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116 of 117 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Vegan milestone, filled with information and inspiration, January 23, 1999
By A Customer
The cover-page promises that Joanne Stepaniak will tell "Everything you need to know about Vegan Ethics and Lifestyle Choices, Social Environmental and Psychological Perspectives, Household and Personal Care Products, Nutritional Guidelines, Recipes, Menus, and Substitutions, Resources, Organizations, and Publications." And it keeps every promise. The breadth of topics and issues it covers, joined with its thoughtful and penetrating review of vegan values, goals and principles, make this a milestone in books about veganism. Many books on this subject focus narrowly on eating exclusively plant foods. This creates the impression that veganism is just a regimen for people whose urgent concerns about their health lead them to adopt a strict vegetarian diet. From this narrow viewpoint, it is the choice of foods that defines and motivates veganism. While Stepaniak confirms diet as an essential element of vegan living, she holds fast to a much broader, deeper and more meaningful perspective. She presents veganism as a wide-reaching *lifestyle,* and characterizes her book as being about "living with conscience, conviction and compassion." The book is not limited to "why" a vegan lifestyle is such a benevolent force in the world. It provides an abundance of practical information on "how to" succeed in dealing with the concrete, day-to-day issues of vegan living. It deals as well with the more subtle-- and profound-- challenges of social interactions in a culture that shows little commitment to full-scale compassion for animals *or* for humans. Indeed, according to Stepaniak, vegan concerns with the alleviation of suffering and the display of gentle respect for living creatures must apply to *all* forms of sensate life... *including* our fellow humans. To hear her elaborate the principles of universal compassion in a gentle, kind voice that is totally lacking in strident, punitive and judgmental overtones, is to observe --in action-- the principles she is advocating. Her concerns for healthy, happy, gratifying living are further manifested in the chapters on food, where Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D. contributes an important section on vegan nutrition. Stepaniak provides menus for feeding grown-ups, teen-agers and toddlers, and offers fifty-two pages of her typically imaginative and delicious recipes. This book is a treasure-- a comprehensive source of information, inspiration and support for long-time vegans as well as for newcomers.
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105 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Veganism ..., June 12, 2001
When my wife and I decided to go vegetarian in early April, 2001, we really had no plans on cutting out all animal products from our diets (eggs, animal milk, dairy cheese, etc.), but after reading more than one of Joanne Stepaniak's books, we committed to the more extreme step just days after we became vegetarians. Who is Joanne Stepaniak, you ask? After writing at least a half dozen excellent Vegan cookbooks, and now authoring this unique sourcebook (I don't think there are any such others), Stepaniak has become one of America's most famous and authoritative Vegans. And with good reason! This impressively comprehensive survey should be subtitled "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Veganism ... But Were Afraid to Ask" and it's an amazing and engrossing read for Vegans and non-Vegans alike; I should know -- when I started on Page 1 I was not a Vegan ... well before I finished the book, I was. Stepaniak covers the entire gamut of Veganism from the elimination of animal flesh and products from our diet (for health reasons, for environmental reasons, for moral reasons) to the total elimination of animal byproducts in other areas of our lives. But Stepaniak is also a realist who repeatedly recognizes the futility of taking such an ethic too far -- and she continually reminds her readers to see the forest for the trees (a refreshing characteristic sadly lacking in similar literature). And never for a moment did I detect any aggressive proselytizing, any holier-than-thou attitude, unlike other books on similar topics. Stepaniak's greatest trait is her ability to balance compelling arguments with gentle compassion and understanding and this is evident on every page. To anyone interested in improving life on this planet, including their own, I can't recommend this book more highly.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vegan Sourcebook: The must have reference for all Vegans!, August 3, 2004
I've been Vegan now for aprox. 2 months; during this time I've read about half a dozen books and numerous articles. This is by far the best book I've read so far!!! Let me explain:
Being new to Veganism is confusing as well as exciting, problem is, you have to search a lot to find answers, recipes etc..
Jo goes over all the essentials in her book starting out with what Vegan means, outlining out the origin when the Vegan society began and how it evolved into today's Veganism.
Also, she goes into WHY ingredients like milk,eggs, honey, etc.. are damaging. As well as how environmental issues affect animals as well as humans. Tough issues such as vivisection, zoos, circuses, experimentation, testing, etc.. are covered and well explained. A tough issue for me is career choices, she goes into a lot of the issues we all can and probably will experience as vegans.
The nutritional charts are an incredible resource, so many new Vegans (including myself) are dealing with the issue of "Am I getting enough protien..calcium...iron..etc...) Well, perfect book for you right here!!! I reference it almost daily.
Theres recipes and meal planning too! Vegan code of ethics, as well as AHISMA and what it means. It's obvious from this book as well as how much activism that Jo believes and cares about what she does. How we can see where we are and why "spherical compassion" is different from what we might think compassion means. I totally recommend this bookfor anyone as a good starting point for Veganism or even if you've been a Vegan for years you will DEFINATELY benefit from this book.
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