Hello Veggie Buntch readers,
I’m over-the-moon excited about our latest initiative: Welcome to the Veggie Buntch Supper Club!

What’s this Supper Club all about?
The Veggie Buntch Supper Club is a dinner club for veggie-lovers who enjoy great food and good company. We’ll be kicking off in Cape Town with one Supper Club event per month, starting in June 2012.

Veggie Buntch Supper Club attendees will benefit from great specials and menus that are focused 100% on providing top-quality vegan or vegetarian cuisine. This is also a chance to meet other vegetarians and vegans in your area.

I’m thrilled to announce that our first Supper Club will take place at the lovely and luxurious Catharina’s restaurant at the beautiful Steenberg wine estate on 4th June.

Executive Chef Garth Almazan is currently planning a 3-course menu that is sure to tickle and tantalise your tastebuds. Whether you’re vegan or vegetarian, you will get to experience a specially designed menu exclusively for Veggie Buntch Supper Club attendees. You’ll also get to meet Chef Garth on the night as he introduces the menu. (We will update you as soon as we have the final menu!)

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Laura Cooke
Editor

The event
When: 19:30 on Monday, 4th June
Where: Catharina’s Restaurant at Steenberg Estate
Price: R195 pp (including service charge)
Excludes: Drinks and extras
Minimum number of attendees needed to make this event happen: 10
Places are limited.

How to book:
Send an email to Laura Cooke on editor@veggie.buntch.net to book. Be sure to specify any dietary requirements when booking. The event will only be confirmed once 10 people have signed up. Once 10 bookings are made, places will be confirmed only on receipt of payment. All payments have to made before Monday, 28th May.

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I just came across a great blog that features extremely easy recipes in a user-friendly and fun way: The Vegan Stoner. Created by two designers, Sarah Conrique and Graham I. Haynes, the site aims to show that vegan cooking doesn’t require loads of time or energy.

It’s well worth checking out for its good ideas and quirky, fun illustrations.

Here are a few examples to whet your appetite.

Books4Change, an online shop with a social and environmental conscience, is offering a limited-availability special on the book, Still Healthy at 100 by Diet for a New America and Food Revolution author, John Robbins.

In this paradigm-shifting book, John Robbins shows us how we can prolong our life and our health by drawing on the most recent medical research and the secrets of some of the world’s healthiest people.

The book normally sells for around R130, but we’re offering it for only R45, which includes free postage to any postal address in South Africa.

In the book, Robbins shows how a wholefoods, plant-based diet has been responsible for incredible longevity and good health among certain groups of people around the world. Plus we’ll throw in a free Vegetarian Starter Kit, published by the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. For more information on the special, the book and the Vegetarian Starter Kit, click here. To buy, click here.

Books4change sell a variety of rare and donated secondhand books, raising money for their local charity partners. Their website is carbon negative. Delivery on all orders is free to any South African postal address.

There are lots of “weird” foods out there that if we were honest about it, we have no clue where they come from.

Something that has been a relatively recent addition to my shelves is quinoa (pronounced keen-wah or kee-noh-uh.) with it’s slightly nutty taste, it makes an excellent change to rice, pasta and couscous. The fact that it’s packed with nutrients, high in protein and gluten-free makes it even better.

Quinoa grains

So what is it?
Quinoa refers to the edible seeds of a grain-like crop that has been cultivated and used by humans for thousands of years – starting in the Andean region of South America.

Way back in the day, the Incas thought of quinoa as sacred, calling it the “mother of all grains.” When the Spanish came along during the 15-17th century, they weren’t too keen on quinoa. Looking down on this “food for Indians” they tried to get the locals to stop growing the crop because of the status it held in non-Christian ceremonies. At one point they just outright banned it. Usage declined and was replaced by other grains like wheat.

Quinoa before flowering

Miracle food?
Every now and again, a new “miracle food” makes waves around the globe. And quinoa has certainly been one of the chosen few of the ancient staples that have been “rediscovered”. It “has remarkable nutritional properties, not only from its protein content (15%), but also from its great amino acid balance”.(Abugoch, 2009). It has high levels of the amino-acid lysine – which you don’t find in many plant foods – and is packed with minerals and minerals.

In a feature on health24.com, author Dr IV van Heerden says:

It is evident that one cup of cooked quinoa is a rich source of energy supplying about 12% of the daily energy requirement for an adult woman who is not trying to lose weight and nearly 15% of the daily energy intake if a woman is on an energy-reduced diet.

