Tag: Plant-Based

Jamie Oliver – Veg | Review

Title: Veg

Author: Jamie Oliver

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count: 312

Rating: 3.25/5

I feel guilty about this review because this book was sent to me by my friend Charlie Heathcote because he had two copies of it. I only review cookbooks once I’ve tried all of the recipes that I want to try, and it only took me a week or so to do that here because there weren’t too many that I particularly wanted to try.

To be fair, the reason for that is that a lot of the recipes here are pretty basic, and so I didn’t feel the need to test them out. For example, I already have a pretty good houmous recipe, so I figure there’s no need for me to try out a new one.

Then there’s the fact that this is a vegetarian cookbook and I’m vegan. Again, to be fair, Oliver includes some supplementary information at the end about the different plant-based alternatives that are out there, and it was also easy enough to modify most of the recipes. There were just one or two that were egg curries or other weird things that I couldn’t have adapted, but then they sounded kind of vile anyway.

What I will say is that I think this would make for a pretty good cookbook to get started with if you’re just starting out with cooking and stuff. My issue is more that I feel I’ve mastered the basics and wanted something a little more advanced. There are a few fairly innovative recipes I guess, but they weren’t ones that particularly excited me. Some of them flat out sounded as though they wouldn’t work.

So would I recommend it? I mean I guess, if you can get it kind of cheap. But I wouldn’t say that it’s worth going out of your way for.

Learn more about Veg.

 


Henry Firth and Ian Theasby – Bosh! | Review

Title: Bosh!

Author: Henry Firth and Ian Theasby

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 288

Rating: 4/5

 

 

Oh yeah, it’s cookbook time. This one is a plant-based/vegan cookbook from Bosh!, who I watch on YouTube and who are arguably the UK’s biggest vegan food influencers. I think I read somewhere that this one ended up at the top of the bestseller lists for several months in a row, and they also have another cookbook coming out early in 2019.

My only complaint here is that some of the pages fell out of my edition, although I guess you expect a certain amount of wear and tear on a cookbook. I don’t count my cookbooks as “read” until I’ve tried all of the recipes that I’m interested in, and with this one I ended up just with a big list of desserts after I’d raided it for mains.

I picked up some great recipes though, and I’ve also adapted a few of them or switched some ingredients around. I even taught my mum how to make the paella, which works well for her because she’s trying to lose weight. As for me, I was just happy to have a book that focused exclusively on plant-based cuisine, and this was actually the first one that I got my hands on.
If you’re not sold on it yet, check out Bosh’s YouTube channel for some recipes that aren’t included in here, because then you can give them a go beforehand and get a feel for whether you like their stuff. I’m particularly impressed by their jalapeno mac and cheese, which is probably the recipe I cook more than any other. The Chinese pancakes are also good.

 

 

Click here to buy Bosh.