Customer Reviews

David's Pure Vegetarian Kitchen

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I became a vegan four months ago. The transition from eating meat to a vegan diet is difficult to pull off. I managed it initially by shopping for vegan prepared foods at up-scale grocers. I also signed up for a series of vegan cooking classes taught by the author of this book, David Gabbe, through the local community college. I was thrilled with the knowledge I gained in his classes. He taught me how to prepare affordable, simple, tasty, healthful vegan dishes that I really enjoy eating. He has fed these dishes to his family for 30 years, and it shows. This is one of the most PRACTICAL cookbooks I have ever found, vegan or not. David relies on a small set of standard, readily available ingredients that are used over and over again to prepare an astonishing array of delicious and nutritious vegan dishes. The ingredient lists are short, the preparation is simple, and the results are reliable. I highly recommend the tempeh stroganoff, the tofu 'egg fried rice', and the cashew 'cheese'. I believe that it was truly "providential" that I found David, his cooking classes, and his wonderful cookbook so early in my vegan career. I might not have succeeded without him!!! Thank you, David!

i took a cooking class with david at the beginning of this year, and was completely blown away by how simultaneously healthy, simple, delicious, and inventive his recipes were. unlike so many vegan adaptations of non-vegan foods, mr. gabbe never resorts to cheap attempts to imitate (which often sacrifice taste, nutritional value, or both), instead forging ahead with genuinely innovative recipes that always end up both delicious and incredibly healthy. where other vegan recipes are often pale imitations of their non-vegan counterparts, these recipes stand on their own feet, and are as a result much more tasty than many vegan dishes of comparable health value.

i recommend this book especially to anyone who is interested in healthy eating but who feels intimidated by the logistical demands of cooking with healthy whole foods. no other cookbook i have read has recipes as simple to follow as these, let alone as nutritious. and because the recipes are so simple, they are very easy to modify to suit personal tastes or experimental proclivities.

this is by far my most-used cookbook and i can't recommend it highly enough.

I have many, many cookbooks, but this is the one I reach for all the time! The recipes are easy to make and very tasty. For example for those of you who like rich, brown gravy, but don't want the unhealthful fat and flour, there is a recipe for Black Bean Gravy that will make you forget about "traditional" gravy!
You say you don't like tofu? That's because you have never had it prepared properly, and the recipes in this book will start you on a new relationship with this healthy food. You don't have to be a solid vegetarian to use these recipes - alternate them with your regular food preferences. Who knows- you may find you prefer the fresh, clean tastes of these foods versus frequent meat consumption! I know I do! I agree with the previous reviewer - if you can take a cooking class with David Gabbe, do it. It's a life changing event for healthy eating!!!

I really appreciate David Gabbe's simple recipes. For those of us with busy lives, his suggestions and tips make it simple to follow a healthy, whole foods (and really good!) diet. For anyone that lives near where he teaches classes, I recommend them. I've taken several classes from Mr. Gabbe and all were fun and highly informative.

"David's Pure Vegetarian Kitchen" is an amazingly accessible introduction to healthy vegan cooking. It provides a good overview of ingredients and nutritional considerations, and then it dives right into a diverse library of recipes. David's down-to-earth style takes all the anxiety out of trying a new genre of cooking. He's perfected vegan versions of many American staple foods - such as cake, gravy, burgers, and so on. These dishes taste so hearty and satisfying that you don't miss the milk, eggs, and other animal products. Even my non-vegetarian friends loved the dishes that resulted from the recipes in this book!