The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat [Hardcover]

Tal Ronnen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2009

THE CONSCIOUS COOK is a breakthrough in vegan cuisine. By teaching readers how to make truly satisfying and delicious meals without the meat and dairy‚ it makes the shift to a vegan lifestyle easy.

A former steak lover himself‚ Chef Tal struggled for years on a vegan diet that left him hungry and filled with cravings for butter and meat. About ten years ago‚ he decided that the best way to satisfy his dietary desires was to make food that was good enough for "foodies" and could gratify his cravings for rich flavor and fat. The solution? Create vegan meals with substantial proteins that could literally change the way people eat. He studied all aspects of non−meat proteins and today is widely regarded as the expert in the field‚ developing new concepts for meals and sauces and helping to improve textures for food companies such as Gardein (the provider of vegetable proteins used by

Morningstar Farms‚ It′s All Good‚ Trader Joe′s brands‚ and the prepared food department of Whole Foods‚ to name a few).

THE CONSCIOUS COOK features a center−of−the−plate protein in all of its entrees−a first for vegan cookbooks. Seventy−five original recipes are organized by categories that include starters and small plates‚ soups and salads‚ entrees‚ and desserts. Each recipe is accompanied by stunning full−color photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Tal Ronnen’s assertion is that [The Conscious Cook] will change the way you eat. It will, for the better.” (Basil & Spice )

Named one of the top ten cookbooks of the year. (Epicurious )

#3 New York Times bestselling book (New York Times )

#14 Wall Street Journal Bestseller (The Wall Street Journal )

What you’ll probably be most conscious of as you prepare the 75 vegan recipes from “The Conscious Cook” is how delicious the food is. (Lisa Messinger, creators.com )

“Tal’s recipes are simply fantastic . . . Whether you are a vegan, vegetarian, or committed meat eater, this is a book that can help you down the path of higher-quality, good tasting, humane eating.” (Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States )

“Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying.” (Oprah Winfrey, on Oprah.com )

“Meeting Tal has changed our lives for the better. We wish everyone could experience his cooking. It’s delicious and healthy at the same time—sometimes that’s a hard balance, but not with Tal.” (Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi )

“You name ‘em, he’s fed ‘em. Tal Ronnen is no up-and-comer—he has long since arrived and taken over the culinary world of veganism.” (Rory Freedman, author of Skinny Bitch )

“What’s great about this cookbook is its range and its approach to meatless cooking. No main dish ever feels like a side dish . . . Instead, each meal is made to be complete and satisfying.” (fitsugar.com )

About the Author

Chef Tal Ronnen is the most celebrated vegan chef working today. In the spring of 2008, he became known nationwide as the chef who prepared vegan meals for Oprah Winfrey's 21-day vegan cleanse. He has since catapulted to fame, catering Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's vegan wedding, Arianna Huffington's party at the Democratic National Convention, and the first vegan dinner at the U.S. Senate.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (October 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061874337
• ISBN-13: 978-0061874338
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (148 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chef Tal Ronnen is the most celebrated vegan chef working today. In the spring of 2008, he became known nationwide as the chef who prepared vegan meals for Oprah Winfrey's 21-day vegan cleanse. He has since catapulted to fame, catering Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's vegan wedding, Arianna Huffington's party at the Democratic National Convention, and the first vegan dinner at the U.S. Senate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

291 of 296 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watershed book includes sophisticated use of new vegan products, vegan history, chef bios, and maximum multi-level flavor, October 8, 2009

By 

J. Al-hashimi - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat (Hardcover)

This is an extremely sincere high-end vegan cookbook. In the past, vegan cookbooks produced average to sub-average results and include recipes that involve either mixing vegetables (cooked or raw) in various combinations, using frozen pie dough and wonton skins in a couple obvious ways, and simplistic tofu/tempeh recipes that don't taste very good. There are a few breakthrough high-end vegan cookbooks lately from inspired chefs, such as "Great Chefs Cook Vegan," compiled by Linda Long, "Vegan Soul Kitchen" with Bryant Terry and now this one.

This book is more comprehensive than the other two because it goes gives vegan chef bios (many of them vanguard and brilliant)and important vegan restaurant history as well as rationale for eating vegan and ways to use new-to-newish vegan ingredients, such as Gardein (vegan "meat" products; chicken breasts, chicken strips, and beef strips), Earth Balance (vegan butter in solid form), Vegannnise (vegan mayo), Field Roast Italian Style seitan sausages, New Chapter All-Flora probiotic capsules (to culture homemade cashew or macadamia cheese and give it a sharp flavor), tempeh bacon, precooked udon noodles, vegan mozzarella, etc . Also, for people who haven't cooked vegan, recipes are included for ingredients for more involved recipes such as cashew butter, hazelnut milk, Asian slaw, the use of ground flaxseed in baked goods as a substitute for eggs, and new ones such as chipolte cream and tofu ricotto.

