Harvesting interest
Plant-based cookbooks offer healthy recipes without the dogma
“I always aim to inspire rather than preach about the virtues (of a plant-based diet),” writes Laura Wright, author of “The First Mess Cookbook,” just one of a new crop of plant-based cookbooks to hit bookstore shelves in recent months.
Plant-based diets, which are similar to vegetarian and vegan counterparts, have become popular online because of writers like Wright, whose blog inspired the book. Plant-based proponents have perfected the messaging: It’s not about strictly following a diet or even depriving oneself of food groups. It’s about embracing the positives of vegetables, which the latest cookbooks do by celebrating their versatility with brightly colored photography that feels lived in and inviting, and language that is as much about cooking for well-being versus a number on a scale. These are dishes that celebrate greens and roots; no one is telling you “you won’t miss the meat,” because that’s the point: Veggies can stand on their own.
Two other blog-to-book titles, “Naturally Nourished” by Sarah Britton (who blogs at My New Roots), and “Vegetarian Heartland” by Shelly Westerhausen (Vegetarian ’Ventures) embody the aesthetic of plantbased eating perfectly. For example, Britton’s half-moon of creamy polenta is covered in verdant green arugula pesto and wispy ribbons of beets, while Westerhausen’s gets up close, showing the texture of a pot of brown, smoky baked beans or seed-studded pumpkin bread. Britton’s recipes are straightforward and can easily be batched for parties or lunch and dinner during the week. Westerhausen taps into her Midwestern roots to offer vibrant, seasonal fare. Dairy and nondairy substitutes abound; as a home cook, you can apply your own spin.
And that approach, applying your own spin, is Heather Crosby’s shtick. Crosby, who writes the blog YumUniverse, takes an improvisational approach to plant-based cooking in her “Pantry to Plate.” Though there are plenty of recipes, she introduces the concept of a “template” from which you can infinitely modify. The templates are difficult to read at first — these pages are overdesigned — but they make a good case for perfecting a dish that can easily be riffed on. Crosby, like Wright and Britton, is not dogmatic about her plant-based recipes.
“I’m not here to judge or tell you how to live your life. I’m here to share what’s possible,” she writes. “Let’s just move veggies from the side of the plate to the center while you’re here.”