Vegan Planet: My Favorite Cookbook

Vegan Planet has a brand new edition! I bought the original version in 2004, and it is hands-down the best vegan cookbook I have ever owned...And I have amassed a large library over the years!

I bought this book out of desperation. My significant other had a rather picky palate and only tolerated meals that WOWED him. We had been experimenting with different vegan dishes, looking for ones that were delicious, healthy, AND easy to prepare. That's a tall order!

After reading numerous reviews on Amazon, I decided to order Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. It looked like it had some excellent possibilities, and I figured that with 400 recipes, at least some of them would have to be hits for us!

And yes, indeed, we found numerous recipes that met all of our criteria! There is an incredible variety of recipes. Some are very simple and easy to make, while others require more time and effort. The cookbook features vegan dishes from around the world (hence the name Vegan Planet), so there are lots of flavor options. If you don't care for a particular taste, there are many others from which to choose.

We quickly found a dozen new FAVORITE dishes - you know, the kind you are delighted to enjoy week after week. This saved a lot of aggravation in coming up with weekly menus. Recipes that scored five stars out of five with us include (but are not limited to): pad thai, sesame soba noodles, apple-almond kugel, 3-nut burgers (the best vegan burgers I've ever had!), black bean and sweet potato enchiladas, minted baba ganoush, Indian-spiced lentil soup, Indonesian-style rice with tempeh, African sweet potato and peanut stew, pan-seared seitan with cremini mushrooms and red wine, and pizza Bombay. These are just some of the amazingly delicious recipes I've found in Vegan Planet!

Ten years later, this is still my go-to cookbook, both for tried-and-true recipes and for breaking out of ruts.

Vegan Planet features not only different ethnic and regional foods but also foods prepared in different styles with different staples. Virtually all of the ingredients used are easily found in the local grocery store, so it's not a "weird" vegan cookbook.

I have several cookbooks by Robin Robertson. They're all good, but this one is by far my favorite. If I were to keep only one of the cookbooks from my collection, I would not hesitate to choose Vegan Planet!