Help with finding the right cookbooks

[Oveeja]

My brother and I are going to order some cookbooks from Amazon. But shipping is too expensive (around $50 American dollars according to Amazon) for this reason we decided that we are going to order lots of books so as not to spend $70 American dollars on one single cookbook :(
What I am asking for is help finding the right cookbooks according to your experiences with them.
Right now the books we are planning on ordering are: Veganomicon and Crazy Sexy Diet.

What we like: typical food especially Italian and French :heart: that is either originally vegan or can be easily adapted (or any country cause I love traditional ethnic dishes), and basically the healthiest dishes available. Also high cuisine if you have found any because I want to improve my cooking skills, it doesn't matter how complicated the recipes might be.
What we don't like or can't get: anything that substitutes animal products including meat, yoghurt, cheese, cream, etc. Except for milk substitutes and tofu.

We are also curious about raw veganism and would like to try it.
The languages I speak are Spanish, English, Italian and French so cookbooks in any of those languages are very welcome.
So what do you recommend?
Also I would like your opinion on these books I found in amazon if you have read them:
The vegan boulangerie - Marianne Marianne
The Millenium Cookbook - Erick Tucker
reFresh - Ruth Tal, Jennifer Houston
Vegan italiano - Donna Klein

[lastx]

Hi Oveeja

Could I possibly suggest a few which I have found particularly good? I don't know how available they are in Mexico as I am in Scotland but hopefully Amazon will oblige.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian - Madhur Jaffrey - ISBN 0 09 186364 3 - Not entirely vegan though has some excellent vegan recipes from all over the globe. A good read with interesting anecdotes about the origins of the recipes and the cultures from which they originate. Many of the non-vegan recipes are easily adapted.

365 plus one Vegan Recipes - Leah Leneman - ISBN 0 7225 2617 2 - Really well constructed recipes from across the globe. Any cookery book by the late Leah Leneman is worth reading really. Have a look for her numerous other works too.

The Vegan Cookbook - Alan Wakeman and Gordon Baskerville - ISBN 0 571 17804 9 - Recipes are graded from simple to quite complex and have a little of every style of cookery.

Japanese Cooking, Contemporary and Traditional - Miyoko Nishimoto Schinner - ISBN 1 57067 072 2 - Completely vegan Japanese recipes including traditional and modern recipes popular in Japan today.

Vegan Baking - Linda Majzlik - ISBN 1 89776 663 7 - If you like savoury and sweet baked treats, this is the best vegan book I have found. All the recipes I have tried have worked beautifully.

A Vegan Taste of the Caribbean - Linda Majzlik - ISBN 1 89776 670 X - Traditional dishes from around the Caribbean islands adapted to be vegan. Some are quite complex but the results from the ones I have tried have been worth it.

The Best 125 Meatless Main Dishes - Mindy Toomay and Susann Geiskopf-Hadler - ISBN 1 55958 227 8 - Not entirely vegan but has some excellent vegan recipes. Quite a selection of Mediterranean ones in there.

The Vegan Kitchen Mate - The Vegan Society Inc. (NSW) - ISBN 1 86415 000 9 - Simple but well though out and quick to make recipes from the Australian Vegan Society.

I hope these are of some help.

[twinkle]

Oveeja, I haven't heard of any of those books although I'll check them out :)

Are you the sort to cook lots of things from any recipe books you get? I find that I buy books, enjoy looking through them and maybe make one or two recipes in them and then they gather dust on the shelves. I've increasingly found myself using recipes found on the internet, which often have the added bonus of being user rated.

[Oveeja]

I am that type! I have no cookbooks except for my grandmother's and although it is extensive it is not vegan at all. I also use recipes found in the internet but I find it difficult to be searching all day long, and translate the ingredients and the measurements and print everything :P

Thank you lastx I will check into those :)

[harpy]

I'm not going to be much help here as I hardly ever use cookery books but I though I'd mention that I went to Millennium once (the restaurant that the book's called after) and seem to remember that they may have used a fair bit of soy cream and stuff like that - mind you you can preview it on Amazon UK and I don't see anything like that in the sample recipes so perhaps I'm wrong. The food was lovely there anyway!

Of the ones lastx mentioned, I did used to use the Wakeman and Baskerville one, and also the Madhur Jaffrey one (or another one by her) when I first went vegan, and I think they are fairly free of hard-to-get foods although obviously for the Jaffrey one you would need to be able to get the right spices etc.

This is one that's not 100% vegan but has quite a lot of vegan or potentially vegan recipes IIRC http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Food-Caf%C3%A9-Chris-Caldicott/dp/0711217513#_

[Andy_T]

I love ISA Chandra moskovitz' books to death. You can check out some of her recipes by googling "Post punk kitchen".

I particularly like the "Veganomicon" and her newest, "appetite for reduction" which brings you a lot of low-fat (yet healthy and tasty) alternatives.

Best regards, Andy

Ps: But I would also try if there are any Mexican online bookstores (or even brick-and-mortar ones) where you could order the books cheaper. Most European countries have local amazon websites that ship without shipping charges above a certain order value...

Pps: when you are ordering, also consider other vegan information books like "eating animals" , "animal liberation", "the china study" or "skinny bitch" that are quite cheap at amazon in the paperback versions...

[Clueless Git]

I have a brilliant cookbook!

It's called 'Google' ... :D

[fiamma]

I also use recipes found in the internet but I find it difficult to be searching all day long, and translate the ingredients and the measurements and print everything

Cupid, why suggest Google when Oveeja asks for cookbooks? Especially when he says he uses the Internet already? :rolleyes:

[Oveeja]

I already read "eating animals" and "the china study", but I'll check those other books out. Unfortunately there is no such thing in Mexico :/ what I am thinking is maybe I'll just wait untill one of my Canadian relatives come visit me and ask him or her to bring me the books.
Thank you everyone.

[sigen92]

As Andy_T posted earlier, "Veganomicon" is a GREAT cookbook! I recently bought it and it has all sorts of recipes, from the one's that take 10 min to the more complicated, formal dinner-type dishes. The feel of the book is very fun and out-going and I have begun checking off each recipe as I make them, just for fun!

Wonder when I'll get through the whole book? :P

[Firestorm]

Hi Oveeja
I have Veganomicon and it is a great book, quite a few of the recipes dont need any fake meats or anything but some do call for things like Tempeh and Seitan (and I'm not sure if you would considered them to be fake meats or not - although you could just replace them with Tofu).
Another couple of books that I like are Vegan Yum Yum (you can see some of the recipes on the blog), The Vegan Table and The heretics guide to vegan cookery - but again some of the recipies do use meat/dairy/cream/cheese replacers.

You may have already tried this but have you used the Amazon feature where you can look inside the book online? That way you can have a look at the table of contents and some of the recipies.
Also have you tried other websites that have cheaper delivery? Bookdepository.com has free delivery worldwide.

Hope this helps-Sorry if it doesn't