An inspirational reference to get you started in understanding and eating a vegan diet.
Eat vegan, you say? But I could never give up cheese!
Like a vegan friend bestowing their knowledge upon you, 28 Days Vegan: A complete guide for beginners opens with a hefty amount of information explaining the reasons why you may like to, why you should, and ways in which to cut meat and animal products out of your diet. With aesthetically pleasing pages, the vibe of the cookbook is a mix of homey and hipster akin to your local eco-friendly café. The photography is vibrant and each recipe is accompanied by a photo of the final product. The font size is small, and it would be beneficial to have the recipe directions broken down into more than two steps. Thankfully, most of the recipes are short and simple. With a semi-hard cover and strong spine, there are no worries about the page-turning mid-recipe as the book stays open like a dream.
The meat of the book is certainly the recipes. They are broken into four-week sections and each week begins with a shopping list, a preparation timeline, and a ‘How To’ section. For each day of the week, the reader receives a breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipe with no leftovers in sight. In an idyllic world, this would be great, but there is food wastage with the shopping list requesting specialty ingredients that the cook will not use again that week. For example, during week one, the shopping list calls for 70g of beansprouts for two meals, but the smallest packet of beansprouts in my local grocery store was 350g. It would be nice to have a week of food that had continuity with the ingredients, so you could use up everything and not waste as much.
However, you only live once, so I splurged on the beansprouts (a whole $1.95) and whipped up three tasty vegan recipes.
Roasted Sumac Chickpeas (p. 88)
Readers are encouraged to make and keep Roasted Sumac Chickpeas on hand to put on top of salads or other dishes. I used tinned chickpeas and reserved the aquafaba (also known as the excess liquid in a chickpea tin, which I learned can be very useful in a vegan diet!). Though the recipe was super simple, I’m not sure where I went wrong. My chickpeas were a bit chewy and lacking the crunch that you would expect after 45 minutes in the oven. It’s a nice idea to have them on hand to add protein to any dish, but next time I might opt for the air fryer to ensure their crispiness.
Sesame Tofu Stir Fry (p. 110)
We eat a lot of stir fry, so I am always looking for a way to mix things up. My challenge this week came in the form of coagulated soy milk, better known as tofu.
Like most people who grew up in meat-eating Western households, I always thought tofu was gross. I had no idea how to cook it and I had a bunch of questions like, “Will I get sick if I eat raw tofu? Can I cook it in a fry pan?” Fortunately, I always have Google handy, but I think it would have been extremely useful for the authors to include a ‘How to: Cook Tofu’ section in this cookbook for beginner vegans.
In the end, I cooked the tofu just like I would chicken, ensuring it was golden brown with a slight crust on the outside. The star of this recipe was the sauce, with a perfect ratio of sweet, salty, and spicy. Even my partner, who groans when he hears ‘vegan meal’, appreciated the flavours of the Sesame Tofu Stir Fry and helped himself to a second serve.
Quinoa, Asparagus, & Roasted Tomato Salad (p. 152)
Extremely simple and easy to prepare ahead of time, the Quinoa, Asparagus, & Roasted Tomato Salad will be on our lunch rotation for a long time to come. I substituted broccoli instead of asparagus, but any green vegetable would work well with the flavours. The roasting of the tomatoes required a bit more time in my oven than stated in the recipe, but they benefitted from being cooked until almost caramelised. Of course, I had to add the Roasted Sumac Chickpeas to complete the dish!
Based solely off the photo in the cookbook, my Mom requested this recipe and cooked it for herself and my brother. They are both meat-eaters, so I was not expecting a rave review but to my surprise, I received a picture of their meal and a text from her claiming, “We eat vegan!”
If you are a little curious about veganism, 28 Days Vegan provides a good place to start to gain more insight into the lifestyle. The authors do suggest not jumping into a vegan diet right
Reviewed by Alessa Young
Distributed by: Simon & Schuster
Released
RRP: $29.99
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