The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen

Peter Berley, through this book has taught me to have a great respect and love for food and the art of cooking. It has dramatically changed my life. I have been a vegetarian for nearly all of my life, but not very well educated culinary-wise. None of my other cookbooks have ever motivated me to do the best I can. You feel like you have a teacher and friend with you in the kitchen since every recipe comes with helpful hints and interesting stories of how he created them. My friends and family now think I am a goddess. This is the first of Peter Berley's cookbooks that I bought. The second one is as amazing. Food is everything; it's the source of a great life, of happiness and health. My children (4 and 2) eat everything with a great appetite. So it's also a gift to them.

I am a non-vegetarian living in a co-op that requires all shared meals to be vegetarian. I found this book on sale at Sur La Table, and bought it to provide me with more ideas for the dinners I cook for my house. After the first few meals that I made that included 2-3 different recipes from this book, it quickly became my FAVORITE cookbook (all genres). I now select this book more often than any other for my house and other dinner parties with non-vegetarian friends. The flavors are rich, the combinations are unique and work very well, and the instructions are easy to follow and provide you with all the info you need, even if you're not a seasoned macrobiotic chef. I give this book a HUGE "thumbs up"! (Some favorites: Creamy Garlic Miso Salad Dressing, Three Sisters Stew (beans, corn dumplings, and winter squash with toasted pumpkin seeds), Eggplant and Seitan Falafel).

Peter Berleys new book is a godsend. Not only for vegetarians and vegans, but for any chef who wants to meet the demands for healthy cuisine in the mainstream. After reading this cookbook, any intimidation you have about natural ingredients and whole foods will go right out the window. Mr. Berley really sums it up in a no nonsense, cool style. If you want to impress your cynical carnivore friends, just prepare a meal from this book, and I guarantee you'll convert at least one person. This book shows that vegan and vegetarian cuisine is about as cutting-edge as you can get, and there are no boundaries. I rate Peter Berley right up there with the best chefs in this country.

I am not a vegetarian but like to eat that way some times because it seems like it should be healthier. But I've been disappointed in a lot of the vegetarian food I've tried. Luckily, Peter Berley has a great philosophy about food: Healthy eating is also the most pleasurable eating. Hey, that works for me and this book delivers. I've prepared quite a few of the dishes here for friends and the food has always been well received.A lot of the ingredients used in vegetarian cooking were a mystery to me. They have strange names and I didn't know how to prepare them. What's the difference between tofu and seitan? And what is seitan anyway? This book uncovers many of these mysteries. It's all there and well written. This is one of those cook books that will be stained with food very quickly. Highly recommended.