Customer Reviews

Vegan Lunch Box Around the World: 125 Easy, International Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love!

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was the first in line at my local bookstore to grab a copy of Vegan Lunch Box Around the World. I have to admit that I am a fan of McCann's blog, and her first book, the Vegan Lunch Box, but this book is its own work of art that makes you not only want to use this book, but turn your own lunches into a work of art no matter what your age.

McCann's book is useful in multiple ways. First, she provides several menu suggestions for various parts of the world including: United States, Canada. Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Japan. If you are unfamiliar with any of these locations, having the menu suggestions are invaluable. Also, the book has a picture gallery, showing multiple lunch box options and presentations of the menu. The pictures are so elegant; it really makes me want to have multiple lunchbox systems. The other way that the book is amazing is that it offers over 125 recipes. The recipes are very friendly to the family on the go. Many come together quickly and are made with items that can be found at the store (in a bigger city) or easily ordered online. With items that might be harder to find, McCann always gives options to order from the internet. This means that there might be some preplanning involved, but gives you something to look forward to in the mail. If you're pressed for time and looking for easy yet inventive vegan recipes, than just double or triple the recipes depending on the amount of people you have, and you have vegan dinner! Yay! Even McCann's most exotic recipes have ingredients that are commonly found. The Moroccan Tagine is a great example. It's elegant and exotic, yet, every ingredient can be found in a common supermarket.

I can't recommend this book enough. McCann strikes again, but this time with more exotic recipes, better allergen information, and more lunch boxes. Whether you're cooking for someone who is 4, or you're 94 and packing your own lunches, don't take more time reading this review! Grab a copy of this excellent book and start making vegan lunches!

This book explains how to prepare exquisite lunches
from the storage phase to packaging and preparation.
Here are some samples of classic recipes:
o omega 3 protein bars
o mango noodles from Thailand
o caramel dip with vegan cream cheese
o Bahama Mama's beans and rice
o California roll-gluten free
o Patatas Bravas from Spain
o Balsamic strawberries
o lemon-lime sparkle and a host of other fine preparations

There is an exhaustive list of recommended resources and
websites at the end of the book. The volume comes highly
recommended.

Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

My family is not vegan or even vegetarian, but my son is sensitive to dairy, so I try to keep it out of his diet and particularly out of his school lunches. However, he LOVES food of all kinds and always wants to try new things. So I need to be creative about packing his lunches. The standby of PBJ will only be sufficient for him every once in a while.

This book is filled with great menus and recipes for very healthy lunches, and I would say that most of the meals can be modified to a diet that is not vegetarian or vegan. But whether you want to go entirely vegan or not, you will find lots of healthy ideas in this book.

In all honesty, I use it more for inspiration and suggestions than for the actual menus. When I'm at a loss for ideas on what to pack for lunch this week, I'll flip through the menus and recipes and look for something that I can easily manage with the ingredients I have on hand or with only a couple of items added to my weekly grocery list. I always find something new and fun to try.

And best of all, my son got very excited when I got this book. He went straight to the pictures, pointed to every single one he saw, and asked me to make them all for him. They vary from pizza to sushi, and quite honestly, I'm not always up to the task. But there are plenty of quick and easy suggestions for busy mornings that can be tossed into the lunch box in a snap.

Overall, it's a great addition to my healthy lunch collection and I would recommend it to anyone.

Vegan Lunch Box Around the World by Jennifer McCann is a collection of vegan, allergy friendly recipes that your kids will love to have for lunch. Many of the recipes are also very suitable for dinner like the Chik'n Pot Pie and the New England Chowder. There are a wide variety of recipes including main course, soups, salads, grain dishes, veggie dishes & desserts.

The cookbook is broken down into two parts. Part one contains menus from around the world including United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, The Caribbean, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, The Middle East, India, Africa, Asia, Australia and Japan. Each section offers an explanation for some of the less common ingredients from the area like Vegemite in Australia and haggis in Scotland.

The first section also includes a sample menu from each country for example, in Vietnam, I found: Vegetarian Pho (page 103), Vietnamese Salad Rolls (page 91), Hoisin sauce for dipping, fresh or drained canned lychee fruit.

The second section lists all the recipes. There are a few sentences that describe the recipe, the recipe itself and then information on what allergens the recipe contains. Being a mom of two gluten intolerant children, I love this section! While the book is vegan (no meat, dairy or egg), you can easily add in meat proucts if you choose to.

The book has a section of beautiful color photographs in the center. Several meals are gorgeously displayed in a variety of settings including bento boxes, picnics and plates. The book also has a section on garnishes like radish rosettes that I found very interesting. The book has a total of 263 pages which includes two sections and twenty seven chapters.