Most people would probably enthusiastically eat vegan if they had access to meals of this quality. So, the challenge is to learn how to cook at this level, how to use the unique ingredients, until it becomes easy.

One challenge of vegan are the tofu, tempeh and seitan preparation, because of their high protein content; a couple winner recipes here are Old Bay tofu cakes and cornmeal encrusted tempeh. Recipes with new meat-substitute products bring a welcome level of sophistication and ease to vegan cooking. Additionally, there are presented a number of great unusual grain recipes using quinoa, spelt flour, etc.

For those who haven't cooked vegan or vegetarian, this book will give you contemporary "how-to" that will make your first efforts worthy endeavors and bring your skills to produce multi-level and exotic flavors quickly. No oddball vegan results here. Working from this book is cooking with vegan master chefs, you really can't go wrong. It is the sort of book beginners should cook their way through. By the time they get to the last page, they will be a master vegan cook with a sophisticated repetoire... a very nice endeavor indeed.

I was a bit apprehensive that this cookbook was going to be mainly a promotion vehicle for Gardein because it has been pre-featured on their website, but it is not. It is an excellent vegan cookbook, probably the best quality and most comprehensive one on the market.

81 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gourmet food, very creative, but not very accessible for the home cook, January 11, 2010

By 

D. Nidy "Dawn" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat (Hardcover)

I'm psyched that Tal Ronnen was on Oprah talking about his book and that so many people have bought this book and are being exposed to vegan cuisine. For all those people buying up the Julia Childs cookbooks but are now trying to get healthier and "more conscious", I think this is the book for them. It is haute cuisine with gourmet flavors made vegan. It reminds me of the Millennium cookbook in that it requires advanced cooking techniques, expensive ingredients, and complex flavors. This is great if you're a foodie and really love to cook. The pictures are amazing, the design and layout are gorgeous, and the recipes are tantalizing.

However, it's not accessible for the average home cook. And like the Millennium cookbook, it's destined to sit on my shelf until a special occasion arises where I want to spend hours in the kitchen making something. Case in point: I spent three hours prepping and cooking a meal from this book (agave lime tofu with sweet potatoes and asian slaw). I spent an hour and a half prepping and cooking another (asparagus lemon meyer risotto). And those were two of the the recipes I thought sounded the easiest. And the ingredients were not cheap, either.

There are several things about this cookbook that make it inaccessible for the home cook: 1) the complexity of the cooking techniques 2) the need for many, often expensive ingredients and 3) the need for very difficult to find ingredients and 4) the need for expensive kitchen appliances like a Vitamix blender and a pasta maker. A good portion of the recipes are using Gardein meat substitute. I just went to Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, a very well-stocked all, vegetarian supermarket. Guess what I couldn't find? The gardein cutlets, breasts or steak used in many recipes. So if not there, where in the heck do you find this stuff?

The other thing I don't like is that Tal Ronnen is financially invested in Gardein. So it's kinda sketchy to me that he's pimping out this latest meat substitute under the guise of a cookbook. But on the other hand, if more and more people start asking their groceries to carry the stuff, maybe it will become pervasive and I'll be happy to find a great meat substitute on supermarket shelves.

Don't get me wrong - I think this is a good problem to have - that there's a vegan cookbook on the market that is over my head. We are lucky enough now to have so many to choose from. I don't think any omnivore cookbook would suit every meat eater, so not every vegan cookbook will suit every vegan either. I wouldn't recommend as the first vegan cookbook you buy if you're an average home cook like me. I'd instead recommend Veganomicon. And on top of that, I'd recommend dinner reservations at Millennium in San Francisco where you can sit back and enjoy gourmet vegan cuisine that others carefully prepare for you.

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must-have book, October 6, 2009

By 

William Kerr (woodstock, ny) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat (Hardcover)

This book is a must-have for anyone who entertains the occasional vegan or has a family member that is vegan. More importantly, it is likely the best resource out there for those who wish to 'wow' a meat-eater with vegan dishes. These dishes will blow you away, and Tal pays well deserved respect to some of the leading vegan chefs in the world (so a reader has the benefit of their expertise as well). You will not be disappointed with this book - the information is compelling, the photos are exceptional and the dishes are to die for.