Review: The First Cookbook I Ever Owned: The Moosewood
My very first cookbook, a gift from my parents after a trip to visit me on Block Island, was the Moosewood Cookbook. A classic, and a perfect introduction on how to feed myself without meat. I quickly saved my money and gobbled up the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, also by Molly Katzen and published by Ten Speed Press. Originally published in 1977, Molly Katzen re-edited the Moosewood to reflect heathier eating practices and it was rereleased in 1999.
When she wrote them, Molly Katzen ran the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. It quickly became mecca for vegetarians all over America, (I haven’t made it there yet). She has since moved on, but Moosewood still exists as a collective and they still pump out great cookbooks regularly, but nothing stands up to the original, which was inducted into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame (kind of like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for cookbooks) .
Each hand lettered recipe is accompanied with equally charming drawings. The book begins with a discussion demystifying vegetable soup stock (many great vegetable soups are rendered unvegetarian by the addition of flavorless chicken stock) by saving certain veggie scraps (carrot peels, onion ends, and yes, apple cores) but not others (peas, broccoli) in a bag in the freezer and dumping them into a stock pot with water a few other additions. This is still the method I employ today–after 16 years of professional cooking, I haven’t found a better way! The soup recipes span the globe as well as the palate–offering everything from creamy winter purees to light chilled summer soups. This book turned me into a soup lover and a great soup maker. (There will be more on soup when the weather is less than 95F all the time.)
From there you travel a wholesome journey through great veggie pastas, stir fries, casseroles, dips, side dishes, breads, and desserts.
Even non-vegetarians could gain a lot from their own dog-eared Moosewood; especially in our current food climate when even the pit bulls of carnivorism know the dirty secrets and devastating impacts of our current meat industry and economy.
Yes, it is possible to feed yourself quite heartily on vegetables and pasta, rice or potatoes. No, you don’t have to be a hairy-legged, tie-dye wearing, patchouli scented counter-cultural hippie to do it. No, you don’t have to resort to fermented soybean in the form of tempeh (unless you want to). Yes, you can learn how to make delicious meals with simple ingredients like vegetables, cheese, eggs, milk, and starches. No, you won’t need a can opener. You just need a Moosewood. (Watch out, Moosewood Cookbooks are addicting, before you know it, you might have all of them…)