The book is a combination of familiar recipes like carmelized squash and apples and more exotic recipes like golden Indonesian tempeh. You're sure to find recipes your kids will like but there may be some they aren't interested in too.

Some of the recipes include ingredients that I can't find in my area which is probably more my fault than anything. It would have been nice to have a few comments on what I could substitute for Asian Portobellos if I couldn't find them.

I got this book first at the library for my 21-year-old daughter who recently went vegan after many years of being a vegetarian. I wish I had thought to look for one like it while she was still in grade school. She would not have begged me to let us eat like "normal" people for a few years if I had been inspired like this author to make healthy lunches that were both easy and fun. Her response when she saw the photos in this book was, "WOW! Now, I won't have to be the 'poor vegan with the boring food' anymore!" She is now making her own lunches since she is in college and living with her dad; and next year, she'll be living on campus and won't be on any meal plan because she likes to eat organic, vegan meals. She was so happy to think that I owned this book I had lent her so she could keep it. I waited a few weeks to see if she really liked it, and she does - even though she does not usually like to cook or prepare food. So, I bought a copy for her and will probably end up buying one for my own library. It includes enough photos to inspire me (and make me smile!) and zeroes in on packable, vegan lunches that are fun to make and interesting to look at and eat. Vegan should not be boring, not even for us adults! (Did you know that Dr. Oz keeps to a vegan diet for his health? He's no dummy! :)

This book is chock full of great recipes. I bought this specifically for children and I do feel that it has a great selection of meals most of my kids will be willing to try. It also have a bunch of recipes that there is no way on earth that they will even consider- but which adults looking for a nice lunch would enjoy.

We are vegetarians, not a vegans, but I did get this thinking of summer camp. With kids in camp and lunch boxes in the hot sun, I will definately feel better avoiding animal products that would go rancid by lunchtime.

The reason it lost a star was because I really would have liked more photos of the foods (located by the actually recipes for that item)and how the author presented them in the bentos.

If this book were better organized i would have given it 5 stars. That is my only real complaint. It can be hard to find what you are looking for when the first half of the book is organized by region, but the recipes in the back are organized by name. (and not usually directly linked, like "example on page _____")

all of the ingredients are easy to find here in Philadelphia, none of them required trips to exotic sources, and with a little bit of work you can make everything in here from a good standard supermarket. i could have found all the ingredients without even going to Whole Foods Market if i wanted to. none of the recipes are difficult, none of them require exceptional skills. ANYONE who can follow a cookbook and is willing to do a small amount of practice should be able to make all the recipes in this book.

For mixed households: by using one recipe as a side dish in both a veggie meal and a carnivore's meal you can send off your vegetarian and your meat eater with a healthy lunch and just prepare ONE dish in double quantity... add a meat or egg dish to one, and a extra salad or bean dish to the other and you are all set. if you have the other book (vegan lunch box) you will have a decent array of vegetarian sandwiches that can be used with these more exotic dishes to ensure that everyone has a meal they will eat.


NOTE: this book has very little explanation of "decorative bento" so if you want to make things very pretty you will need a book on food decoration. i can recommend several, depending on your level of interest, but just be aware that this book is about packing a nutritious and simple lunch that is healthy and interesting, NOT about making it artistic.


Seasoning/sweetness/etc: i am cooking mostly for adults. some of these recipes needed flavor adjustments for us, but i am informed that my friends with kids cant make them fast enough.


so, in summary: The recipes are clear, easy to follow, and tasty. more use of ingredients like tofu, sesame, tempeh, and such are in this book than the "vegan lunch box" which was pretty much mainstream American. two of the dressings/sauces have become perennial favorites even in my mixed vegetarian/meat eaters family. many of these dishes can be used as additional side dishes, or add-ons to a meat eaters lunch box, to increase the vegetable content or otherwise add fiber or health to a "standard" diet without scaring anyone off. it doesnt cover decoration much at all, but has a good range of recipes that even my picky eaters have enjoyed.

I stumbled on McCann's blog, Vegan Lunch Box, recently, and thought her lunch box ideas were so lovely that I got the book. I love the emphasis on visually appealing food, but I'm giving the book 4 stars because I'm finding it just a little hard to navigate. The menu suggestions are all in the front, grouped by region, but then the recipes are all in the back, grouped by type of dish (including a whole section on garnishes!). What a whirlwind taste tour of the planet's foods: if you are tired of the same old PB&J day after day, I highly recommend this book to liven up your lunches.

This book has some great ideas on what to pack for lunch. Not just for the kids either it has ideas for everyone.
I love the fact that it has allergy info at the bottom of every recipe.
If you are sick and tired of the same old stuff for lunch then this is for you!

I love this book. My kids and I eat whats in it all the time and I am so thrilled that it is full of good Idea's.