5 Interesting Cookbooks For Vegans, Vegetarians & People Who Love To Eat

With these excellent vegan and vegetarian cookbooks from local and international authors, you can go beyond tech-meat burgers and try other forms of vegetable-forward cuisine.

Cauliflower cheese pie. Eggless eggplant ricotta. Carrot mushroom loaf.

Though Moosewood restaurant was an influential institution in New York throughout the 1970s, the recipes championed in the corresponding cookbook might not go far enough to convert any carnivores today (though there are a few goodies catalogued in its aged pages).

As Alicia Kennedy explores in her book No Meat Required: The Cultural History & Culinary Future Of Plant-Based Eating, the popular cultural image of dairy-heavy vegetarianism in Western cultures is persistent. However, this narrow view obscures longer histories of vegan and vegetarian cuisine across the globe, from the invention of almond milk in 1226 (as evidenced by A Baghdad Cookery Book) to the development of plant-based eating within punk and anarchist spaces in the US throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

Within Aotearoa, plenty of restaurants within the hospitality scene approach vegan and vegetarian food with an inventive spirit. In Auckland alone, plant-based preferences are celebrated at restaurants including Forest, East, Shivani and Khu Khu Eatery. These wide-ranging cookbooks deliver instructions to enliven a similar approach in your home kitchen – whether you’re glazing a block of tofu or tossing seasonal salads.

Black Food: Stories, Art And Recipes From Across The African Diaspora by Bryant Terry

Bryant Terry is a formative vegan chef and food activist, who has been active within the food justice space since 2001. Dedicating more than 20 years of work to this cause has led Bryant to the release of Black Food, a multi-faceted collection that curates works from over 100 contributors across the African diaspora. The title, Bryant says, is inspired by Toni Morrison’s 1974 The Black Box which brought together a visual, collaged record of Black history in the United States.

Black Food isn’t solely a cookbook. It seeks to record and elaborate on histories alongside – and through – recipes for dishes like hot tamales with jackfruit and cilantro sauce and cinnamon roll pound cake. With its expansive approach, the book does include recipes with meat. However, Bryant’s plant-based preference means plenty of vegans will find it practical in the kitchen (as well as informative).

Start with: Bryant Terry’s hot tamales with jackfruit and cilantro sauce.

Vegful by Nadia Lim

In the introduction, before sharing more than 100 plant-based recipes, Nadia explains the roots of her vegetable-led cooking. Though she doesn’t identify as a vegan or vegetarian, she says it’s a “more creative, colourful and exciting” way to cook and talks about the value in challenging meat as the starting point for our plates. Nadia also provides a guide to seasonal eating in Aotearoa, which is a great point of reference for the beginning of each summer, autumn, winter and spring. It also highlights various methods for cooking each piece of produce, depending on its quality and your own preferences.

The recipes in Vegful are divided into seven sections, dedicating space for salads, lunch and dinners, dishes for sharing and desserts, among other categories. Some of her recipe writing references her experiences; including cooking Italian food as a teenager with Ciro Sanino, travelling to Vietnam and recipes exchanged within her family. It draws on a range of cuisines, with recipes for gyoza, nachos and a mushroom “wellington” – Nadia takes plenty of licence with her global pantry. There are also short and sweet recipes for condiments that will quickly become staples in your rotation, from caramelised onions to vegetable stock and dill tzatziki – great for replacing ready-to-go purchases.

Helpfully, recipes that are gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan are clearly marked – Nadia also shares adjustments for achieving these requirements for ones that aren’t.

Start with: Bok choy and shiitake mushroom miso noodle soup.

The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections & Recipes From Omma’s Kitchen by Joanna Lee Molinaro

Molinaro begins the recipe section of her book with instructive recipes for “the basics” (think rice, broth and “fishy sauce”). The following chapters outline recipes for bbang (bread), banchan (side dishes), kimchi and salads, soups and noodles and pasta. There’s also a really informative section that explores how to stock a vegan Korean pantry, with detailed breakdowns about soy sauce, doenjang, gochujang and dried mushrooms (among other staples).

Start with: “Fishy” sauce.

In Praise Of Veg: The Ultimate Cookbook For Vegetable Lovers by Alice Zaslavsky

This vibrant and cheery collection of more than 150 recipes is a great guide for approaching vegetable-forward cooking. Australian-based author Alice Zaslavsky calls the book a “tribute” to the world of vegetables. She reflects on her lifelong experience of leading meals with vegetables and the necessity of learning to work with vegetables in all their different forms (including leftovers). She separates the recipes according to the vegetables’ colours and adopts recipes based on seasonality (inspired by various cuisines). In Orange, you’ll find instructions for integrating carrot, squash and pumpkin, and in White, you’ll learn how to put garlic, daikon and celeriac to use.

There are helpful tips for working through cooking methods here too, from steaming to blanching, from confit to grilling. She’s also followed up this release with Salad For Days, if you’d like to explore lighter and brighter recipes.

Start with: Fennel and tomato panzanella with homemade ricotta.

Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds by Hetty Lui McKinnon

This collection marks the fifth release from Hetty Lui McKinnon, who has worked as a vegetarian chef since establishing her Sydney-based salad service Arthur Street Kitchen in 2011. Tenderheart, as the name suggests, has roots in a personal place for McKinnon – she developed many of the vegetable-forward recipes in an ode to her father, who passed when she was 15.

Many of the recipes make use of ingredients and methods he loved, specifically ones that find their roots in Cantonese cooking. It’s a heartwarming collection and will likely inspire some sweet dining experiences to be shared with your loved ones.

Start with: Miso-maple sugar snap pea, turnip and strawberry salad.

More on plant-based plates

From dining out to eating in.

The Best Vegetarian & Vegan Restaurants In Auckland. There are plenty of plant-based eateries to suit a range of preferences.

Jesse Mulligan: Where To Go For Great Vegetarian Indian; The Boom Of ‘No Bookings’. Think vegetable stir-fry and pani puri.

Vegetarians Will Love This Sunflower Seed Pate. Sunflower seeds are often forgotten but are very versatile.

25 Vegetarian Dinner Recipes That Are Filling & Flavour-Packed. It won’t feel like anything is missing from these satisfying vegetarian recipes, from seasonal salads to pull-apart flatbreads and a meaty (but meatless) mushroom burger.