So while quinoa is an excellent source of readily available fuel and will make an important contribution to the energy needs of anyone who has a high energy demand such as sportsmen and women, and very active children and teenagers, slimmers should only eat moderate portions to prevent weight gain. Have half a cup of cooked quinoa for breakfast to sustain you for the whole morning.

It has very high protein content and has 9 essential amino acids, including lysine, making it a complete protein and great addition to the vegetarian or vegan diet. It’s also low in fat, a rich source of B vitamins, namely thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and folate and on top of all this gluten-free!

So while you probably shouldn’t eat buckets of the stuff (and you shouldn’t really eat buckets of anything, particularly chicken), it’s pretty amazing stuff.

How to cook it
The seeds are covered in a bitter-tasting coat containing saponins, which are removed after harvesting.
To cook the stuff, you follow a similar process to cooking rice. Rince the seeds, then add one cup quinoa to two cups water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until they become translucent.

Take a look at the fabulous post and video on My New Roots for more on how to cook this miracle food.

Where to buy
Most health stores stock quinoa. Look out for  brands like Pouyoukas, Health Connection and Nature’s Choice.

My husband and his family are meat-lovers. When I by-and-large gave up meat, I realised very quickly that the trick to convincing my man that meat-free could still be satisfying was by keeping our meals hearty (not skimping on starch or on depth of flavour) and varied.

So paella seemed right up our alley – starchy, flavoursome, and a brand-new vegan meal in my repertoire. Before trying Gwyneth’s version, I’d never made it before, and had not been impressed with restaurant versions I’d tried with one exception (at a Spanish restaurant on an island in the Philippines).

I had read that the sign of a proper paella was that it had to be ordered hours in advance, and since making it myself, I understand why. Notes from My Kitchen Table gives total preparation time as an hour and a half, but it took us a total of almost three hours from starting to munching.

But that’s ok, because this isn’t a dish I’d want to rush. Everybody chipped in, from making, monitoring and constantly tasting the broth (“the secret to this recipe is a well-seasoned broth”), to chopping the vegetables into equal-sized pieces, to being in charge of the heat in the electric wok (which was a job on its own).

Ready to eat. Delicious!

At the end of the process, which felt more like alchemy than cooking, we were rewarded with a dish that was so full of flavour that it satisfied me right down to the bone. It was comfort food, alright – but with such a complex flavour that it also qualified as impressive enough to serve your snobbiest mates. The best thing about it is that it requires very little finesse and hardly any skill at all.

The list of ingredients and method are long, and you’ll find them at the end of this post. But in the meantime, here are the things I learned about making paella which Notes from My Kitchen Table won’t tell you.

• Using tinned instead of fresh artichokes imparts a lovely tartness to the rice, but doesn’t add the texture or crunch that I’m sure fresh artichokes would. If you can find fresh, definitely use them.
• Arborio rice was an excellent substitute for Bomba rice (Gwyneth strongly recommends Bomba, but says that risotto rice will work just as well – I thought it was perfect).
• The recipe calls for pimenton – what we call all-spice. It has a flavour of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, and is the single ingredient I wouldn’t bother making this dish without. We ground whole dried all-spice berries in our (thoroughly cleaned) coffee grinder, and it was this that gave the broth, and the whole dish, its complexity.
• I used poor-man’s saffron (turmeric) instead of the real deal, but it still gave the dish a warm, golden colour.
• Using red and yellow sweet pimento peppers instead of two red peppers added an extra splash of colour.
• An electric wok is an entirely different beast from a paella pan or wok that can be used on the hob. Gwyneth’s instructions are for a paella pan, making it relatively easy to control the temperature of the dish, which is vital. Our electric work required constant monitoring – as soon as it gets up to a certain temperature, it switches itself off – which meant we couldn’t just leave the paella to simmer for the last 35 – 45 minutes while we sat outside and chatted. Gwyneth suggests cooking the paella outside on a not-too-hot barbecue, which seems like a much more sociable option.

