Louise Hagler

You know that website that shows the Weight Watchers recipe cards from the 1960s/70s with the terrible food photography, horrid lighting, unappetizing food and weird props like ceramic doves? This book has all of that, right down to the ceramic doves. Thankfully, no gelatine creations as this is a vegan cookbook.

I found the recipes to be uninspiring. This is one of the only cookbooks I didn't want to photocopy at least one page of.

Skip this and check out Meatless Burgers if you really want show more to try one of Hagler's cookbooks. show less

A few good recipes - pancakes and vegan mac & cheese were things we made a bunch of. That said, I think the fact that this is a cookbook based on what was served at an intentional community whose kitchen had to cater to the palates of many made for what I find to be a collection of overwhelmingly bland recipes. The kind of food that non-vegetarian people are incorrect in thinking vegetarian food is all about.

Pleasant surprise: though it doesn't say so, this cookbook is totally vegan! :o) Debated giving it four or five stars, but decided on five when I saw I can make banana pudding pie right now!! without having to go to the store for anything special-- which is also true of most recipes in the book (produce excepted, of course). You don't need to be a millionaire to cook from this book, and in fact you can be broke as hell, and still make all kinds of Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, Eastern show more Indian, Mexican and American comfort food. Test-read as a library book, I'm going to buy this one since it has a lot of recipes that are not duplicated/over-represented in my many other veg(etari)an books. show less

This book is kind of creepy/awesome just because the food photographs remind me of those 1950s jello/weight watchers/disgusting weird food photos. The lighting is unflattering and there are random pickles and olives shoved in strange colored dips. And this cookbook isn't even 10 years old which makes me wonder if they just used a really bad camera or were deliberately going for a vintage look.

But I digress. This cookbook is okay, but probably unnecessary if you already have lots of vegan show more cookbooks like Veganomicon, or frequently cook tofu and don't really feel the need for new recipes. I wasn't hugely impressed, given the 2 stars. I'm always looking for some new recipes, and I did find one or two in here that looked good enough to try, but I'm glad I got this book from the library and didn't spend any money on it. show less