Cookbook Reviews - How it all Vegan

How it All Vegan
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press, Limited
© 1999 by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard
ISBN: 1551520672

Review This Cookbook

Try out a Sample Recipe: Chocolate Banana NO-BAKE Pie

From the Author

Sarah Kramer:

Sarah and Tanya are long-time friends and self-described former "lazy vegetarians" whose love of animals made them want to completely eliminate animal products from their diet. Their decision to "go vegan" was a challenge not only to their palate but to their way of thinking about food and nutrition. With some imagination and a little know-how, the transition to a vegan lifestyle can be painless. And as Sarah and Tanya demonstrate in How It All Vegan!, vegan food is fabulous food, full of flavour and all the nutrients you need.

Two-colour throughout, the book’s chapters include entrees, soups, sauces, breads, salads, and desserts; there are recipes for blue banana muffins, mushroom barley stew, chocolate cheese-less cake, tofu jerky, and vegan versions of ice cream, mayonnaise, and Sloppy Joes. There are even instructions on turning other aspects of your life vegan: recipes for cosmetics, hair products, pet treats, and household cleaners.

With its campy ’50s style illustrations, unusual concoctions, and cool, punky sensibility, How It All Vegan! will tempt readers to animal-proof their diet and join the Vegan Empire.

Nice Extras:

Nice and detailed information about how to be a vegan.
Information on tofu and beans.
Recipes for making different kinds of milk (soy, rice, almond, oatmeal etc.).
Tips for feeding kids, plus recipes.
Fun things to do in the kitchen for kids. Includes recipes for play dough, glue, ornaments etc.
Recipes for making your own household cleaners.
45 things to do with vinegar.
A lot of health and beauty product recipes.
Recipes for animal treats and to get rid of fleas.
List of animal ingredients.

Average Rating: (7 reviews total)

Reviewer: Sheryl from BC, Canada :

I love this cook book. I am not a Vegan but we do eat plenty of Vegan meals at my families dinner table. The soups in the book are wonderful and easy. I also appreciate how Sarah Kramer is available on her facebook page to answer any questions that I've had. A previous review mentioned their comment about Vegan police and I must say that I wouldn't take it personally. Sarah is whacky, fun, and silly and I'm sure she didn't mean to hurt your (or anyone's) feelings by the comment.

Reviewer: Amie from California, U.S.A.:

A wonderful place to start. The recipes are simple and tasty. Look for the Faux Tuna Salad-- it saved my vegan life!

Reviewer: L.P. from ON, Canada:

I have to say that I absolutely love this cookbook. As with any cookbook not every recipe contained ingredients that I generally enjoy ( I have a thing against cilantro) so I skipped those and found tons that I love. There are wonderful muffin recipes that impress everyone-I always replace white flour with whole wheat pastry or another healthier substitute so it was easy to do that here as well. The simply hummus chili, and miso gravy recipes are still the best I have ever tasted. I think the recipes are fun and delicious. The authors are easy to access by their website and have come out with a second book which builds on the wonderful recipes and sharing of other vegan lifestyle ideas. The ingredients were easy to find. This was my first vegan cookbook (I now have quite a collection) but it is still my most well used. It is a great book for new vegans to learn how to reorient their eating styles. Have fun with it!

Reviewer: Rebecca from the U.S.A.:

This was the first vegan cookbook I purchased, before I went vegan. It definitely helped me make the switch.

Let me first say that I haven't had much luck with the baked goods (with the exception of the Chocolate Chip Bars, which I love). Maybe my oven is screwy, maybe I'm not following the recipe correctly, but all of the other baked goods I've tried have come out gooey or flat or dry. That being said, the other recipes I have made have come out fantastic, which is why this cookbook gets 4 stars. My favorite dish is the Vegan Sloppy Joes. Just a few of my other favorites: Kale Mashed Potatoes, Sarah's Delicious Chili, Spicy Garlic Toss for Noodles.

I also love the section for kids. Now I don't have kids, but I use some of the recipes, b/c they make tasty snacks. The chapter on household cleaners is great, and I love all of the uses for vinegar. I have also used a couple of the health and beauty recipes with good results, and the list of Vegan No- Nos was very helpful for a new vegan.

So, with the exception of my baking issues, this cookbook has been very useful.

Reviewer: S.B. from Washington, D.C., U.S.A.:

This book is so cute and has such basic recipes that I bought about 5 copies for friends when it first came
out (actually, it was the second printing, but I'll get to that). I thought it would make a nice
introduction to vegan food and would give everybody recipes for everyday foods. The hip look to the
cookbook got everybody interested in vegan recipes like I thought it would, but the recipes themselves
turned them away again. And I got phone call after phone call about which cake came out only 1 inch tall,
which recipe tasted terrible, and which recipe turned out fine but just didn't impress. After making a few
recipes myself, I came to the same conclusion.

This book is akin to a vegan version of those cookbooks that school districts or churches come out
with every year. Uninspired is okay, but when the recipes don't always work well, you tend to get
miffed. Also, there's a heavy reliance on processed foods, especially white flour. That's fine with me,
but I know some people who prefer otherwise.

What I do love about this cookbook is the personal products section. Need a quick vegan way to remove
crayon marks or a trillion ways to use vinegar? This book can help. Even though I had to triple the amount
of essential oil, I love the bath salt recipe and probably would never have attempted it without this
book (it made great Christmas gifts.)

I also liked the lip gloss, though I couldn't find vegetarian Vitamin E capsules, so I had to skip that
ingredient and use aloe vera gel instead. It was also hard to find vegetarian cocoa butter (no animal
stearic acid) for that recipe.

I don't have children, but the section with kid friendly foods and tips is pretty cute and looks like
it would be helpful. For instance, there's a recipe for play dough and bubble solution (I'd make the kids
go outside to blow the bubbles, since that one has sticky corn syrup in it.)

The book also gets some points in that the authors are particularly accessible. When I had a problem with an
earlier printing of the book because so many recipes contained honey and because it didn't contain an
index, the authors wrote me personally to talk about it. At first I was very happy about their involvement
and kindness, but I was dismayed later after I bought the corrected version to see the section about the
"vegan food police" which may not be, but sure felt like a jab at the people who had questioned the
authors' previous use of honey in this vegan book. Thankfully, the honey is gone and the index has
appeared now.

Reviewer: Molly from Wisconsin, U.S.A.:

If there were six stars for the best cookbook that you could possibly get, I would give them to How it all Vegan. Besides great, easy recipes, this book provides all the basics, from vegan kid stuff to vegan house & home products that you can make on your own.

If you don't have any cookbooks and are looking for a great one to start you off with veganism, choose this one. You won't be disappointed!

Reviewer: Melanie from Idaho, U.S.A.:

I love that this cookbook uses foods that I can buy easily w/o having to travel to the next town, every time I think a recipe looks good, to go to the coop.

As for the baked goods not coming out. I haven't had a problem, and I have probably made more than half of the baked goods. But what I have found, is that I always end up with more than the book's serving size. So, instead of getting 6 muffins, I get 8 or 9.

It is a great cookbook, in my opinion.