Book Review

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Great Vegan Food for Special and Everyday Celebrations
By Dreena Burton
Review by Tammie Ortlieb

I teach introductory psychology at a local community college. During a lecture last week students discovered that I'm vegan. Now how that comes up in a talk on development of the prefrontal cortex I don't know (blame it on my shameless activism!). After one student asked about where I get my protein, the next (you guessed it!) wanted to know what I eat. At that point, and thrilled to exhibit the plentitude of a plant based diet, I proceeded with my form response: spaghetti and a zillion other whole grain pasta dishes, nuts, lots of nuts, all kinds of fruits and vegetables, any dessert that's put in front of me, rice, stir fries, all the vegan veggie burgers, and, yeah, I actually like tofu. I wish now that I had had Dreena Burton's new book Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. I could have held that book up to my class and said, "Look at this. I eat this. I eat all of this."

Dreena Burton makes vegan eating a cause worth celebrating, hence the title. Better than great or even really great, her recipes work for kids, for adults, for everyday meals, and for special occasions like potlucks, barbecues, and parties in general. Dinner at our house one night was the White Bean Rosemary Soup with Jumbo Croutons & Fresh Basil. This was a mouth watering dish with a fancy sounding name that translated means simply ohmigosh can you make this again. And I think I'll have to sneak and make those croutons again when nobody's home so I can actually have a few. I tried a side salad with Burton's Polenta Croutons (oh yeah, baby!) and Living Caesar Dressing. I wasn't wild about the dressing, but my kids used it as a dip for the carrots and it was gone before it could make its way back around the table.

Speaking of kids, I would definitely recommend a couple of Burton's recipes for the younger crowd. Not only was the Kids' Dynamo Hummus a big hit with my clan, but it's absolutely loaded with all sorts of good for you stuff. With power packed goodies like cashews, flax oil, and nutritional yeast, you won't have to worry about snack time. My teenager liked this one so much she made it again herself just a few days after I had whipped up a bowl. The other dish is more of an afternoon's worth of fun type recipe. Try the Five-Star Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches with the Chocolate Chunk Spice Cookies. I did make the called for 5-Spice Cookies (my personal favorite), but had those without the ice cream. Let the kiddies help make the homemade ice cream sandwiches, then send them out into the backyard and run get your camera. Excellent photo opportunity!

Burton includes oodles of help for the beginner cook and some brushing up for seasoned veterans. Kitchen equipment lists, food preparation ideas, and what she terms random cooking and baking tips round out the well balanced repertoire of recipes. Besides a handy grain and bean cooking guide, Burton includes plenty of wheat free options for the sensitive system. She even suggests preferred premade brands when that might come in handy, like which store bought pies and pie crusts work better than others. And I love the fact that the ingredient lists are manageable and make use of what I like to call "normal stuff." With easy to follow instructions, tasty dishes, and simple, but elegant recipes, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan should be the next cookbook added to your kitchen collection.

Buy Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Great Vegan Food for Special and Everyday Celebrations

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer with a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology. Her work has appeared in VegNews, Veggie Life, Vegetarian Baby and Child Online Magazine, and Mothering.com. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, three terrific teenagers- two veg, one wannabe-, and a you-tell-em-like-it-is-sister future green revolutionist fabulous fourth grader.

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