The best cookbooks for World Vegan Day

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World Vegan Day falls on 1 November, and it celebrates veganism and raises awareness for the benefits of a vegan lifestyle. It is also a good moment to dispel myths around vegan food, ingredients, and lifestyles. Enjoying veganism does necessarily involve rigid rules, lab-made honey, overpriced tofu (support your local Asian supermarket), nor milking almonds. 

Veganism does include a big bean mood; cauliflower as the hostess with the mostest, the loveable overachiever ingredient; and lots of chocolate. There is a difference between veganism and living plant-based: plant-based refers specifically to a diet that excludes animal by-products like meat, organs, eggs, dairy, nor honey, whereas veganism extends beyond diet to no leather goods, vegan skincare, soy candles, and hemp fabrics. 

Whether you follow a strict plant-based diet, lean more flexitarian, or are looking to make your meals more climate-friendly, there is a cookbook for you. With a vegan-friendly cookbook in your arsenal, gone are the days of meticulously checking ingredients lists or relying on uninspired meals at restaurants (yes, this means no more boring oats and avocado toast that you could have made at home, but end up overpaying for at your brunch spot). 

Umami flavours made Japaneasy

The book: Japaneasy: Classic and Modern Vegan Japanese Recipes to Cook at Home by British Masterchef winner, Tim Anderson(2020). Japanese cuisine is not all wagyu beef, fried chicken and tuna. It is, instead, a minefield for those seeking vegan options, or so it seems.

Japanese cuisine is rather vegan-friendly, or can be easily substituted with a vegan option, (without compromising on flavour). Think about it, for most of Japanese history meat and milk were used sparingly while fermented soy products come in many forms. What Japaneasy won’t give you is joyless vegan versions of Japanese meat dishes, but it will offer really easy Japanese recipes sans meat, dairy and eggs to your vegan repertoire. Available through Exclusive Books.

The vibe: Simple and savoury, or as it’s known by chefs worldwide, “umami” is the goal here. It is the pinnacle of savoury flavours that is hard to describe, but when you know, you know. It is the perfect combination of every flavour at once.

Most cuisines actually achieve this supposedly elusive umami moment through plants. Japaneasy also dispels the negative reputation that MSGs have had (which stems from a rather xenophobic campaign), and shines a light on the necessity of MSG to achieve umami.

The recipe: Cauliflower Katsu Curry

“Katsu” refers to the breaded and fried deliciousness that envelopes the cauliflower. One large cauliflower is enveloped in katsu batter and panko breadcrumbs and then shallow fried until deliciously golden-brown.

I like big beans and I cannot lie

The book: Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry (2014) remixes classic dishes of the African diaspora in a new, vegan-friendly flavour. Bryant Terry has perfected the balance of chef and climate activist, pushing veganism in a fresh direction, shifting away from typical Eurocentric flavours.

An important ingredient in many African cuisines, veganism included, is the act of building a community around food. Not only do Terry’s recipes tell the stories of communities that come together in the kitchen and at the table, but they come with music suggestions as the perfect side to any dish. Available through Bookmall.

The vibe: Caribbean flavours meet US Southern comfort food, perfect for potluck with a funky playlist. All the accoutrements of a tasty dinner party or communal meal. 

The recipe: Sweet potato and lima bean tagine.

Look at that beautiful north African clay tagine sitting on your kitchen shelf. Now look back at this cookbook. Now turn to Spotify and play Terry’s track recommendation for this dish: Ya Messinagh by Tinariwen, featuring the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.

Beans just might be the perfect food: They’re economical, good for you, fast (if you’re buying canned, which is the fastest), shelf-stable and climate friendly. This deliciously deep, rich, and earthy stew combines American southern flavours with traditional herbs and spices of North African cooking. Like most stews, this tagine is best cooked low and slow, but is even better after melding overnight.

A whole new world

The book: Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar by Amy Chaplin(2019) has been crowned as one of the best books to give as a gift, as seen in the New York Times. Afood that is labelled “whole” simply means it is in its most natural state, or as close as possible to it.  What is great about turning to whole foods for rich, all-natural flavour is that it requires minimal cooking effort because you are preserving a food’s natural form.

The vibe: Fresh and seasonal. Chaplin’s secret to maintain this type of lifestyle is mastering some key recipes and reliable techniques, and then chopping and changing ingredients based on the occasion, the season, and of course your cravings.

The recipe: Sautéed root vegetables with parsley, poppy seeds and lemon.This punchy dish works well as both a main dish or a side dish. Despite what people say, vegan cooking can require a bit of practice to intimately understand the alchemy of how veggies, spices, herbs and flavours mingle.This veggie recipe is hearty, zesty, yet refreshing.

One-pot shop 

The book:  One: Pot, Plan, Planet by Anna Jones (2021) focuses on planet-friendly vegan and vegetarian recipes. One thing about beautifully written and curated cookbooks is that every once in a while, a book comes along and raises the bar for good food writing. Jones’s plant-based recipes are made in a single pot, pan or tray because facing a pile of dishes after enjoying a delicious meal is not the vibe.  Also inside are three chapters on how to eat more sustainably and waste less food, including a whole section of genius formulas for using up vegetables and other produce. Available through Loot.

The vibe: Easy and life-friendly. In South Africa’s load-shedding era, any means to save electricity can make all the difference. One pot means one stove plate and requires enough water to wash a single dish. Perfect for the midweek rush to make dinner before the 18:00 load-shedding slot.

The recipe: Chocolate and almond butter swirl brownies. Veganism does not mean healthy, vegans get to indulge too. Name a more iconic desert duo than chocolate and nut butter. Or if you live in a nut-free home, substituting nut butter with sunflower seed butter works too. Dollops of nut butter swirled throughout molten, chewy chocolate vegan brownies? Sometimes you just have to say “yes”.

Towering above

The book: TheBabel Cookbook by Maranda Engelbrecht (2013)is inspired by Babel, the restaurant at the ever-delicious and oh so instragrammable Babylonstoren farm. It’s not your run-of-the-mill farm in Franschhoek, but a crescendo of the best winemakers, agriculturalists, culinary geniuses, and horticulturalists who take what they do very seriously. Available through Babylonstoren.

“This place has refined and defined my life again, from the garden – an inspiration in itself – to the pleasure of creating dishes in Babel’s kitchen with great anticipation,” says Engelbrecht, who is also the former creative director of Babylonstoren.

The vibe: Farm to table. If you aren’t able to make the day trip out to Babylonstoren’s Babel restaurant, then this book is as close as you’ll get to the farm-fresh dishes and true respect for those prepping your meals. From the farmer, to your server, and the cooks in the kitchen, the Babel Cookbook makes one understand the hype around Babel.

The recipe: Warm baked sweet potato and apricot with fresh shaved kohlrabi and ginger-apricot dressing. While the name of this recipe is a mouthful, you will want your mouth full of this dish. Kohlrabi is a turnip-meets-cabbage root vegetable that is harvested every two years, making it true to the slow food movement for which Babylonstoren is so well known.