Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Angus & Robertson, and Indigo (Chapters)
East Meets Vegan*
Beautifully Photographed Book with Possible Recipe Issues
If you’re an American and have an interest in Eastern cuisine, including not-so-common Singapore and Malaysian recipes, you might find this vegan exploration fun and interesting. If you’re looking for quick and easy recipes or recipes that require only ingredients easily found in the standard American supermarket, these recipes will not meet your needs.
The author tells us a little about herself (from Singapore but has lived much of her life in the UK) and goes on to explain pantry and equipment requirements needed for the recipes. The book is divided by country: India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, China, and Japan. Each country’s (or countries’) section starts with a short essay about the author’s thoughts about the food of the region(s). In general, Eastern cuisines are vegetarian- and vegan-friendly, so a lot of the recipes are ones that are traditional within the culture already. But the author also plays around with making nonvegan recipes into vegan ones, like a version of Thai basil chicken. The recipes in each chapter include appetizers, condiments, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts.
Some of the recipes look to be potentially problematic. For instance, at least one recipe had the proportion of sauce to other ingredients completely wrong.
The book is sumptuously photographed. We see both pictures of the countries and photos of the recipes. When needed, the author also gives diagrams of how to fold certain foods, like samosas and summer rolls.
I received a free advance copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
