The best books about conscious plant-based cookery

Why am I passionate about this?

Veronika Sophia Robinson has eaten a plant-based diet for forty-eight years and knows what healthy and delicious vegan and vegetarian food should taste like. She has had extensive experience in cooking for others whether around her kitchen table or in a yurt with no electricity feeding up to fifty families for five days (for many years). The Mystic Cookfire is a tome of over 400 pages. It is an expression of her deep love and respect for food, conscious cookery, and intentional eating. Her second recipe book Love From My Kitchen is a collection of vegan, gluten-free recipes based on the four elements: fire, earth, air, and water. She’s delighted that her granddaughter is a fourth-generation vegetarian.


I wrote...

The Mystic Cookfire: The Sacred Art of Creating Food to Nurture Friends and Family

By Veronika Sophia Robinson,

Book cover of The Mystic Cookfire: The Sacred Art of Creating Food to Nurture Friends and Family

What is my book about?

The Mystic Cookfire is an abundant and inspiring celebration and collection of vegetarian favourites suitable for friends and family. From sweet and sour aubergines to cauliflower biryani; French lentil tart to polenta pizza; dandelion and cinnamon fritters to marmalade gingerbread, these mouthwatering recipes will leave you asking for more. Beautifully illustrated, with room for notes, this treasure of easy-to-prepare meals offers more than 280 recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and picnics. Learn to make tasty dips, dressings, breads, salads, soups, and more. The Mystic Cookfire is a celebration of one of mankind’s most honoured and revered pleasures. More than just a recipe book, it takes the reader on a journey through food consciousness.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Naturally Sweet Food in Jars: 100 Preserves Made with Coconut, Maple, Honey, and More

Veronika Sophia Robinson Why did I love this book?

As a lover of preserving the abundance of produce from my orchard and garden, this book has proved to be just what I was looking for: LESS SUGAR! It is ideally suited to the health conscious preserver who enjoys inventive and interesting recipes. Cleverly organised by sweetener: coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey, dried fruits, juices, agave, it’s a fantastic mix of interesting flavour combinations, manageable batches, and awareness of the seasons.

By Marisa McClellan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Naturally Sweet Food in Jars as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Preserves You Love, SWEETER THAN EVER After years of addressing questions reducing sugar, substituting sugar, and leaving it out altogether, accomplished canner and author Marisa McClellan began to rejigger her recipes, helping her home canners enjoy the flavors of the season without the refined sugars. The result is Naturally Sweet Food in Jars , preserving in the tenor of today's health-conscious audience. . The inventive spreads, dips, pickles, and whole fruits in McClellan's third preserving book use only unrefined sweeteners like maple sugar and syrup, coconut sugar, dates, agave, honey, and dried fruits and juices,and less of them. The…


Book cover of Vegan Cheese: Simple, Delicious Plant-Based Recipes

Veronika Sophia Robinson Why did I love this book?

Whether for reasons of ethics or health, more and more people are looking for dairy cheese substitutes. Commercial versions are often poor imitations. This book is like winning cheese lotto! There are 60 plant-based cheeses (no easy feat) made using vegetables, tofu, seeds and nuts, ranging from firm to sharp, creamy to mild. These recipes draw on only natural ingredients and techniques. You can create the perfect cheese platter with spreads, sauces, sprinkles, block and wheel cheeses, soft and fresh cheeses, and accompaniments. Easy to follow. Beautiful photography.

By Jules Aron,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Vegan Cheese as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It isn't necessary to be intimidated by the idea of making cheese-vegan cheese is simple and straightforward with clean, basic ingredients. Here, Jules Aron shares the tricks of the trade for making sauces, cheese you can grate or slice, and soft spreadable options, using homemade nut milks, vegetables and natural helpers like carrageenan, agar-agar and nutritional yeast. Her flavoursome creations are enhanced with herbs and spices and run from incredibly easy to more complex, mimicking familiar cheeses, including: French-Style Brie, Herbed Feta, Aged Gruyere.