Ready to plate with artichokes and peas on top

How to make Gwyneth’s paella – more or less verbatim from Notes from My Kitchen Table

Ingredients
1l vegetable stock
Dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms
10 cloves garlic, 4 crushed and 6 finely chopped
Large pinch saffron
½ teaspoon sweet pimenton
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large aubergine cut into 8mm thick slices, ends discarded
125 ml olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 large tomato
2 red peppers, seeds and stem removed, cut into 2.5 cm pieces
400g Bomba (or Arborio) rice
87 small artichokes, trimmed and steamed for 20 minutes, cut in half and chokes discarded
150g frozen peas
3 lemons, 2 cut into wedges

Method
Combine the stock with the mushrooms and the 4 cloves of crushed garlic in a large saucepan and boil over high heat for 10 minutes. Lower the heat, add the saffron and pimenton and simmer for an additional 10 minutes to thoroughly combine the flavours. Keep warm over a low heat.

The all-important broth - seasoned with all-spice, vegetable stock, dried mushrooms and garlic

Meanwhile, prepare the aubergine by sprinkling both sides of the slices with a bit of salt and laying them between sheets of kitchen towel for at least 15 minutes (Note: this will draw out the moisture and the bitterness from the aubergine). Cut the slices into 2.5 cm pieces. Heat half the olive oil in a large sauté pan set over medium heat and cook 2 cloves of the chopped garlic until fragrant, about a minute. Add the pieces of aubergine to the pan and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring now and then, until browned and softened. Set aside.

Slicing the aubergines

Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a 40-45 cm paella pan over high heat until just beginning to smoke. Turn the heat down to medium, add the onion and the 4 remaining cloves of chopped garlic, and cook, stirring, until just beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Coarsely grate in the tomato, discarding the skin. Stir together and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the peppers and continue to cook the vegetables together until softened, another 10 minutes. Stir in the cooked aubergine.

Adding all the veggies to the wok

When you’re ready to roll, place the paella pan with the vegetables over high heat and pour the rice into the pan in an even cross (this is how I was taught). (Note: I followed this instruction but it didn’t seem to make much difference because everything is stirred together almost immediately after this step.) Add the broth and stir to combine everything. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Arrange the artichokes and peas on top and simmer until the rice is cooked through, about 35 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat source, cover with a large piece of foil and let it sit undisturbed for 15 minutes. Squeeze the juice of the lemon paella. Serve with lemon wedges and the Quick Pimenton Aioli (Note: A dipping sauce made of Vegenaise/mayo, garlic, pimenton, lemon juice and salt and pepper. I gave this a skip.), which is great for artichoke dipping.

After oxygen, water is our most important nutrient. When we are babies our bodies are 90% water, this drops off to around 65 – 70% for adults. Water keeps us clean, vital and strong. Choosing the best water to drink is as important as choosing the best food to eat.

Non-organic food is loaded with toxic elements in the form of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones or antibiotics and similarly tap water can also be contaminated with these toxic chemicals. It is interesting to realise that your body’s DNA has a sheath of water molecules surrounding it. However your DNA will sooner go thirsty than sheath itself in poor quality water. When your DNA is fed with high quality living water your entire system functions more effectively and energetically.

What you drink becomes your bloodstream in less than five minutes. That’s why fizzy drinks are one of our dubbed – ‘poisons of the palate’ because all that sugar and acid gets absorbed directly into your bloodstream almost instantaneously.

These beautiful refined vehicles that we call our bodies are designed to function optimally on the best fuel that nature has already provided to us in abundance: living spring water and water-rich raw plant foods.

WHAT IS THE BEST WATER TO DRINK?
Spring water is the best drinking water. 
Peter and I have been drinking spring water exclusively for the past four years. We’d already been eating raw foods for three years prior to the switch to spring water. Since making the commitment to drink only the best water nature has to offer our health, energy, enthusiasm and the ‘flow’ of our lives has taken on a whole new meaning. Mother Nature has already sorted out filtration. No gadget can replace the earth’s infinite intelligence. Naturally occurring spring water bubbles up through layers of earth and rock bringing with it minerals as it is filtered. You will be amazed at how this water quenches your thirst – hydrating your body right down to the DNA and cellular level.

Tip: If you cannot get spring water, remineralise your filtered water by adding to each litre of water:
5 drops of concentrace trace minerals
1/8th teaspoon of Himalayan rock salt
3 tablets of the tissue salt called ‘exhaustion combo’ or ‘general tonic’
Remineralising the water in this way, will nourish and hydrate your body more deeply
“If you are not filtering your water, YOU are the filter!”

