Best vegetarian cookbooks for beginners
I've been vegetarian for many decades - in fact I've never cooked a non-vegetarian meal !
This was so long ago that 'the internet' didn't exist, so you either learnt to cook from handed down recipes (none of these in my carnivore family), from television programmes (definitely no vegetarian cooking on television in those days) or..... you learnt from cookery books.
So which cookery books did I use and which ones do I think might be helpful to vegetarian newbies?
Read on to find out!
Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian
Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian - This was the book that I learnt to cook from !
I had an earlier edition but it disappeared - did I lend it to someone? Did I move it on, thinking that there wasn't anything in here for me any more and I'd progressed beyond this book?
Either way, I bought the latest edition some years ago, I use it every week and my son learnt to cook from this book before heading off to uni.
There is everything you would expect from this most respected of vegetarian writers with detailed instructions for over 1000 recipes with hints and tips and suggestions for alternative ingredients.
With recipes for everything you could ever need from soups, snacks, sauces, pasta, rice, pies, puddings and bread this is truly THE complete vegetarian cookbook.
All of the ingredients are store cupboard items and mostly family friendly - the most requested item in our house is the Marmite flavoured egg croquettes (sorry if you don't like Marmite!).
You'll find instructions for 'the basics' such as making your own pasta through to quick family meals such as spaghetti with lentil and tomato sauce and many of the recipes are easy to 'veganise'.
If you're looking for a fancy book with lots of lovely staged photos and funky hard to source ingredients, this isn't for you but if you're looking for a cookbook that will last you and your family a lifetime, with recipes that you can really use and make your own, then don't hesitate to select Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian.
Mary McCartney's Food is a book of realistic uncomplicated home cooking recipes but this is also packed with lots of beautiful photographs of food, family and nature, which isn't surprising as Mary is a professional photographer.
You'll find plenty of basic recipes here (Yorkshire puddings) through to a delicious sage and onion roast.
While there's nothing too challenging or groundbreaking here, there are good family friendly recipes, some of which have been handed down to Mary.
This book is similar in content to Linda McCartney's Home Cooking. This was published in 1989 and although the styling is looking a little dated (not many photos and 3-4 recipes per page) there's still a lot in here for the new vegetarian, particularly if you want to use meat substitutes to help you transition.
There's over 200 recipes and this book can be found in charity shops and on Amazon for just a few pounds - great value ! I've popped a link below so that you can take a look..
I've seen a new family cookbook from the McMartney's which I've included below - Linda McCartney's Family Kitchen - there's an interesting introduction from Paul about how and why the family became vegetarian and there's over 90 easy family friendly recipes.
Gino's Veg Italia! is an award winning vegetarian Italian cookery book with recipes for pasta, gnocchi, pizzas, salads and gratins however there aren't any desserts in here.
Most of the ingredients are store cupboard and where they aren't, an alternative is given - there is quite a lot of dairy used in this book but no meat substitutes, if you're trying to avoid those.
Two of our favourite recipes are baked gnocchi, with beans, spinach and tomatoes and Summer vegetable frittata- both super quick, super easy and lots of possibilities for adding in other veggies.
Some of the recipes have a longer list of ingredients but the results will look and taste amazing.
Highly recommended to add a Summery Italian vibe to your cooking.
Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Vegetarian Cookbook is another oldie but a goodie and if I lost it, I would definitely buy a replacement.
This is a stunning book and has a colour index at the front of the book - this is a photograph of every dish in the book, I haven't seen this colour index feature used in any other books.
There's an ingredients guide explaining about the main ingredients such as rice and grains, pasta, pulses and nuts, vegetables, fruit, dairy produce and then you move on to over 500 recipes - what great value for money this book is.
Inside you'll find recipes for snacks, starters, soups, main course dishes grouped by ingredients, desserts, bread, biscuits and cakes. Some of the recipes also have step by step photos.
Quite a few of the recipes are on the spicy side so possibly not as young family friendly as some of the other books mentioned here.
This amazing book does turn up in charity shops, so grab it if you see it, don't let it pass you by!
BBC Good Food: Veggie dishes, Healthy veggie dishes and More veggie dishes
We couldn't decide which of these great little books to include and which ones to leave out - so we included all of them!
First of all - the books are small (approx 13.56 x 1.32 x 15.49 cm) but this does make them child friendly.
There's a photograph of every recipe and children love to look through and pick their meal - what a great way to get the family involved in cooking, in fact we bought a set of these for my son to take to uni!
All of the books have easy to make recipes for snacks, soups, main courses and desserts, with suggestions for accompaniments. There aren't any meat substitutes used but some of the recipes are quite dairy based, if you're trying to avoid too much cheese.
Having said that, many of the recipes are vegan or could easily be veganised.
There's other titles in this series and they are all worth a look.
We hope these short reviews have helped you - we'll add more items as we try them - please let us know what else you'd like to see.
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