The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity with Vegetables

Out performs the regular version of the flavor bible by a long shot. Great for those of us who aren't vegetarians to spark some new ideas even includes some nutritional information, descriptions of what the foods actually are, and ideas on how best to use them. Just get this book, if you can live without the pairings with meats and fish (everyone already knows rosemary goes with lamb and bacon goes with scallops anyhow).

This book is incredible. It's so extensively researched, not only regarding the different pairings of ingredients but about vegetarianism in general, that I'd highly recommend it to anyone either already a vegetarian, or thinking about becoming one. I've been meat free for most of my life, and I only wish this resource had been available to me before now.

Not what I thought it would be. I thought emphasis would be on how to make dishes more flavorable but it goes on and on with history and theories (which I would enjoy if I purchased the book for that, but this left me feeling a little empty handed).

If you bought "The Vegetarian Flavor Bible" you will learn how to pronounce Açai let alone learn how to eat it.

It irks me going through organic and health food stores and looking at all the new exotic food stuff and trying to figure out how to eat it or if I want to eat it. Worse than that it is starting to get impossible to read energy bars that used to have chemicals that I can understand but now have obscure organic plant material.

This book is more than a cook book. It gives general information on what vegetables are and how they can be used. Organized from a to z.

For example under the P's is Pomegranates TIPS: While the season for fresh pomegranates is short the fruit freezes well. Persephone can tell you what the side effects of eating the seeds are. However she never tried Pomegranate Kiwi pancakes.

With the whole book indexed you do not need an index. It is nice to have it in hard cover, because the book would be too unwieldy as paperback. It even comes with a fancy with one of those fancy cloth ribbon book marks.

THE VEGETARIAN FLAVOR BIBLE is an inspiring book that makes it easy to eat vegetables, deliciously! Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have been writing wonderful books about food and wine — and people who love to cook, both professionally and at home — going back to 1995 and BECOMING A CHEF. It won a James Beard award, the first of many honors showered on them. THE VEGETARIAN FLAVOR BIBLE distills 20 years of expertise and enthusiasm into a beautiful, approachable reference that should be part of every kitchen.

You most assuredly know the writing team of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. The couple is responsible for the iconic kitchen classics like Dining Out, The New American Chef, and Chef’s Night Out, among others.

So why go vegetarian with the duo’s latest, The Vegetarian Flavor Bible? “While I started eating veg in May 2012 for my well-being, I’ve since discovered countless reasons to continue eating this way – which include the well-being of the planet as well as the well-being of animals,” Page tells me. And the book brings to light a very compelling argument.

This compendium is exhaustively researched. “I began the research that led to The Vegetarian Flavor Bible at the beginning of 2010, after having lost my father, my stepmother, and both of Andrew’s parents between 2000 and 2009 – all to cancer,” says Page.  “It was appalling to learn that nutritionally-controllable diseases (e.g., cancer, heart disease, diabetes) are the #1 cause of death in the U.S., and I wanted to educate myself in nutrition to enable us – and anyone else who wishes – to eat a more healthful whole-foods, plant-based diet without ever sacrificing flavor.” The implication with calling anything a bible is that it seldom delivers. Rather, to be all-encompassing and all-knowing, the volume must be an expanse on whatever topic is being explored. The Vegetarian Flavor Bible truly is a bible. The approach is easily navigable; concisely laid out dictionary style with techniques to preparing the vegetable-based ingredients as well as nutritional guidance.

The section of notable events in vegetarian history, for example, is encyclopedic in thoroughness. Plato, the American Psychological Society, Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Edison, among many others, all get a nod for their roles along the vegetarian path. Including the biography of vegetarianism helps lure the reticent and non-believers.

But the nerve-center of the book really is a collection of ingredients laden with practical details to capitalize on flavor and appeal. They just happen to be meatless. Craftily conceived, Page dispenses with a brilliant flood of information, as you would expect from a bible. Dictionary-style organization with an alphabetic reference, indexing hundreds of ingredients, each listing includes the seasonality of the component, flavor, technique substitutes and flavor affinities, among others. The index is all-encompassing; there are quotes to draw attention to some ingredients, photographs of others and references to restaurant dishes containing the respective ingredients. Whew!

The other half of the creative machine that has bellowed out Culinary Artistry, Becoming a Chef and The Flavor Bible, Andrew Dornenburg adds to the 554-page tome with artful and genuinely relevant photos. Capturing the colors of the vibrant diet that Page so eloquently espouses, Dornenburg premiers his photography for Vegetarian.

I asked Page about hurdles to tackling such a hot-button topic. “Some omnivore readers are of an all-or-nothing variety, believing-wrongly-that if they can’t go 100% vegan or vegetarian, they shouldn’t bother.  But even reducing meat from your diet can help.  For example, the American Heart Association just released a study that switching to a semi-vegetarian diet could cut your risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke by as much as 20 percent.  Also, it takes 660 gallons of water to make one hamburger.” If you aren’t so quick to buy-in to the vegetarian mindset, you learn to explore compelling topics like chemesthesis, cheese addiction and the Broccoli Dog. Now that’s cool!

I enjoyed reading the introductory material. The section on the history of vegetarianism is particularly well done. Regarding the main body of the book, I have trouble believing that most cooks get much use out of it. Not all ingredient combinations are equally pleasing to all eaters, and there is an infinity of ingredient combinations available. A much abridged version of this book that retains the ingredient list but only describes 'classic' popular ingredient combinations that can be used as a starting point for experimentation might be more useful.

Like its predecessor, the flavor pairings and ideas represented in this Bible take the risk out of experimentation but leave the rewards of discovery and creativity to the reader/chef. It is a reference and an inspiration, a guide and source of encouragement. Thanks to Karen (and Andrew) for another contribution to our better health and enjoyment.

I'm not a vegetarian (Actually you could say that I'm 2/3rds veg since I rarely eat meat for breakfast or lunch.) but I love this book! Why? It's clear that most people would benefit by eating a diet that is predominantly plant-based. There are compelling health reasons for us to make vegetables more prominent in our daily dining. The problem is: that seems boring and joyless. Karen Page solves that problem by making the exploration of vegetable flavor combinations exciting, intriguing and sensually compelling. And in her usual style she does this in a comprehensive, detailed and thorough manner. The exquisite photos by Andrew Dornenburg make everything more delicious and delectable. This is a perfect gift for anyone you know who wants to be healthier without sacrificing pleasure.

This book is very overpriced. Maybe I'm not using it properly but it definitely was not helpful in the least. It does list every ingredient imaginable but if you have no idea what the ingredients are to begin with, then it is of no help. There are many vegetarian books out there for a fraction of the price that simplify the substitutions. I would not recommend this a all.

A friend highly recommended this book... I'm not finding it particularily helpful yet as it doesn't have the classical recipes that I would use to make a meal, and be inspired. I think it's just because I'm used to cooking a certain way....