These books to make your own vegan fast food, are good alternatives to fast food restaurants and takeaways, which often rely on animal ingredients and plastic packaging, not to mention way more oil than you need (most foods are deep-fried). Don’t feed vegan meat alternatives to pets, as they contain pet-toxic ingredients like soy, garlic, onion, mushrooms.
Also see how to make your own vegan mylkshakes.
Vegan Fakeaway is a lovely book of plant-based takeaway classics, for the ultimate night in. These recipes are so quick and easy, you can make them in less time than it takes to order home delivery. And without all the plastic packaging too! The book is divided into chapters:
- Middle Eastern Classics – falafel flatbreads, pomegranate tabbouleh, baba ganoush, jackfruit donor kebab
- American – finger-lickin’ wings, creamy mac & cheese, tacos, blueberry muffins
- Chinese – sesame spring rolls, Hong-Kong-style sweet & sour, Singapore noodles, crispy kale seaweed
- Indian – all-in-one biriyani, curries, naan bread, tikka skewers, and spices hot as you can handle!
- Italian – pasta, no-meatballs, Sicilian-style pizza, coffee and cream pannacotta
- Other – Greek Moussaka, chilli burritos and more!
The book also includes tips on freezing, cost-saving and ditching single-use plastics, to enjoy a fuss-free fakeaway, with minimal effort and maximum flavour. There are 15-minute recipes, slow-cooker recipes and menus to feed up to four people.
Katy Beskow is one of England’s most popular cookbook authors. A former physiotherapy student who learned to cook on a budget while studying in London, this led to a blog which led to a book deal. Its success has spawned a series of books, all using quick and easy affordable ingredients, translated in Katy’s no-nonsense Yorkshire style.
The Edgy Veg: Carnivore-Approved Vegan Recipes is by US chef Candice Hutchings, who is known for her expertise to veganize Big Macs, KFC, Filet O Fish etc. Now you get her skills in book form. The 100 recipes include:
- Lox & Cream Cheese Bagels
- Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
- Chick Fillet Deluxe
- The Mack Daddy!
- New York Cheesecake
Plant-Based Burgers (and other fast food fixes) is a stunning book by former Masterchef finalist Jackie Kearney. She makes burger patties made with ‘vegan butcher meats’ and other natural ingredients. Recipes include:
- KFC-Style Chkn Burger
- Easiest Vegan Burger Ever (with beet ketchup)
- Baby Got No Beef Burrito
- Tofish & Chips
- Vegan Chilli Dogs
- Seekh Kebab
Why Is Junk Fast Food Addictive?
Most fast food joints revel in adding ingredients that make them addictive. We’ve all seen those programs where morbidly obese people drive to the fast food store to buy what may be their last meal, but they can’t seem to help themselves. It’s no good being judgmental, often over-eating has emotional reasons behind it, that does not stop the fast food (and supermarket) industry ensuring addictive substances are added to profit-making foods. Read Hooked, a book that looks how the food giants exploit our addictions, through legal loopholes that put profit over health. Michael Moss says many foods are more addictive than alcohol, cigarettes and drugs – our bodies ard hardwired for sweet foods, so food giants develop 56 types of sugar to add to their products.
Cleveland Clinic says junk food is addictive, because it tricks our brain chemistry to eat more sugar, fat and casein from cheese, to release a feel-good chemical called dopamine (the one you lose if you get Parkinson’s disease). Food campaigner Michael Pollan says the solution is to simply change how you shop: go to the store on a full stomach and don’t fall for the tricks like putting junk food at eye level, buying sweets at the checkout and even succumbing the beats of music and colours to make you feel stressed, to entice you to buy (more) junk food. His 64 food rules include:
Don’t eat anything your grandmother could not pronounce
If you don’t understand an ingredient, don’t eat it.
Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does!
Don’t eat cereals that change the colour of the milk!
If it comes from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t!
Also don’t fall for ‘fast junk food’ claiming it’s health food. Aussie actor Damon Gameau eats healthy, and made a film (similar to Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me when he lived on McDonald’s for a month) and ate the average amount of sugar for a while – it sent him pre-diabetic pretty quickly, still including ‘healthy foods’ like store-bought smoothies and yoghurts. If something is low in fat, it’s often high in sugar. Stick to natural food, and you won’t go far wrong.
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Michael Pollan
Respect your body. It deserves better than laboratory-made sweetness. Damon Gameau
Cravings are not caused by weak will or gluttony. They are triggered by biological properties of the foods themselves. Certain foods have chemical makeups that cause us to crave them, in the same way as drugs, alcohool and tobacco. Dr Neal Barnard MD
The Vurger Co at Home is by a fast food chain with branches in London and beyond. Now you can make their food yourself, with these simple recipes. Recipes include:
- French Toast Crumpets
- Smoky Sausage Potato Hash
- Eastside Meatball Bowl
- Black Garlic Flatbreads
- Truffle Cheese & Chorizo Fries
- Cajun Shrimp Sub
- Pulled ‘Pork’ Sliders
- ‘Calamari’ Rings
- Tiramsu Milkshake
