Top 11 Organic, Vegan and Healthy Cookbooks for Fall
Fall isn’t just time for apple and pumpkin recipes: it’s cookbook season. All kinds of new titles from food critics to chefs are released during this time of year, and for the food lover there’s no better time to make a book wishlist.
But it’s hard to wade through all the new releases, so here are some of the best titles that fall into the general themes of organic, vegetarian, vegan or simple conscious, healthy cooking.
1. The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation by Mollie Katzen
The Moosewood Cookbook is a staple on vegetarian and non-vegetarian bookshelves alike. You’ve probably eaten recipes from it from it without even knowing it. This is Mollie Katzen’s latest work. Many of the recipes are vegan, or easily adapted to accomodate a vegan diet.
2. Root to Stalk Cooking by Tara Duggan
You know when you go to farmers market and they ask if you want them to compost the carrot tops? Never again. With Root to Stalk Cooking, you’ll learn exactly what to do with all those husks, roots, stalks, peels and pods, making you not only a resourceful cook, but an economically savvy one. If you believe in whole foods, then you should be cooking with the whole vegetable after all.
3. The Art of Simple Food II: Recipes, Flavor, and Inspiration from the New Kitchen Garden by Alice Waters
Every conscious cook’s book collection should include an Alice Waters title. This is the sequel to The Art of Simple Food, a foodie bible and healthy cooking resource. The new version has a focus on vegetables and dives into the subject of gardening.
4. Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle by Kyra Bussanich
Determined to create gluten-free treats that were delicious, Kyra Bussanich went to pastry school by day and concocted her own creations by night. The hard work paid off, and today Bussanich run’s Kyra’s Bake Shop in Portland, Oregon.
5. Vedge: 100 Plates Large and Small that Redefine Vegetable Cooking by Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby
From the owners of Vedge Restaurant in Philadelphia comes a book that’s perfect for anyone looking for new ways to cook vegetables. With this book in your kitchen, you’ll be the prefered vegetarian cook on the block.
6. Inside the California Food Revolution: Thirty Years That Changed Our Culinary Consciousness by Joyce Goldstein and Dore Brown
From the 1970s to the 2000s, a lot happened in California that changed how we think about food. From counterculture to mainstream restaurant culture, and with the help of people from Alice Waters to Bill Niman, California helped make words like ‘farm-to-table’ and ‘locally-sourced’ part of our national culinary vocabulary.
7. Put an Egg On It by Lara Ferroni
Love eggs? You’ll love this book. This is a collection of 70 recipes all devoted to using eggs, from tomato risotto to tacos. Yes, tacos with eggs. Just make sure to get your eggs from happy, healthy chickens of course.
8. Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan
Is there anything better than a decadent chocolate cake? A vegan one! If you’re vegan, or baking for a vegan crowd, finding good indulgent dessert recipes can be tough, and this book provides the solution.
9. Mastering Fermentation by Mary Karlin
We need microbes in our gut, and fermented foods help with beneficial bacterias that keep us healthy. Which means if you’re not fermenting your own food, you should start now. Mary Karlin gets you on the right path, from kimchi to kombucha. It’s time to start the fermenting revolution.
10. Who Wants Seconds: Sociable Suppers for Vegans, Omnivores and Everyone In Between by Jennie Cook
In a visual journal-style book, Jennie Cook shares her love of entertaining and bringing people together around food. Written with the belief that we can save the world if we throw more dinner parties, this book is an inspirational collection of easy, sustainable and healthy recipes. Hand illustrated by Cook, the book has a cozy, intimate feel and when you’re done with just a few pages, you’re ready to call up a few friends and plan an impromptu feast.
11. Everyday Raw Gourmet by Matthew Kenney
Respected chef and entrepreneur Matthew Kenney uses his new book to show that raw food really can be a gourmet cuisine. His focus is on fresh fruits and vegetables and buying locally and seasonally. Anyone looking to incorporate more raw foods into their diet will be inspired.
Related on Organic Authority:
Summer Sustainable Cookbook Roundup
Slow Food Cooking for the ‘Culinary Cyclist’
4 Delectable Vegetable Cookbooks for the Home Gardener and Cook
Images: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Random House, Random House, Random House, The Experiment, University of California Press, Random House, Amazon, Random House, Prospect Park Books
