Vegan Diet Guy

Isa Chandra Moskowitz has made a liar out of me. Not long ago, I wrote that Moskowitz’ “Veganomicon” was the last cookbook you needed to buy, and now she comes out with “Vegan Brunch”. Blame it on her vegan Italian Feast Sausage recipe.

You see, growing up in an Italian-American family, I was used to eating pasta with tomato-meat sauce for Sunday dinners and other special occasions. Meat usually included meatballs, spareribs, and sausages. Living on myown as an adult, special dinners had always consisted of meat of some sort, if not cheese, and more likely both! As a result, it seemed Sunday dinners would never be the same after becoming vegan. Now, 3 years later, I’ve discovered there are hundreds of other delectable and healthy meals worthy of Sunday and any other day. But when I’m feeling nostalgic, pasta with a “meaty” tomato sauce is the ultimate comfort food.

You may ask, why bother making your own vegan sausages, when there are already meatless sausages appearing on the shelves in major grocery stores? I think that’s great news, and without a doubt, vegan sausages are preferable to meat sausages, but reading the ingredients and the nutritional data, I’m not sure all meatless sausages are actually healthy, or good for your diet. If you like to know what’s in your food, like me, why not try making your own vegan sausages? (more…)

I’ve blogged numerous times about how The China Study was the single biggest motivating factor in my adopting a vegan diet. However, at least equally important is “Veganomicon,” the book that has sustained me through the transition and has become a fixture in my kitchen.

Veganomicon, which bills itself (rightly so) as the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, is the product of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, who also wrote “Vegan with a Vengeance” and “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”. The pair also created the PostPunkKitchen (theppk.com) vegan recipe website, where you can find some teaser recipes from the Veganomicon book.

My partner and I have tried about 40 of the dishes in Veganomicon, some several times, and our copy of Veganomicon (covered with numerous post-it notes and splatters of various sauces) is never far from our sides or minds. (more…)