The Voluptuous Vegan: More Than 200 Sinfully Delicious Recipes for Meatless, Eggless, and Dairy-Free Meals

by Myra Kornfeld, George Minot, Sheila Hamanaka

There are many great reasons to eat vegetarian meals --  they're low in saturated fat, high in fiber, and chock-full of nutrients. But the considerable health benefits aside, gourmets often scoff at the likes of seitan and tofu, while vegans despair of dull, uninspired offerings. Until now. In The Voluptuous Vegan , Myra Kornfeld introduces creative, mouthwatering, truly voluptuous recipes that inject this incredibly healthy cuisine with a much-needed dose of culinary mastery,

* full, balanced menus with appetizer, main course, and side dishes
* a luscious array of soups and an ingenious selection of desserts
* invaluable information on terms, ingredients, and techniques
* a culinary world tour including Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle Fast, as well as Europe and the United States

Genres: Cookbooks, Vegan, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Vegetarian, Reference

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2000

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delicious- but no pictures. I hate that so much.
Also, this is not a novice's cookbook. Most of it is fairly complicated and some recipes require hard to find ingredients. Kornfeld provides sample menus, which is something I really like. Overall this is a great book for planning special events or making a meal that will surely be remembered (because of it's tastiness and the effort it took to make)

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are not a vegan, and not really interested in meat substitutes, this is the vegan cookbook for you. The focus in this book is on really incredible tasting food that uses vegetables and spices from a variety of ethnic cooking traditions. It contains a glossary that has been indispensable to me, and every procedure is explained in detail.

The ingredients are best purchased at stores that cater to the recipe's particular cuisine (Asian, Indian, Latino), or you will end up being frustrated at the prices and the difficulty at finding ingredients. Natural foods stores are often suggested, but if you're on a budget, and if you are buying something that seems unusual like bok choy or serrano chiles, you will notice that the correct store will peddle such a bulk of these items that you will end up being pleasantly surprised at the prices.

Also, I probably wouldn't use this as an everyday cookbook, unless you really have time to cook every day, or you get really accustomed to the more advanced recipes. It's worth checking it out though, even if you're a beginner, you will learn things about not just vegan cuisine, but cooking in general.

[Adrienna · Rating 1 out of 5]

So far the introduction grabs me in with phrases like "we all need to feed our souls" which is the first line. We start at the grocery store, natural food or organic foods is good for the body. Green markets (which I will be researching for those again).

"splash love into your food" and ready to see what ideas I can use in my new lifestyle and way of eating. I've read various books on raw diets, vegan, vegetarian, and some of the shakes or foods I've tried were mediocre or pretty good. I don't like bland or not so good foods, no matter what diet I follow. I'm about flavor when I cook! Easy and affordable too.

Sadly, the homemade recipes seemed a bit difficult since I don't do pies homemade per se and nothing sounded interesting or good to cook. I liked some of the ideas for ice cream but not familiar with arrowhead powder and not sure how it will come out. I'll just go get soy ice cream at a whole food store like Trader Joe's or Outpost (Milwaukee, WI/Glendale).

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a vegan, but I like to mix it up and eat a variety of healthy meat, vegetarian and vegan dishes. I liked this cookbook, the recipes sound amazing. The butternut squash, sage and pecan stuffed raviolis (made with red chile pasta dough) and topped with a pureed white bean and garlic sauce makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

My only problem is that the recipes seem to be pretty complicated and time consuming. Being a mother of a small child, it doesn't fit my lifestyle right now, but maybe one day I'll come back to it.

The really cool part about this cookbook is that the author includes tons of general cooking tips and recipe specific ones too. For example, she suggests using tapioca flour to thicken berry fillings in pies instead of tapioca pearls (as my grandma taught me) because the pearls can harden sometimes. There are great tips sprinkled throughout it!

[Kimberly Morghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just picked this cookbook up from the library for inspiration, and WOW! - this one has some seriously delicious-sounding recipes. I haven't made many of the recipes yet, since the heat wave has made the idea of cooking food less than appealing, but I really want to try several of them. I think I'll be buying this one to add to my cookbook library for when it cools down a bit. If you are interested in vegan cooking and want to go beyond the bland "rice and beans", this would be a great book to read.

[Chavonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mmmmm. I never buy cookbooks, but I had to after reading this. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but just reading them make my mouth water. As Kalem and I plan to have many dinner/brunch parties in the future, I plan to put this to good use! It thrills me to know vegan food can be utterly sinful and decadent. It appears that most of the recipes will take a lot of time and ingredients that aren't normally in our home (I'm learning about all kinds of new grains/produce!). My lasting impression is that this will be a fun book to use, but in moderation or for special occasions.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stews and soups are my favorite recipes out of this book. I cook one up every two or three weeks to last for a couple of days. The flavors are always perfectly balanced, and I feel like Popeye post-spinach after having a bowl. It also contains great recipes for tofu "creams". Yum!

