recipes ought to be dynamic and open to interpretation.

New cookbooks will integrate these types of interactive features, which will keep recipes evolving. This is especially true for vegan cookery because it is such a new discipline - keep your eyes peeled for future developments in this area.