Customer Reviews

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian: More Than 650 Meatless Recipes from Around the World

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a vegan who loves to cook and this book is one I turn to often. The way she writes is interesting and informative, including lots of information about how the cuisines of different regions has developed, and the recipes are *excellent*.

Designing menus is easy with this book, as it is simple to look up a type of cooking in the back (such as 'Moroccan' or 'Italian' of 'Middle Eastern') and just go from there. It is just as easy to turn to the section of the book that deals with the ingredients you already have on hand - so if you've got chickpeas, spinach and potatoes in the cupboard you can just look them up and find lots of delicious options.

I continue to use and peruse this book all the time, and can't say enough good things about it.

I love this book! Bought it for myself, as part of an effort to eat vegetarian 6 days a week. One of the hardest things in reducing meat in our diet was coming up with fast and easy things to prepare on a weeknight. This book has many simple recipes that don't require a million wacky ingredients or 2 hours of prep. I love the recipes that come from the authors friends and family, and are the kind of "every day" meatless meals that people actually eat around the world. Also, many of the recipes are nicely filling, even for my 6'2" hockey playing husband. Eating vegetarian shouldn't mean being hungry! Highly recommend this one for anyone --- your tastebuds will thank you :-)

I became vegetarian (not vegan, yet) 10 years ago, love food and cooking, and own at least 50 cookbooks. This book has become one of the 6 food-related books that I use the most. They are (not in any particular order):

1. Company's Coming Meatless Cooking

(I have the French version, so names and page numbers may differ.)

I wouldn't recommend it for vegans, but very good for a beginning vegetarian or someone looking for old favourites. Lots of good old comfort foods that I missed, such as "Roti Favori (like meatloaf) p. 82, "Boulettes Fantaisie" (Fancy 'meatballs'?) p. 84, "Simili boulettes de Viande" (pork-style 'meatballs') p.86 and the delicious quiche p. 94. I was less enchanted with some of the recipes, such as "Pate au Presque-Poulet" (nearly-chicken pate) p. 76, which I found rather unflavourful, and the "Saucisses au Tofu" (Tofu sausages) p. 74 which wouldn't hold together, but that's ok. Maybe I should have rated it 3 instead of 4, but the recipes I like, I use all the time! Oh, and the "Dessert au Fromage et a l'Ananas" (cheese and pineapple dessert) p. 32, is marvellous!

2. The All New Purity Cookbook

Not vegetarian, but good old-fashioned Canadian comfort-food which I modify to make vegetarian. I use it mostly for baking, but also for a variety of non-desserts such as the great "Savoury Beef Stew" (I use firm tofu instead). The pineapple "Upside-Down Cake" is one of my favourites.

3. Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian"

My absolute favourite so far. Though I haven't tried the popular Moosewood or Deborah Madison books, yet, I can hardly imagine anything beating this!

Wonderful, wonderful recipes from all over the world, with lots of bean recipes that I actually can't stop myself from eating to the last bite! I find the Indian/Middle-Eastern recipes the best, here. Very much vegan-friendly. Some of my favourites are Moroccan "Chickpea Stew with 6 Vegetables", Persian "Pilaf with Lime and Green Beans", Chinese-American "Stir-Fried Sweet-and-Sour Potato Shreds"... I've tried over 40 of the recipes, many of which have become all-time favourites, most of which I've enjoyed, a few of which I found to be borderline 'duds', all of which I have learned a lot about cooking from. I'd rate this one 4.8 out of 5.

4. Thai Vegetarian Cooking by Vatcharin Bhumichitr

Yummy! Have tried at least a dozen, and not one 'dud'. Anything made with the "Red Curry Paste" p.105 has made it to my favourites list. Ingredients lists are long, but instructions are short and easy. Definitely recommended. 4.5 out of 5.

5. Becoming Vegetarian by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis

Haven't actually tried the recipes at the back, but have found this to be the best reference book I've seen on nutrition. Lots of details and explanations which I crave and which many other books skip over, while remaining very reader-friendly. I would say a must for any vegetarian, and even for non-vegetarians.

6. Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor by Mark Bricklin

Basically a book filled with nutrition labels for over 1000 foods. I just find it very handy because I like to read up on and compare various foods for nutritive value, but this is probably not everyone's 'cup of tea'. It has it's flaws, such as giving information for items such as 'blueberry pie', without giving details on ingredients. It seems to me recipes must vary considerably, no? But, I haven't found any better, yet.