WATER FOR WASHING:
When it comes to washing fruit and vegetables, showering and bathing we use filtered water. We had a water filter fitted to our mains water so that
 every tap in the house is filtered. You absorb more chlorine lying in a bath than if you would if you were to drink chlorinated water out of a tap all day long. When you bath or shower in non-filtered water your body absorbs the chemicals and toxins directly through your skin.

EATING WATER-RICH FOODS
Here is where the beauty of eating raw foods really starts to reveal itself. When food is cooked most of the water is evaporated and all of the living water is destroyed. When you eat water-rich plant foods in their raw state, your body absorbs and thrives on the water that the plants have absorbed and structured directly from the earth. Fruits and vegetables contain the highest amounts of structured water and your body benefits from these living elements. Saying that water is just H20 is like saying the human body is just a skeleton. All the living elements and minerals create its structure, energy and healing potential.

HOW MUCH WATER TO DRINK?
How much water should you drink is always a question we get asked? Naturally this varies with seasons, exercise etc but the general guideline is no less than one litre. If you are eating predominantly raw food diet and are drinking green juice on a daily basis you will find your need for water is less.

As a guideline:

• Drink 1 – 2 litres of spring water or remineralised water per day
• Drink 500ml to 1 litre of green juice or green smoothie per day
• Eat as much of your food as raw, plant -based, water-rich foods – remember, even a carrot contains 88% water

RECIPES
FUN WAYS TO DRINK WATER

Flavoured waters:
 Mass marketed flavoured-waters or vitamin-waters are far from health-enhancing. The best way to flavour your water and enhance its health properties is by way of herbal infusions.

Herbal Infusions
Put 500ml fresh spring water in a bottle or jar and allow to infuse for 3 – 4 hours with the following combination of ingredients:

• Cinnamon and bay leaves – 
cinnamon helps balances blood sugar levels and reduce cravings
• Lavender, rosemary and ginger
 – lavender and rosemary are calmatives and ginger acts as an anti-inflammatory
• Buchu
 – buchu is an overall immune-boosting tonic and diuretic
• Mint and rose geranium
 – mint is a refreshing digestive aid and rose geranium eases tension and anxiety
• Vanilla pod
 – vanilla is high in antioxidants and also acts as a mood enhancer

Camu Camu-nade
This super refreshing drink is a Vitamin C immune booster that tastes like lemonade and is made using the highest vitamin C fruit known! Better than cranberry juice, this drink will knock out bad bacteria, feed your good bacteria and is delicious.

• 1 litre spring water
• 2 tablespoons camu camu powder (highest vitamin C fruit)
• 1 tablespoon baobab powder (a prebiotic that feeds your good bacteria, is high in vitamin C, calcium
• and iron)
• 2-3 tablespoons raw honey (enzyme-rich natural sweetener) juice of 1 lemon (for extra zing)
• Place all the ingredients in a blender, blend and serve on ice

For more on raw food, check out more posts by Peter and Beryn.

Peter and Beryn are both UK-trained, Raw Food Chefs working towards raising raw food consciousness in South Africa. For more information about green juicing, raw foods, juicers and healthy living visit www.rawlicious.co.za. The Rawlicious, recipes for radiant health recipe book has a whole chapter dedicated to juicing and green juicing. The Rawlicious, Elements for radiant health 4-part DVD-course includes juicing demonstrations as well as many other healthy lifestyle recipes, interviews, tips and information.

We’re pleased to announce the winners of the three great cookbooks that were up for grabs in March.

Well done!

Notes from My Kitchen Table
Fiona Godfrey

World Food Cafe
Johan Wessels

The Vegetarian Kitchen
Lauren Ker
Jennifer Baufeldt

It’s month 2 of my first garden adventure and now that the plants are relatively established, it seems that everything in the vicinity is determined to munch them to death.

From white flies and caterpillars to aphids and a mysterious something that moves swiftly through the aubergine leaves, everyday sees a constant battle between bugs and me. It makes one realise that it’s no easy task growing your own vegetables – particularly in an environment where there isn’t a natural eco-system to ensure a balance.

Dealing with pests
I have tried some organic pesticides to tackle the aphids…so far their numbers seem to be dropping. I did try a solution of tomato leaves and water initially, but with the number of aphids, it didn’t prove effective enough.

When it comes to the aubergines, judging by what I saw on the web, it looked like they were either being attacked by slugs or snails (although I haven’t seen any.) Further research suggested the damage could be caused by some sort of beetle. Recent night-time investigation reveals that the culprit is most likely one of the four giant caterpillars I found. Whether it’s all of these creatures or only the caterpillars, everything wants a bite of my veggies!