That being said, these recipes are in-depth and often expensive to make. Only brave chefs need embark on preparing a full menu, and you had better purchase certain items in bulk.

[Jenny D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've made several recipes from this book, and while they were good, the time invested in making them just didn't make it worthwhile. And I'm not someone who completely shies away from complicated recipes, it's just to put that much effort it, the results have to be awesome.

I don't think this is for the beginner cook at all. Lots of instruction and lots of ingredients that aren't so-called "everyday".

[Plant Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the idea of this book, but I rarely use it because of the use of expensive and hard to find ingredients. I love the layout of the recipes, they are arranged in menus, with an appetizer, main dish, side dish and dessert. It's a nice change from the usual. I have had lots of luck with the leek tofu quiche with sauteed mushrooms, wow! So very tasty.

[Abilouise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasionally, like for my best friend's birthday, I'll cook a full menu out of this book, and it comes out perfect in terms of balance, portions, timing, presentation and that warm party-in-the-tummy, not-too-full-just-full-enough feeling that comes from a perfect meal. This has happened twice in the eleven or so years I've had this book. It is worth it.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

These recipes are indeed voluptuous -- they lean a bit towards the "foodie" but not too obnoxiously. Some of these are much more trouble than I would go to to fix food, and as usual the recipes are FAR too heavy on the garlic. On balance, though, this book goes a long way towards unseating the idea that vegans live on sticks and rocks rather than anything a normal person would want to eat.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything in this book sounds really delicious and I really love Kornfeld's other recipes that I've tried, but these all sound incredibly time consuming so I haven't really used it at all (but I hope to, sometime in the future when I have lots of time to cook!)

[Jenny Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

if you love involved multistep recipes, enjoy eating lots of chipotle peppers, and are a big fan of dinner parties, oh yeah, and you like vegan food, this book is perfect for you. it has an entire meal + dessert (like 4 recipes) planned out for you.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a vegan (and have been recently honing my steak cooking skills for my partner) but several of my favorite recipes come from this cookbook. The recipes are less involved than the appear though I don't usually try a new one on a weeknight.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another vegan book purchased when I first realized cows were my culinary enemy. This is the only one I would keep if I ever got motivated to clean off my shelves. It has some great recipes, and everything is organized into menus so meal planning is brainless.

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This recipe book had many delicious looking vegan meals. I appreciated that it had diagrams of how to cut certain fruits and veggies. Unfortunately most of the recipes require a list of ingredients and I am gravitating towards simpler recipes.

[Emily Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of recipes for the vegan or vegcurious cook. The only downside is that it is a remnant of an older cookbook era, and there are no photos! I would love to see a photographed reprint.

[Nate]

This was a Christmas present from '06 and I have only followed a handful of recipes. Okay, I will be more diligent in cooking once in my new place. Better review coming in the next few months.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vegan or not, this book contains some of the most delicious recipes I've ever come across. The peach blueberry pie is a summer favorite!

[Marley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've never made anything from this book--who has time to make their own chickpea flour for a dessert? Up for sale or swapping.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my most used cookbooks. The simplier veggie recipes make great side dishes plus it taught me to cook with tofu.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crap...amazing, yummy animal-free recipes that are rich and delicate, complex and nourishing. I also love the layout.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

time-consuming recipes, fantastic results!

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read it all and have made one of the soups. Looking forward to trying more recipes. Really excited about vegan food with flavor!

[Czarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recipes in here are very good, but very time-consuming and fancy. I need a cookbook that has more down to earth recipes. This one is more for dinner parties.

[Amy M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a bad cookbook. Everything sounded delicious, but they were more fancy dinner party than everyday fare. Not really my kind of cookbook...

[butterbook · Rating 2 out of 5]

These recipes are high fancy, lots of crazy ingredients that I don't have the specialty storesmoneyinterest for. Some interesting ideas, but I wouldn't buy this book.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of these recipes are really difficult, but i am comfortable making adjustments, and can get all the prep time down to an hour. I find these recipes super inspirational.

[Ivonne]

18.00

[Cheryl]

Hm. I can't be objective right now as I've been reading too many recipe and craft books lately. And realizing that no matter how carefully I vet the things that I want to try, I probably never will actually make the time to do so. I skimmed introductions, skipped soup and dessert. This is probably a pretty good book, but all I can really share atm is a list of recipes that appeal, that are accomplishable:

Roasted potato batons
Baked tofu triangles
Cucumber raita
Roasted chickpea 'nuts'
Spaghetti squash with sofrito
Garlic braised broccoli
Ginger baked tofu.

(What I really want is for her to cook for me... :)

Reference Jan 2021