how to make your own (vegan) French food

The Two Spoons Cookbook is a super book by a Canadian who lived and cooked in France for several years. She went vegan in her early 20s after losing a loved one to cancer, and also struggling with severe IBS.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (many human foods are unsafe around animal friends).

The book offers a show-stopping blend of over 100 dishes including:

Baked ‘Brie’
Classic flaky croissants
Buttery brioche
Herb garlic cheese
Mushroom bourguinon with buttery mash
Summer rainbow ratatouille
Pear tarte tatin
Sweet cherry frangipane tart

other good French vegan recipe books

Sarala Terpstra dreamed of moving to France for 10 years and finally did so just after the pandemic. She then learned to cook in the elegant wine capital of Bordeaux with a toaster oven, and rides a bicycle to the store. Her debut book Vegan French Favourites offers 30 classic recipes using wholefood recipes. Learn to make her cauliflower au vin and chocolate fondants.

The Buddhist Chef’s Homestyle Cooking is a book by a popular French-Canadian chef who says that rather keep making hundreds of recipes, just keep practicing until you have a good base of 10 or so excellent recipes to enjoy. Food to learn in this book includes:

5 ingredient apple tart (with flaky pastry)
Tuscan soup
Macaroni salad with jalapeno-marinated tofu
Shawarma tofu wraps
Ratatouille lasagne with almond ricotta
Buffalo cauliflower
Trio of vegan cupcakes

Often people take recipes from the Internet, the recipe fails and people think they cannot cook. It’s not the cook to blame, but rather the recipe. You need to buy a GOOD recipe book and practice the same 5 to 6 recipes. Then you will no longer need to look at the recipe. Jean-Philppe Cyr

France and vegan food?

Years ago, a vegan travel writer talked of an English tourist visiting France. He was asked if he had anything to declare. He replied ‘only my veganism’. The customs officer replied ‘then I advise sir, that you turn back’. Today things are more hopeful. Many top chefs (with Michelin stars) have gone vegan and are boycotting foie gras. In fact, if you take out the meat and cheese, French cuisine is fairly plant-based anyway with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Unlike how the media portrays, French people don’t guzzle bottles of wine, smoke endless cigarettes and eat fancy cakes all day. They practice moderation in a country where (like it or not) it’s frowned on to get overweight and lounge around in jogging pants all day. When French women living in London are asked how they stay so slim and healthy, they remark they would never dream of devouring an American-sized muffin. Like Italy, French petrol stations don’t sell aisle of crisps and chocolate bars – they sell gas!

kinder alternatives to pate de foie gras

Pate de foie gras is a so-called ‘gourmet food’, made by force-feeding ducks or geese so that their livers turn to pate. So cruel it’s banned to make in the UK (and Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Poland, Germany, Turkey and Czech Republic). Still produced in other countries, it’s falling out of favour due to welfare concerns (King Charles has banned it from royal residences) and bird flu. Boycott places that sell it. This recipe for vegan foie gras (Full of Plants) is by a French chef. It’s been tested on those who eat the real thing, to be an exact replica.

This Faux Gras (Two Spoons) is made from mushrooms and lentils, for a umami-rich seasoned paste by an American who has lived in France for several years, ideal on toasted garlic bread or gluten-free crackers.

Voie Gras is sold by Nestle (you can’t have everything but at least they’re trying). Spain’s Hello Plant Foods has sold nearly 4 million units of its faux gras, including to in Michelin-starred restaurants (Parisian chef Fabien Borgel also launched his own faux brand in France).

There’s a hidden consumer that loves foie. But what happens is that a photo of the ducks with the tubes sticking out of them flashes before them and they don’t want it. When they try Fuah! their eyebrows shoot up and they go ‘Madre Mia’. Javier Fernández (founder of Hello Plant Foods)

classic vegan recipes from a Parisian baker

Voilà Vegan is by a classically-trained baker, who set up a bakery in the world’s most butter-obsessed city in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. From donuts to brownies to macarons and profiteroles, her desserts were a surprise hit with locals and now she blends techniques from both sides of the pond. Recipes include: