My first book, The Voluptuous Vegan: More than 200 recipes for Meatless, Eggless, Dairy-Free Meals, reflects my years of experience working in a vegan restaurant.

I was immersed in the world of vegan cooking– I do appreciate good vegetarian or vegan meals–but I have never been a vegan or even vegetarian. I find that it does not work for me to be so strict in my eating choices. At the time I was working at Angelika Kitchen, I became pescatarian, enjoying fish, eggs, and organic butter. I was horrified when I found out about factory farming and the devastating effect it had on animals and the environment, so it made sense to me to eschew products of factory farms.

This was in the 1990’s when it wasn’t possible to easily get great quality, traditionally raised animal food. At the Union Square Greenmarket in New York, for example, there was one egg purveyor, and people would line up for hours. But things changed for the better towards the end of the 90’s. It is now possible to purchase foods from animals that have been raised traditionally and humanely.

PRAISE FOR
THE VOLUPTUOUS VEGAN

“brings new life to the vegan palate”

“goes the extra mile”

“gives you all the guidance you need…”

“genius”

“the recipes are lush”

“should satisfy [vegans’] gourmet tastes”