It’s quite tempting to let everything go to pot and let all the little creatures run amok in the garden. Who knew that gardening, as well as highlighting the wonderful process of growth, would also involve so much fighting against these little critters.

Here are a couple of images of the “garden” and the damage.

The veggie garden in month two.

The damage

In spite of these problems, I have been had a regular crop of spinach, coriander, basil and chillies. The lettuce has also been fast-growing and tasty – we have one left in the crate and hopefully we can get another bunch going shortly.

My garden adventures have so far been rewarding: I’m learning as I go along and have new found respect for all the green thumbs out there.

It always amazes me that the same enlightened person who advocates a wholesome natural life style for themselves, does not necessarily apply these same and equal principles when caring for their four-legged companions.

We, as humans, are very weary of chemicals and poisons when using shampoos and grooming products on our own body, yet indiscriminately and without much thought we apply harsh shampoos and flea repellents onto our pets. Is their skin really that much tougher than ours and devoid of feeling?

Some of the most processed and preserved food on earth is kibble – the staple diet of many of our pets – sold through supermarkets and veterinary clinics. It is a multi-billion dollar industry. Everyone is getting richer, while our pets’ health is getting poorer, with most pets struggling with some sort of skin disorder or allergy – the first sign that something is going wrong.

To make matters worse, each year there are new ranges of kibble that land on our shores. Many claim to have the “best formulation ever”. Some claim to only use “premium ingredients” in their recipe and others boldly claim to be “naturally preserved and holistic”.

In the end, a kibble is a kibble and there is no denying that ALL have the following in common:

Kibble is processed

Most kibble is extruded at high temperatures. Some kibble is baked at lower temperatures. But all are processed at temperatures that nullify the whole and natural vitamin and mineral structures within nutrition. Enzymatic active nutrition comes from food that is not exposed to harsh heat or chemicals, and unfortunately kibble is found seriously wanting in this respect

Kibble is preserved

No food can sit on a dry shelf without being preserved. Kibble can enjoy a shelf life of 12 months. Some of the preservatives used are also dubious and many pet food companies still use preservatives that are outlawed in human foods. We often find that the pet food labels claim that their food is “naturally preserved” or contains only “natural preservatives”. But are these natural preservatives “natural” and more importantly can they really claim to be totally safe?

Kibble is devoid of moisture

This is probably one of the main reasons why our pets, and in particular cats, struggle with uninary infections, bladder disorders and renal complications. Dogs and cats rely on their nutrition for their liquid intake. Nowadays, we find that our pets are drinking copious amounts of water so compensate for their state of dehydration. However, the water is not being retained effectively, as it would be with diets that are naturally enriched with moisture.

Kibble is saturated with digestives or fats

A dry kibble would have no appeal to our companions if they weren’t saturated with fats or digestives. This makes a dry inappropriate diet more palatable and enticing. But any chef will tell you that there are good fats and bad fat,  and that fats and oils have a “smoking” or “burning” point. That is the temperature at which a fat or oil will burn and turn rancid and loose nutritional value. Olive oil or peanut oil has high “smoking” points, but rendered fat, commonly used in kibble food, has very low smoking points.

That means that even on a relatively hot day in South Africa, your packet of kibble is at risk of turning rancid, unless stored in a cool place or fridge. Rancidity is one of the main causes of irritable skin and related allergies.

Kibble is a High Carb and Calorie Diet

Athletes before an event often “carbo-load” to build up energy resources. High-carb diets have the same impact on our pets. Most of our pets, and certainly with specific breeds, already have too much energy and are hyperactive. A kibble diet can exacerbate energy levels with the result that our pets become out of control, less disciplined and generally misbehaved. Hyperactive pets are likely to chew themselves and show signs of irritation and discomfort.

High carb diets are also high in acidity, which not only affects behaviour, but joints and skeletal development. And perhaps this could be a contributing factor as to why so many of our animals struggle with arthritic issues.

Kibble is Devoid of Love

A very important part of bonding between parent and child is through feeding and around the dinner table. We yearned for our favorite dishes that mom prepared: tomato bredie, curry, macaroni and cheese. It was at the dinner table that respect was earned and demanded and a sense of unity emerged.

When it comes to our pets, we chuck a bowl of kibble on the ground and leave abruptly. No love, no nurturing, no expectations and no interaction.
Yet, we expect sterling behaviour from our companion. This is an unrealistic demand when we actually have not earned the respect or the bond.