Armed with tips for building the perfect cheese plate and drink pairings, budding vegan cheese-makers will…


Book cover of Yoga Kitchen: The New Shoshoni Cookbook: More Recipes from the Shoshoni Yoga Retreat

Veronika Sophia Robinson Why did I love this book?

The recipes in this book are so good because they were created by cooks who always go about their work with a smile. Cooking with Shakti changes everything, and is the divine ingredient in each meal. The authors treat foods as divine substances because they contain the essence of life. Your cooking will never be the same again after reading this book and approaching each meal with consciousness. The recipes are easy to follow, well laid out, and taste fabulous! No matter how often I declutter my massive recipe-book collection, this one always remains as a faithful culinary companion and inspiration.

By Faith Stone, Rachael Guidry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Yoga Kitchen as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This cookbook serves up a delicious combination of pleasurable dining, consicous energy, and cultural diversity. At the Shoshoni Yoga Retreat a bevy of good cooks, motivated by their yoga practice, create the heavenly food enjoyed by retreat guests. In Yoga Kitchen master chefs Faith Stone and Rachel Guidry present favorite meals of both the guests and staff. These recipes feature American comfort foods blended with the invigorating and unique flavors of Indian, southwestern, and continental traditions.

They also show how to apply the practice of mindfulness in the kitchen, cook with "shakti", and eat in harmony with the seasons. You'll…


Book cover of Positively Vegetarian

Veronika Sophia Robinson Why did I love this book?

I bought this treasure of a recipe book after dining at Demuths. The food was exquisite. A recipe book that’s based on meals which have been tried and tested over and over by a judicious public is different to other recipe books. In its time, more than sixty thousand people a year have eaten in Demuths. Surprisingly, many of those diners weren’t vegetarian but omnivores.  This book is a magnificent collection of the most frequently asked for recipes. Some of the best recipe books are those which don’t feature colour photographs: the focus is entirely on the written recipe and easy-to-find ingredients. This book remains unrivalled in the vegetarian-recipe field.

By Rachel Demuth,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Positively Vegetarian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is the 1st recipe book that we self-published way back in 1997.
It's a collection of our most frequently asked for recipes at Demuths Vegetarian Restaurant in Bath.
It contains a wealth of vegan & vegetarian soups, starters, main dishes, salads & puddings.
Sixty thousand people eat in Demuths each year. Many of them are vegetarians but many more of them are omnivores.
The recipes are easy to make & delicious to eat when made with love & attention.
This book is for those who care for their friends & themselves because at the end of the day a…


Book cover of Keep It Vegan

Veronika Sophia Robinson Why did I love this book?

True to the subtitle, these recipes are delicious, healthy and simple. The best recipe books have stories woven throughout and you read them like a novel. Keep It Vegan makes you want to slow down and savour each page, and it leaves you infused with passion and pride for creating dishes which nurture and satiate. Recipes include Rosemary and Pear-Stuffed French Toast to Sweet Potato and Kiwi Soup to Pea and Lemon Risotto with a mint oil drizzle to Smokey Moroccan Chickpea Stew with Saffron-infused Couscous to No-Bake Strawberry Vanilla Cheesecake. Every page is a delight!

By Aine Carlin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Keep It Vegan as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Think you know vegan cooking? Lengthy, complicated recipe lists, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients, flavourless food? Think again! Let Aine Carlin, creator of popular vegan lifestyle blog Pea Soup Eats, enlighten you with her delicious recipes and straightforward tips. Keep it simple with easy-to-follow recipes, using a sensible number of ingredients that can be found in your local supermarket. Keep it tasty with chapters including Breakfast, Brunch & More, Light Lunches & Simple Suppers, Something Special, Sauces & Sides and Sweet Treats. Delight your senses and tantalise your tastebuds with Rosemary and Pear Stuffed French Toast, Santorini Spaghetti or Sweet Potato Sushi.…


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