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The latest book from Mark Bittman's "The Minimalist" How to cook everything series was published last fall. Perhaps because it's such a tome -- think 1000 pages, 2000 recipes and endless variations -- that it's just now starting to reach consciousness. Or perhaps it took Bittman's recent New York Time Op-Ed piece called Rethinking the Meat Guzzler to get the attention the cookbook seems to deserve. The cookbook reviews are complimentary. But some from the vegetarian community are wondering about the credentials of a meat-eater who writes a vegetarian cookbook. Let's take a look ~
REVIEWS & RECIPES
101 Cookbooks ~ Long-time vegetarian Heidi Swanson bypassed the cookbook, then received a review copy. "The first three times I saw 'How to Cook Everything Vegetarian' in my local bookstore, I didn't even bother picking it up. I thought, 'Oh he just dusted off all the meatless recipes from his past books, columns, and television shows and stuck them in one volume. Yawn.' I finally sat down with a review copy that was sent to me and I have to tell you, this book is fantastic - absolutely packed with great recipes, charts, illustrations, endless variations and ideas." (Read more: Mark Bittman's Autumn Millet Recipe)
Pinch My Salt ~ "The book is a great resource for anyone, vegetarian or not, who is interested in incorporating more vegetables and whole grains into their diet. But it’s not a book about health food. It’s filled with every meat-free recipe you can imagine. And it’s a huge book. I think it’s well worth the 20 bucks or so you'll pay for it." (Read more: The Minimalist Blogs)
Vegocentric ~ had every expectation of not liking the cookbook, but turned into a fan. "I keep liking the fact that he is sort of providing this bridge over which many people may find healthier diets that are more gentle to the planet, and the fact that they might feel more comfortable being led over by an avowed meat-eater than one of many “it tastes just like/better than meat” lying vegetarian cookbook authors, but there is always this sort of ‘But don’t forget, I still eat steak’ vibe rubbing me the wrong way. I just figured this tone would pervade the book and I don’t really need all this cajoling and convincing to eat vegetarian. But the one thing that intrigued me was that Amazon listed the book as being 1008 pages. That seemed… wrong. Do I have any cookbooks that are more than 500 pages?!" ( Read more, How to Eat Everything Vegetarian: Book Review)
SuperSpark ~ calls the cookbook "new but already beloved" and shares Smashed Edamame & Potatoes with Miso
la Cuisine d'Helene ~ shares Bittman's take on bean burgers, all 13 of them in The Simplest Bean Burgers
RETHINKING THE GAS GUZZLER
VeganBean ~ wants Bittman's Rethinking the Meat Guzzler to be published in every small paper in the country, "especially in places where the word vegetarian/vegan is considered foreign" and wants Bittman's statement, It’s likely that most of us would do just fine on around 30 grams of protein a day, virtually all of it from plant sources" put on on the front page of every newspaper on this planet. (Read more: Rethinking the Meat Guzzler)
Ruhlman ~ writes that Rethinking the Gas Guzzler "serves to remind me that I am an earnest flesh-loving Midwesterner who has to work harder at developing strategies for eating more plants and smaller portions of meat from animals raised according to their nature." (Read more: Carnivore)
IS 'VEGETARIAN' A DIRTY WORD?
Vegan Parenting ~ objects that Bittman's byline includes the line, He is not a vegetarian. "Why the need to distance himself from us normal, everyday Joe and Sally vegetarian/vegans? What's so bad about being vegetarian? He is putting together all the dots for why a vegetarian (really vegan) lifestyle is the way to go, yet he can't commit. I think he needs to rewrite his blurb." (Read more: Rethinking the Gas Guzzler)
Chow ~ has the same reaction. "Does anyone else think it’s a little strange that a guy who is capitalizing on a meat-free cookbook has a beef (sorry about the bad pun) with the word vegetarian?" (Read more: Is vegetarian a dirty word?)
Resistance Is Fertile ~ compares the byline to "I'm not a feminist, but ..." (Read more: I'm