For thousands of years our companion animals have been fed a natural, wholesome diet from our kitchen, and they performed extremely well on such a diet. In a few short decades, the whole nutritional base of our animals shifted to highly processed and chemically-laden food.

While the manufacturers claim that our pets can thrive on a diet consisting of nothing but commercial dried food, research and an increasing number of veterinarians, implicate processed, dried pet food as a source of disease or as an exacerbating agent for a number of degenerative diseases.

The highest quality of nourishment comes from whole natural and enzyme-active foods that are not refined, processed, exposed to high temperatures or laden with preservatives.

That’s why feeding your pet a diet full of home-cooked goodness is still best.

For about pet health, take a look at more posts by Paul here.

Paul Jacobson is a Pet Food Nutritionist and qualified chef and owner of Vondis Holistic Pet Nutrition. Vondis has been producing natural pet food for 14 years and is a registered nutritional pet food. Vondis is actively involved in educating the public on the benefits of natural diets for pets and a holistic approach when treating them. Go to www.vondis.co.za for more information.

Summary: Beautifully photographed, South African dairy and meat-free  cookbook for your everyday cook.

What a pleasure it was to discover this gorgeous, brand-new South African vegetarian cookbook for lactose-intolerant people (which means, even though it doesn’t say it outright on the cover, it’s totally vegan). Written by Mellissa Bushby, The Vegetarian Kitchen aims to “illustrate not only a healthier way of eating, but also a way for the many vegetarian and lactose-intolerant people out there to see how easy it actually is to eat delicious, soul-satisfying food without meat or dairy.”

It fills me with optimism that a book like this has been published by Struik publishing in South Africa and suggests that the idea of eating a more plant-based diet is starting to enter the mainstream consciousness. While there are loads of veggie books, organisations, magazines and websites in the UK and the US, from my experience, vegetarianism and veganism is still relatively fringe in SA.

That said, we have the super active SA Vegan Society, who are constantly busy engaging with media and stakeholders. The raw food movement is gaining traction locally and we also have the wonderful Gaia Market to look forward to down in Cape Town, something that should fill every veggie’s heart with glee – a totally plant-based market.

But, let’s get back to The Vegetarian Kitchen.

The first thing that struck me about this book, is that the featured cover recipe contained ingredients that I actually had in my cupboard. According to Mellissa, “this book is an expedition into a world of delicious and pleasurable cooking, with ideas taken from all over the world and made in our very own South African way.” The recipes, which are superbly photographed, contain ingredients that are pretty easy to buy at your local supermarket and references local brands.

On the recipes

One thing I find about The Vegetarian Kitchen, is that all the recipes seem quite comforting and familiar. From pasta salads with red onions, carrots, cucumber, avo and lemon juice to potato bakes, mushroom pies, pecan gnocchi and tasty foccaccias and breads, to delicious desserts like apricot tarts, this is all food that I could easily imagine actually making, not just drooling over the pics. This isn’t to say that they’re bland or boring – the recipes are fresh, spicy and also scrumptious to look at.

I have to confess that I haven’t gotten very far in testing the recipes in this one… yet. But I did whip up some Mustard-glazed Veggies as a side. Super quick and simple, the recipe called for some steamed carrots, julienne beans, coriander to garnish with a tangy dressing made with olive oil, apple cider vingar, sugar and Dijon mustard. It took no time to make and was very yummy.

Mustard-glazed Veggies test

I will post more recipes from this book as I go along.

But that’s not all
Mellissa also offers up her Essential Store Cupboard guide – which sounds a lot like mine! From a South African perspective, she references brands that we will recognise, which is very helpful. Especially to newcomers to the plant-based way of life.

At the end of the book, she also provides some great home remedies like a soothing skin butter, nappy rash cream and bath salts.

All in all. Wow. Lovely book, beautifully photographed and filled with practical recipes that you will actually make in your own home.

Buy your own here, on Kalahari.net, Exclusives, CNA or at any good local bookstore.

WIN: If you’d like to win one of two copies of The Vegetarian Kitchen (R220.00), send an email to editor@veggie.buntch.net with The Vegetarian Kitchenin the subject line and be sure you have subscribed to our newsletter or liked our facebook page to stay up-to-date with more news and competitions. (Only open to South African readers).

Take a look at a few pages below: