I love getting cookbooks from the library. It seems impossible to judge the merits of a good cookbook online or in the few minutes you have to flip through it at the book store. I think the only time I buy cookbooks now is from Half Price Books because how can you go wrong with a $5 cookbook? I was excited to get Terry Hope Romero's "Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers" as it has gotten great reviews from a number of veggie and non-veggie sources alike. I was maybe half way through the second chapter of this book (Salsas and Condimentos) when I shut the book, put it down, and decided I just needed to buy it.
When I'm only checking out a cookbook, I usually write the page numbers for the recipes I like on the back of the rental due receipt. When I finally decided this was a book I just needed to own, I had already written down about 20 numbers!
The recipes are all vegan (duh!), but are easily adaptable to vegetarian palettes as well. Latin food has been friend to the vegetarian for a long time with it's dishes rich with beans and veggies. Who even misses the meat when you have Cuban Black Bean Soup, Fried Sweet Plantains, Arepas, Creamy Corn-Crusted Seitan Pot Pie, and Dulce Batata?
The book also includes some simple seitan recipes (can you ever have enough) and is conscious of what products are and are not readily available in your local supermarket. I'm lucky to live in Texas so I have easy access to things like plantains, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, yucca, and more. I cannot wait to make so many things from this book!
