Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have recently transitioned to eating a plant-based diet which necessitates learning new ways to cook and think about flavor pairings. I went to the library and checked out about a dozen vegan cookbooks and then bought those with the most interesting recipes. This cookbook has risen to the top of my list for several reasons. First of all, I do the majority of my shopping at a farmer's market so I come home with quantities of seasonal vegetables and then figure out what to make with them - kind of the opposite of the prescribed menu plans at the beginning of this cookbook but it works well either way. When I get home from the market I look in the indexes of my cookbooks and flag recipes containing the specific vegetables I brought home. Of the four cookbooks I use most, this one has the most thorough and usable index. One of the other cookbooks only indexes ingredients that are named in the recipe title or the introductory paragraph, not the actual recipe ingredients! Really. Since I don't read cookbooks like novels, that book doesn't get used much, but this one does! The second reason I love this cookbook is because it covers a wide spectrum of flavor exploration without requiring spices I've never heard of. Most of the interesting flavors come from imaginative pairings of herbs and vegetables. I can't tolerate (digest) more than a whisper of anything from the allium family (onion, garlic, shallots, etc.) and many cookbooks rely almost exclusively on loading up their unimaginative recipes with nothing but onions and garlic for flavoring. To be sure, there are plenty of recipes in this cookbook that call for onions and garlic but most of them include other primary flavorings so the dish still tastes great when I just leave out the allium. Other positives: the cookbook is printed on a sturdy coated paper stock and also includes photos for about three quarters of the recipes. Pictures really help me to understand a recipe before I even read the ingredient list. My favorite vegan cookbook so far!