So far not really impressed with this book. Methinks many people are giving this 5 stars because of the reputation of the author. In my opinion, the higher the reputation, the higher the expectation and this does not live up to expectation or PRICE. Now, I'm no expert chef (otherwise I wouldn't need a cookbook - der) but I'm not completely useless in the kitchen either. I have attempted three recipes out of this book, one of them twice, and each time it has resulted in a fairly unappertizing meal. One reason I bought this book was because of the extensive bean recipes but as far as I can tell each bean recipe is either meant to be a watery flavourless stew or the instructions are wrong. Take for example 'White Beans with Rosemary' on p54. It tells you to soak the beans overnight and then cook them in 3.5 cups of water. If you do this you get a watery stew with the beans reduced to mush. If you don't soak them first the result is better but the flavour is still extremely bland. The other recipes I have tried have not been particularly better - I followed her instructions to the letter on a stir fry (against my best instincts) and got essentially raw dry vegies.... I have not had this problem with other cookbooks... There are also VERY few pictures to compare your recipes - these are very important to give an idea of what the dish is supposed to look like.

On the good side - there is heaps of useful information and I expect to keep the book for that alone. I will occasionally attempt other recipes from it because there might be some worthwhile ones but overall:

Start with three stars. Add one for the information. Subtract half each for the lack of pictures and the price. Subtract one for the poor recipes and you get two stars.

Oh, and to those people who have given this 5 stars without attempting the recipes.....don't you think if you gonna review a recipe book you should try a recipe first...?

This book contains great recipes with ingredients that are mostly staples in my kitchen. My husband says that we have a gormet meal every night since we got this book!

I have to say 2 things first...I love Indian food and have several Madhur Jaffrey books and love them...I also enjoy vegetarian dishes, though I am not a vegetarian...sounded wonderful!!! What even sounds more wonderful is looking over the book (very well laid out, I must say though) and reading the recipes...they sound wonderful and you want to make all of them. The problem is they don't taste at all as good as they sound..they just don't work. I wonder if there was any test tasting done or they were just simply complied on the basis of the author and the way the recipes sound. Save your $$$$$

This is my first book by the author and I have to say that I eat much less meat than before, which is a good thing, for me and for global impact. Some people have written bad reviews and I guess they just don't get it, this book was a revelation to me. You can make wonderfull dishes of all styles and tastes from many parts of the world, but most important, you learn a strong basis for different culinary cultures. Which I then use with a bit of imagination to make my own depending of what I have in the fridge, and it never fails, it's like skying, once you know how to do it, you can tweak styles and inovate.

Simply the best cookbook I've come across in my whole life... and I'm not vegetarian.

I used my local library's copy of this book before buying. When I first started eating vegetarian, a lot of ingredients and ways of thinking about food seemed weird and unfamiliar - but the way you learn, is to DO. :-) Fifteen years later, as a well-seasoned vegetarian, I think this book is a wonderful complement to the vegetarian cook's library. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I would have liked to see a lot more pictures; but the pictures that she *does* have in there are very helpful, showing different types of rices and grains, for instance. This book moves "American" eaters out of their comfort zones, for sure. Borrow it from the library first if you aren't sure about it, but I personally love this cookbook. The only sort of person I imagine would NOT like this cookbook is someone who really does prefer their food to be bland and boring. I also really enjoy reading the personal anecdotes she includes with a number of the recipes.

I have had this book for over two years. It is my go-to book for pretty much every bean/lentil recipe.
It is especially good for creative uses of vegetables and ingredients that you are not sure how to use.

Literally every recipe I have made from this book has been delicious. There have been a few my partner has said were so-so but I have enjoyed every recipe.

It is fabulous to have such confidence in a cookbook.

The way World Vegetarian is organized allows an easy look up for recipes with a particular theme ingredient. The book truly covers many vegetarian topics such as making bean curd and your own home made soy milk as well as covering various cultures from around the world. I am enjoying working through the recipes in this cookbook and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys simple flavorful recipes.
The lactose intolerant and vegan be aware that there are recipes that include eggs and milk product however, I wouldn't say that this fact would turn you away from owning this book.
It is a wonderful compilation that I would lovingly refer to as an encyclopedia for vegetarian cooking.
Thanks for your hard work on this one Madhur!