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Vegetable sunset

Next week is National Vegetarian Week, so I thought it would be good to look at interesting cookbooks that are not about the meat. Even if you’re not a full time veggie, there is a school of thought that says it’s a good thing to have less meat, and therefore you might want some inspiration around some new dishes. Here’s a few to wet your appetite.

1. Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian- this is a classic, and has just been fully updated, and will give you lots to go at, whether you have been a veggie for years, or it’s just a passing fancy for a Thursday night. Rose Elliot really is seen as the queen of vegetarian cooking, so this really should make it onto your cookbook shelves.

2. Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon- in my veggie phase, this was my bible. A prolific writer, and I think this caught my tastebuds as it seemed to be slightly lighter approach than many European writers. Charmaine has gone on to write many books on Asian cuisines, and I’ve gone on to revert back to bacon sandwiches. But I did love the cheese souffle stuffed red peppers.

3. Tender: Volume I, A cook and his vegetable patch by Nigel Slater – I love Nigel Slater, Real Fast Food is the first cookbook I bought myself. And if this had been around when I was doing veggie, maybe I’d still be veggie, as the recipes are delicious. I may still have been tempted by a bacon sandwich. This is not a vegetarian cookbook, but vegetables are the dominant ingredient, so perhaps a good one for households of mixed eating habits.

4. Mediterranean Harvest: Delicious Vegetarian Recipes from the World’s Healthiest Cuisine by Martha Rose Shulman - this is probably my favourite kind of veggie food, and a Greek vegetarian meze is my idea of heaven. This book covers great recipes from Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, so giving you a huge variety of recipes and flavours to work from. It makes me think of sunny afternoons, even if it’s going to be grey outside.

5. The Vegetarian Option by Simon Hopkinson - another of my favourite food writers, this is as good as Simon’s other books in my view. I’ve only browsed through this in the bookshop, so not yet made it onto the shelf here (I’m supposed to be economising) but it’s on my wishlist. Perfect for veggies, or just foodies, or veggie foodies.

So these are great books to show how fantastically tasty vegetables can be. And this beautiful shot shows how stunning they can look as well, taken by Thomas Euler over on Flickr.

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