Cookbook Review; And A Give-Away; And Gravy.

I wanted to take a quick break from recipes and gravy to post a review on a very special cookbook.
For my Birthday last month, I treated myself to a couple Amazon.com purchases. My favorite purchase, by far, was World Vegan Feast: 200 Fabulous Recipes from Over 50 Countries by the lovely (and expert) vegan cook Bryanna Clark Grogan. Bryanna has written 8 (I think?) fabulous vegan cookbooks, (sadly I only own seven) each of which is packed with all sorts of wonderful foolproof recipes, details and cooking tips.

(I would rave like the crazed fan that I am, even if I hadn't just had the awesome opportunity to meet Bryanna in person and have lunch with her at VidaVeganCon. Squeeee!)

Seriously though, World Vegan Feast is (in my highly professional, totally unbiased Tofu-Mom opinion) Bryanna's best, and my favorite, so far! The book has over 200 really informative, well-written, unique and super-tasty recipes from around the world. As a history-geek-foodie sort myself, I especially love the extensive food science and history knowledge, and the obviously thorough research Bryanna has put in this book. So far, I've been blazing my way through this cookbook because SO MANY of the recipes sound so good! In fact, I've tried more recipes from this cookbook in the past month than I've made out of many cookbooks I've owned for years; Jamaican-style Pumpkin Rice, Smoky Baked Tofu, Pesto Hollandaise, Mashed Potatoes with Chard and Garlic, Guacamole, Italian Chocolate Hazelnut Spread, Späetzle and Polenta - and I think a couple more.

Just look at my completely delicious little squares of perfect, crunchy-creamy, golden polenta!! I had no idea it was so easy! Ignore the other weird-colored food, the flash makes the veggies look anemic. (And of COURSE, I had to top it with gravy.You knew I'd do that. So, that wasn't from the book, that was my idea.) Anyway, I thought about writing a mouth-watering review and description of each recipe I've made, but realized that would take up a lot of room and I might possibly run out of creative adjectives for delicious, fabulous and super-yummy!

Yes, each recipe was perfectly wonderful and the directions were very clear and helpful, making them virtually fool-proof.
 And best of all? Well, the whole book is fun! Lots of unique and interesting recipes you may have never heard of or those you HAVE; vegan versions of your Grandma's old German (Creole/Spanish/French/Hungarian/Chinese/whatever) recipes and those foods you always wanted to try but they weren't vegan.

(Like the recipe I found that's JUST like I remember my Grandma's beautiful little späetzle drop dumplings. I put gravy on those too. Sorry, Bryanna, maybe this review should be called "How I changed every one of Bryanna's recipes by adding gravy to it".)
Anyway, while not all the recipes are super-basic-beginner-easy, the instructions and directions are!!  They're thorough and carefully detailed so it's like Bryanna's hanging out in the kitchen with you and helping you, step by step. I think anyone of any cooking ability will feel confident tackling them.
DO NOT miss a chance to check out this cookbook. It's a great compliment to any collection of cookbooks, large or small, vegan or not. and I am positive you'll find a dozen recipes you MUST try immediately!

That said, I'm so infatuated with this cookbook, I want one of my lucky readers to start cooking like a culinary world traveler too, so I'm GIVING AWAY A COPY OF WORLD VEGAN FEAST!


THE WINNER (after a random drawing) IS "LITTLE RED HEN" I'll contact you about shipping. CONGRATS!
 Open to U.S. residents only, leave a comment here telling me what "world recipes" or "family favorites" you've always wanted to find vegan versions of. For an additional entry, follow me (Tofu_Mom) or Bryanna (VeganFeaster) on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway, then post another reply here saying you did so. I'll pick a winner on Monday about 8PM.