One of the main criticisms aimed at vegan food is that it’s ‘fake’. Sometimes this is true, but in fact there are many chefs who only use real ingredients, which is ideally what we want, and often they end up tastier too. Try cooking with ‘real ingredients’, that are both kind and healthy, and make use of local fresh produce.
Before cooking, read up on a food safety for people & pets (many human foods are unsafe around animal friends). If growing your own food, learn how to make gardens safe for pets (includes indoor plants to avoid – avoid facing indoor foliage to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
The First Mess is a highly-reviewed cookbook packed with wholesome recipes to eat through the seasons. What makes this book different is that it uses real locally-sourced organic ingredients to create recipes, using seasonal finds from your weekly veg box. The author is a Canadian who grew up in a family that ran organic box schemes. She trained as a chef, and also writes and photographs well. So all combined, you end up with a smashing book. Recipes include:
- Fluffy whole grain pancakes
- Hot pink beet smoothie
- Broccoli Caesar with smoky tempeh bits
- Vegetable bean pot pies with potato crust
- Weeknight root vegetable dal
- Burrito-stuffed sweet potatoes
- Romanesco confetti salad with Meyer lemon dressing
- Roasted aubergine & olive bolognese
- Earl Grey & vanilla bean tiramisu
- Chilli tofu lime bowls
- Beet & mushroom bolognese
Laura Wright has been cooking and testing plant-based seasonal recipes for years. Her cooking blog is one of the most popular in the world, packed with recipes that use real affordable ingredients, and turn out well each time. Many of her readers are not vegan, she prefers to simply focus on good food to inspire, rather than be a ‘celebrity chef’.
a book of affordable seasonal vegan recipes
The Seasonal Vegan is a book of simple affordable recipes that make use of local seasonal produce. Each recipe is geared to seasonal crops, with some year-round menus. Illustrated with beautiful colour images, these recipes reduce environmental impact, spare our wallets and let you enjoy tasty wholesome food. Arguably, the best recipe books are those that use real seasonal ingredients, so here are a few of the best. Not only is food tastier and cheaper, you’ll find it has fewer food miles and less plastic packaging.
Debunking the myth that seasonal eating is only for people on higher incomes, eating local produce tastes better and costs less too. It also supports local farmers and producers (and is fresher, so tends to be more nutritious). Each of the 70 recipes includes a diary entry. Recipes include:
- Pancakes with blueberry compote
- Summer berry & coconut milk ice lollies
- Potato salad with watercress pesto
Sarah Philpott is a freelance copywriter and proofreader, who presents cooking programmes in her native Welsh language on TV. She also has a recipe column in a Welsh magazine.
a vegan guide to local & sustainable eating
Ripe From Around Here is a corker of a book (the debut book Get It Ripe is also excellent). The book is almost 15 years old but never dates, because it’s all about local sustainable eating (the extensive intro is worth the price of the book alone) followed by oodles of amazing recipes and meal plans by a vegan chef and baker, who can make wholefood recipes taste as good as any other.
Jae has since given up writing cookbooks, but these two books are her legacy, and worth reading and cooking from. A woman ahead of her time, she was writing about all the things we’re now discussing (food waste, organic food, community supported agriculture) over a decade ago. Recipes include:
- Mushroom asparagus risotto
- Wild rice with wild leeks
- Roasted fiddleheads with garlic
- Pear parsnip soup
- Strawberry shortcake
- Plum upside-down cake
- Blackberry peach cobbler
- Sweet cherry pie
- Lavender blueberry ice-cream
- Ginger peach ice-cream
how to grow, store & cook food (year-round)
The Vegan Cook & Gardener is a wonderful book, co-written by a father who is an expert at growing and preserving food, then recipes are by his daughter. This is simple feel-good budget-friendly food, ideal if you don’t want anything too fancy, with recipes for soups, mains and carrot or strawberry chocolate cake.
At once scholarly and entertaining, the book is gloriously illustrated, and the recipes are easy-peasy to follow. Joanna Lumley
I LOVE this book! Exhaustive, written in worlds that the layperson can understand and beautifully illustrated throughout. Paul Kerton
If you have a small plot, this is for you. If you have a balcony, this is for you. If all you have is hope, this is for you. It’s that good. Benjamin Zephaniah
Piers Warren and Ella Bee Glendining (father and daughter) are both experienced vegan cooks. Piers is a conservationist, permaculture expert and wildlife filmmaker who wrote the best-selling book How to Store Your Garden Produce. Ella Bee is a passionate advocate for animal welfare, who has recently received huge accolades for directing the film Is There Anybody Out There?‘, where she tries to find others with the same rare disability as her.