Vegetables Rock!: A Complete Guide for Teenage Vegetarians [Paperback]

Stephanie Pierson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 1999

If you're confused about going veggie, here is the perfect resource for basic nutrition information, great tips, a helpful Q&A, and recipes for vegetarian meals even nonvegetarians will love!

Vegetarianism can help the environment, raise your consciousness, and make a cow very happy.  But for teenage vegetarians--and perplexed parents--there seem to be more questions than answers: What can I eat? How do I know I'm getting enough protein and vitamins? What's a lacto-ovo? Does all veggie food taste like cardboard? Vegetables Rock! answers these questions and more on what going vegetarian is really all about, including--

How vegetarians help save the planet
A primer on the history and values of vegetarianism, from veganism to macrobiotics
The lowdown on foods containing hidden animal products
Tips for braving the perils of cafeteria dining
What to say to meat eaters who give you a hard time
Survival strategies from successful vegetarian teens
What to eat in restaurants, diners, and fast-food places
Lists of veggie-friendly colleges, restaurants, websites, and mail-order sources
60 delicious recipes--all made with ingredients from your local supermarket!

Choosing vegetarianism is the first big step.  Vegetables Rock! is the next.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stephanie Pierson, mother of two, has met the emotional and nutritional challenges of raising a teenager. In Vegetables Rock! she aims to help both teens and parents survive the process, ideally with sanity and everyone's good health intact. To do this, Pierson both uses and councils others to indulge liberally in tolerance and light-hearted humor.

To help the family understand the commitment to vegetarianism seriously, Pierson addresses its philosophical and ethical aspects as well as the nutritional ones. She explains that the origin of the word vegetarian has nothing to do with vegetables, but comes from the Latin verb that translates as "to enliven." Endorsing the choice to avoid eating meat as "positive and life-enhancing," she moves on to clearly and carefully outline what to eat and what to avoid.

Talking about nutrition, she cautions teens against living on pizza and junk food, and advises athletic kids to pay attention to their protein, iron, and zinc intake. A table listing specific foods makes it easier for everyone to know the best choices for protein, calcium, and other key nutrients.

There are strategies for dealing with miserable school lunches (eat pasta), and advice on questions to ask when eating out ("Is this vegetable soup made with chicken broth?"). Because teens can get emotional about their beliefs, Pierson suggests they be activists in letter writing and supporting vegetarian causes, but try to remember in conversations that their diet is a choice, not a crusade.

One chapter of Vegetables Rock! talks about specific foods and how to prepare them, from asparagus to dried beans, grains, and sea vegetables. The 60 recipes come mostly from chefs, cookbook writers, and magazines. Identifying which are vegan, Pierson covers everything from what some consider the best the guacamole in New York City--from the restaurant Rosa Mexicana--to Creamy Peanut Butter and Banana Pudding, a dairy-free indulgence from Ken Haedrich's Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family. Everything is easy enough for teens to prepare in a college dorm mini-kitchen.

Assessing why at least 11 percent of American teen girls are vegetarian, Pierson concludes, "It's healthy ... cool ... and has the potential to drive your parents nuts. Three times a day." --Dana Jacobi

From Library Journal

An advertising copywriter whose teenage daughter is a vegetarian, Pierson wrote this helpful primer for young vegetarians when she was unable to find a book that answered her family's questions about the vegetarian diet. The book provides detailed, easy-to-understand information about nutrition and advice on such matters as how to answer questions from meat eaters and how to survive the school cafeteria. What sets this guide apart from Judy Krizmanic's A Teen's Guide to Going Vegetarian (Viking, 1994) are the appealing recipes. Pierson has collected 73 simple but tempting dishes from leading chefs and restaurants, including wood-grilled vegetable sandwich on foccacia, Asian corn fritters, mashed potatoes with garlic and rosemary, and chocolate devastation cake. For readers who want more information, Pierson includes lists of cookbooks, restaurants, sources of nutrition information, mail-order sources, organizations, and web sites. Recommended for public libraries.AJane La Plante, Minot State Univ. Lib., ND
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (March 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553379240
• ISBN-13: 978-0553379242
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in Baltimore, went to college in Connecticut, worked in advertising in New York since the day I graduated from college. I have always written - advertising copy (I am a creative director at a small NY agency) and books. I like to write about lifestyle, food, entertaining, and issues that are relevant to women. I am a contributing editor to Metropolitan Home Magazine. I have written profound books about body image issues of teenage girls and I have ghost-written cookbooks. My new book lets me use my life experience to help other women shortcut their own experiences. I think of myself at the moment as a Life Sherpa. Or as Oprah would probably say, "as a life sherpa in progress." I feel like I have done pretty much everything, at least once. I have had one marriage, one husband, one divorce, two daughters, many Bearded Collies, countless cats, zillions of great friends, endless life experiences, one perfect macaroni and cheese recipe.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not That Good, October 21, 2002

By 

"teenagerenthead" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vegetables Rock!: A Complete Guide for Teenage Vegetarians (Paperback)

I recently decided to become vegetarian, so I got this book to read. I was very disapointed. I think this book provides good information about nutrional and meals, yet is written in a boring, scientific way. This book may appeal more to parents of vegetarians and vegans and adult vegetarians, than to teenagers. This book contains a lot of recipies, and some of them sound good, but most of them are far more complex than a teenager would be willing to cook. I would reccomend this book to parents of teenage vegetarians, but there are better books written for the teens themself. This book also has so many negative quotes including a whole page of someone making fun of vegetarian food and rambling about how they hate tofu. I don't think these are nessecary in a book for vegetarians, there is enough of that without reading about it. However, if you seriously want to research about being a vegetarian this book won't hurt, it is just a dissapointment.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Recipes not great, June 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Vegetables Rock!: A Complete Guide for Teenage Vegetarians (Paperback)

My vegetarian daughter finds in the text a wealth of informative nutrition facts, including the helpful vegetarian food pyramid.

But we have tried several of the recipes and haven't found a winner yet!

Better recipes (that teens REALLY love) are found in Deborah Madison's many vegetarian cookbooks.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars VERY HELPFUL!, February 20, 2004

By 

Nicole (Lehigh Valley, PA.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vegetables Rock!: A Complete Guide for Teenage Vegetarians (Paperback)

I read this book and contrary to some others, found it extremely helpful! I'm fifteen and I have been a vegetarian for over a year (a lacto-ovo vegetarian, which I found out through this book). I sat and read this book straight through because although some parts are a little boring I'd say 95% of the book is actually fun to read, which isn't common in this type of book. It's filled with little quotes and anecdotes (sp?) that are really interesting. The only bad part about this book was not all of the 60 recipes were really that great (which is the only reason I didnt give it 5 stars), but there were still some that were. If you're looking for specific recipes, I wouldn't turn to this book, but I found other information very helpful. For example, I'm very athletic and I found that I wasn't getting all the correct nutrients and such that I needed, therefore, I was very tired all the time. This book showed me easily what I was lacking in my diet and through what foods I could get it from. Also, it mentions (not in the recipe section)some really great snacks that I found really useful for when I didn't feel like prepairing something big and was short on time. Overall, I found this book very helpful and I think its a good book to have for both teens (and preteens) and also parents.