The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine [Paperback]

Dynise Balcavage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009

Over 250 recipes organized by themes including cafe culture, breakfast at the diner, lunch cart, urban garden, haute cuisine, “just desserts,” and happy hour.  At-a-glance icons signify which recipes are low-fat, fast, omnivore-friendly, kid-friendly, and frugal. Also included are essential tips covering vegan cuisine, an overview of the vegan pantry, and numerous menu ideas that will please even the staunchest omnivores!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Urban Vegan is fresh, hip, and intelligent, and simply perfect for everyone – from the city dweller who wants to do a vegan dine-in to the rural cook who yearns to sample the vegan delicacies a large urban centre has to offer." - Dreena Burton, author of Eat, Drink and Be Vegan

 

“With an engaging, down-to-earth tone, but quirky and charming, Balcavage delivers the best of the world’s flavors to your kitchen, from Western Europe to the Middle East, and back home to Philly favorites.”

– VegNews

 

“You don’t have to convert to veganism to appreciate Balcavage’s healthy, Easy-to-make recipes.”

– GRID

 

“Dynise Balcavage's "The Urban Vegan," is less fussy, more funky, with vegan versions of sophisticated eats. It also requires specialty ingredients, but delectable dishes such as millet-crusted mushroom-leek pie and cherry-chocolate chunk scones are easy to make.”

 – The Seattle Times, Food and Wine section

 

 

“The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine is by Dynise Balcavage, who details life as a city vegan on her blog, UrbanVegan.net. Selections range from Marsala mushroom crepes and sweet-potato gnocchi with basil cream sauce (made with soy milk) to minty mojitos and sherry-infused pate (made with cremini mushrooms and pecans, rather than goose liver). As she puts it, newer recipes have transformed vegan cooking from "oat cuisine" to "haute cuisine."

– Winston-Salem Journal

 

 

“The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine by Dynise Balcavage is one of our absolute favorite new cookbooks!”

– GIrlyGirl Army

 

Praise for Celebrate Vegan

“Gather, rejoice and feast: Dynise has all the dining milestones covered, joyfully so. Her Italian mojitos should be a tradition for every holiday!”

– Terry Hope Romero, author of Veganomicon and Vegan Pie in the Sky

 

 

“Celebrate Vegan is a must-have book for anyone that loves to eat! Dynise makes every occasion a celebration, with 200 deliciously fabulous vegan recipes to celebrate holidays big and small.”

– Julie Hasson, author of Vegan Diner

 

 

From the Back Cover

Sampling ruby-red organic berries at a farmers’ market. Comparing thirty varieties of rice noodles in a Vietnamese food store. Ordering “good and greasy” vegetarian rotis from a street cart. This is the life of the urban vegan! Dynise Balcavage brings this fresh cuisine to life with 250 original animal-free recipes inspired by the colorful culinary landscapes of urban areas. Whether you are a dedicated herbivore or someone seeking a healthy, varied, and delicious diet, this book provides mouthwatering inspiration no matter which city market, restaurant, or corner store you visit.

Recipes are organized by themes including cafe culture, breakfast at the diner, lunch cart, urban garden, haute cuisine, “just desserts,” and happy hour.  At-a-glance icons signify which recipes are low-fat, fast, omnivore-friendly, kid-friendly, and frugal. Also included are essential tips covering vegan cuisine, an overview of the vegan pantry, and numerous menu ideas that will please even the staunchest omnivores!

Among the 250+ recipes:

Pecan Streusel Coffee Cake
Chocoholic Waffles

Rapini Panini
Honeydew Pomegranate Jigglers
Hot & Sour Coconut Soup
Savory French Terrine
Hedonist’s Stuffed Mushrooms
Chickpea Paprikash
Lemon Poppyseed Tempeh
Un-Fried Ice Cream

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Three Forks; First edition (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762752815
• ISBN-13: 978-0762752812
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dynise Balcavage is the author of Celebrate Vegan: 200 Life-Affirming Recipes for Occasions Big and Small, and The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes, from Street-Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine and eleven books for young readers. She has published recipes in VegNews, Vegetarian Times, The Philadelphia Daily News, and Végétariens (France's first vegetarian magazine) and has been interviewed in the New York Times, The International Herald Tribune and Vegetarian Times. When she's not globe-trotting, Dynise lives in Philadelphia with her 3 cats, all former strays. She blogs at urbanvegan.net and tweets at theurbanvegan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great new cookbook, October 16, 2009

By 

Lydia (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine (Paperback)

I just happened upon The Urban Vegan at my local "booksellers" and did not realize it was so new, it is copyrighted for next year! Lucky me! I loved the tone of Dynise's voice in her introduction. It was if she was articulating my thoughts exactly but much more mellifluously. I do not have any vegan friends so to read her words was really cool.

I am sure this cookbook/lifestyle guide/armchair international adventure will do very well. I made the Cauliflower-Chickpea Tagine tonight (adding potatoes since I am wheat free at the moment) and It Was Amazing. Tomorrow I am cooking up the Pumpkin Risotto with Sage and Sundried Tomatoes and have my eyes on the Chickpea Paprikash for next week. Yum! I am sure I will not run out of "What's for dinner?" for a long time to come. Thanks Dynise!

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful addition to the cookbook shelf, October 4, 2009

By 

John P. Plummer (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine (Paperback)

The last year or two have seen an explosion of new vegan cookbooks, and it can be rather overwhelming to try to choose among them. However, The Urban Vegan should be on everyone's list. Dynise Balcavage's fine cooking sense and surprising flavor combinations will make this book appealing to all kitchen adventurers, vegan or otherwise. So far, we have made two recipes - the Hearty Adzuki Bean Soup, and the Spaghetti with Eggplant - both of which were fantastic. Having followed Balcavage's blog for some time, I am confident that the rest of the book's recipes will be equally wonderful. Get it now!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I think this is my new favorite cookbook!, October 7, 2009

By 

bekki (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine (Paperback)

I flipped through this in my local big box bookstore and came to the realization that I wasn't leaving there without it, even with knowing I could save a good bit by ordering online. Every single recipe looked SO delicious and inspired that I couldn't resist--after spending well over an hour drooling over what to make first I realized there were no pictures, something I normally notice immediately but this book just looked so tasty I still don't miss them at all. I love how inspired the recipes are while maintaining a surprising simplicity in preparation. Even the "Haute Cuisine" section with slightly more sophisticated flavor combinations (Like a Raspberry Tamarind sauce-Yum!)aren't daunting enough to make them seem like a major task to attempt. I look forward to wearing this book out over the next few weeks.