Reddit reviews Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed [A Cookbook]
We found 13 Reddit comments about Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed [A Cookbook]. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Afro Vegan Farm Fresh African Caribbean and Southern Flavors Remixed
Ahhhh, my condolences, how tragic!
I'm something of a cookbook minimalist, and keep my personal collection pretty concise; I'm quick to give away books if they've been on my shelf too long without much use. I used to be a cookbook hoarder, but I don't have the space for it anymore, lol.
The cookbooks I have on the shelf rn are Season, The Palestinian Table, Arabesque, Afro-Vegan, Donabe, and several Japanese-language cookbooks.
For dessert-related things, I have Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft, Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique, SUQAR, and the Flavor Thesaurus.
Afro Vegan
Vegan Soul Kitchen
Crossroads: Extraordinary Recipes from the Restaurant That Is Reinventing Vegan Cuisine
Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant
PLANTLAB
The Blossom Cookbook: Classic Favorites from the Restaurant That Pioneered a New Vegan Cuisine
Candle 79 Cookbook: Modern Vegan Classics from New York's Premier Sustainable Restaurant
I'd second Ottolenghi! I have Plenty and Plenty More and the recipes are honestly just so wonderful... particularly good for the summer when produce is at its best and you're craving fresh, flavourful, colourful food to match the weather.
In terms of really learning and having a totally new experience, however, I'd love to do this with a cookbook I've had for years but haven't explored much despite loving it: https://www.amazon.ca/Afro-Vegan-Farm-Fresh-African-Caribbean-Southern/dp/1607745313/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=afro+caribbean+vegetarian&qid=1551191162&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull.
I know very little about Caribbean cuisine, let alone the cuisine of the wider black diaspora, and this book is a great overview. It has music to go with each recipe, discussion of ingredients, culture and context - it's a really holistic approach to learning about the cuisines included. It's fun, light and easy! Personally, if I were going to do a cookbook project I'd probably use one like this where I'd really be immersing myself in something new rather than just cooking good food. It's all about opening up new worlds and sharing in someone's worldview through food, after all.
The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak is a great book with tonnes of clever ideas and substitution advice, all of her books are pretty great. Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen would be a great one as well, same with Bryant Terry's Afro Vegan. If you are looking for something easy and cutesy, the vegan stoner cookbook is a good bet too.
Bryant Terry's Afro-Vegan is great! Simple recipes with bits of history, humor, health and music (each recipe has a suggested soundtrack song) mixed it. And, it's a beautiful book with lots of pictures and a lovely printed cloth binding.
Veganomicon is less than $10 on Amazon if you get it used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/156924264X/ref=sr_1_6_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1486674904&sr=8-6&keywords=vegan+cookbook
Afro Vegan is solid, and is less than $20 new:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607745313/sr=8-31/qid=1486674985/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1486674985&sr=8-31
Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews is like $4 used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/076793072X/ref=sr_1_5_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1486675176&sr=8-5&keywords=nava+atlas
Vegan Without Borders is $5 used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1449447082/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=
Welcome!!
If soul food is what you know & want, look into Bryant Terry's cookbooks. Vegan Soul Kitchen has gotten some amazing reviews. I've actually been thinking of picking up his most recent one, Afro-Vegan which is African, Southern, & Caribbean inspired recipes. Plus it looks like some good food porn for my coffee table book collection!
This subreddit is what inspired me to go vegan myself so I can attest that there are a lot of great resources around here. The people are friendly and helpful so never hesitate to ask questions!
My one piece of advice is this: patience. I know you've experienced this revelation of sorts and it's exciting and you want to share it with the world! I know I did. But sometimes the world is a few paces behind. My friends and family are still slowly coming around to the idea about a year and a half after the fact. So don't be discouraged if they don't hop on the vegan train with you right away. Have no expectations, don't take it personally, and enjoy the small victories.
Good luck! You're doing a great thing :)
Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed by Bryant Terry
Lots of veggie-centric recipes from scratch without being too labor-intensive; hardly any "specialty" ingredients. There's a whole section on spice combinations and sauces, which you can adapt for so many other recipes (I will never run out of ways to make yams). He likes coconut oil and peanuts a lot (I hate coconut oil and my good friend is allergic to peanuts), but I think the substitutions are not insurmountable. Other frequent ingredients are millet, black eyed peas, and mustard greens.
I use ppk.com all the time as a reference and love Isa Chandra, and I'm sure people will recommend Veganomicon as a kind of vegan "tanakh" ;), but Bryant Terry is who I'd recommend if someone is overwhelmed by their CSA.
This is great advice and a welcome article. Some really nice links leading to other links like this one for what looks like a terrific cookbook from a vegan activist.
Depending on where you live, your library might have a bunch. You can check them out, try some recipes, and see if it's one you might want to buy.
I like a lot of international and multi-cultural flavors so I like a wide variety of cookbooks including:
Afro Vegan
Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen
Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen
and a general cookbook that helps you make your own dishes using vegan staples:
The Homemade Vegan Pantry
Definitely agree there. Most of the time I've tried making my own "substitues" for things at home they don't exactly work out. Most of the time at restaurants it's done to quickly describe a flavor/dish out of ease. Honestly at home I mostly don't even bother with that type of food anymore and try to keep it simple. If I buy anything that's a frozen/prepared dish that's mimicking something that is overtly not vegan (cheeses, meat substitutes) it's on sale/i'm just feeling lazy/it's convenient.
While we're on the topic of cookbooks... :)
http://veganblackmetalchef.com/the-seitanic-spellbook-in-english/ (does a lot of good videos demoing some of the recipes as well, all with original music)
https://smile.amazon.com/Afro-Vegan-Farm-Fresh-African-Caribbean-Southern/dp/1607745313?sa-no-redirect=1 (incredible recipes. Haven't made one that hasn't been really good/fairly easy to make).
np \^.^ how's being vegan so far? (i started jan. 1, and it's been great, i just learned how to make mapo tofu)
Edit: also, maybe check out bryant terry's cookbooks, eg:
https://www.amazon.com/Afro-Vegan-Farm-Fresh-African-Caribbean-Southern/dp/1607745313
Have you read that AfroVegan cook book? It's meant to be good
https://www.amazon.com/Afro-Vegan-Farm-Fresh-African-Caribbean-Southern/dp/1607745313