Kate Kasbee

Cute but not very useful

When entertaining Kate Kasbee likes to present food on boards rather than trays, table runners, mats or doilies. Boards are trays without handles with the added attraction of wood. Frankly though, trays are probably more useful and who has enough space to store both?

This is an art book, not really a cookbook. Ms Kasbee instructs us to put food in bowls of different sizes, put the large main dish on a board and put little bowls around it. Her suggestions are grouped show more by use: meals, snacks, and entertaining, and then by a design concept. The "Ombre" board, for example is foods of the same color family, in this case reds including pomegranate, beet, radish, strawberries, and red pepper for a snack or luncheon.

The recipes are in the back of the book, 2 to a page. The recipes seem competent although Ms Kasbee's choice of ingredients is not necessarily what I would choose. Too many recipes are sweetened with maple syrup, for example. Maple is a nice flavor but can be overwhelming. Roasted sesame oil is not usually used for frying but here it is in recipes for pulled jackfruit and others. The assortment of vegan recipes offered is not very interesting. The tapas board seems meagre, given the array of tapas normally presented in a tapas restaurant where there might be loads of vegan options including potatoes, vegan cheese, vegan omelet, and vegan croquettes.

Ms Kasbee uses brand names, which is a kind of advertising I don't like to see. Why "Instant Pot" instead "multicooker" or "pressure cooker"? Why "Netflix Night"? Yes, there is also a "Family Movie Night" board a few pages later, but I can think of several clever alternative names to choose from.

It would have been nice if the layout artist had included the proper Vietnamese language accents in bánh mì. Multiple upside down photos make me dizzy and distract from the text.

This isn't a book I recommend very highly.

I received a review copy of "Vegan Boards" by by Kate Kasbee from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley.com. show less

Vegan Boards by Kate Kasbee
50 Gorgeous Plant-Based Snack, Meal & Dessert Boards for All Occasions

Mouth-watering photos of beautiful, colorful, delicious looking food with ideas for festive and everyday meals, snacks and desserts made this book one I wanted to return to repeatedly. When I had children at home this book would have been marvelous because I could have put out all of the items everyone in the family liked and then let them build their own meals. I did that in a different way show more using pots and pans but the idea and look of “boards” is much more festive. I also would like to try this once the pandemic is behind me and I have friends coming to visit again. I have a feeling I might be making a visit to the carpenter for “boards” in round and rectangular shapes just to have them and enjoy using them to serve family and friends on!

Words I wrote down while reading:
* pretty
* colorful
* festive
* fun
* kind of like a mini buffet on a board
* anything goes
* would love to try more than one of these in the future
* had never thought of pasta in buffet/board style
* any meal you serve with condiments could be board-ized
* Great idea to have the recipes collected at the back of the book
* lovely index
* Would love to have this book

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing – Harvard Common Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars show less