My son is vegan, so we have cooked a great deal of vegan recipes, and this book was a fun addition to our regular rotations. While not overly abundant with photographs, the recipes are easy to follow, tasty and simple. My carnivore youngest son has enjoyed all the offerings so far, so a great indicator of their flavor! While we wont be losing pounds with this on rotation, we will certainly be enjoying our meals! Thank you

I loved this book and have already used it multiple times. I'm the only person in my family who's gone vegan but even my husband and kids love the recipes in this book!. There hasn't been one we haven't liked yet, which I can assure you, is incredibly rare in my family!

Always happy to see more and more plant based options for those looking to cut back on meat. Ideal for any library looking to expand their collection.

So many great ideas in this fun cookbook. I particularly liked the Hemp Parmesan which can be used on so many things. I find making my own seitan (and other mock meats) a bit labour intensive but cannot deny how great it tastes - and lots of recipes in this book have inspired me to set aside a Sunday afternoon to do it again. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Kurze Einleitung und los geht es mit einem Kochbuch voller leckerer Rezepte und tollen Tipps am Rande. Perfekt für Veganer und solche die es werden wollen oder ausprobieren möchten. Ran an den Herd!

This did not work for me - I found it way too interested in making veganism sound cool for a audience that I am not and too hung up on "masculinity". The recipes did not appeal to me enough for me to actually want to cook them. And it's such a shame! Because I love comfort food recipes and I am always trying to cook more vegan food (I am a vegetarian who really should just take the plunge and go vegan)..

Epic Vegan is an ebullient, playful, fun cookbook, full of whimsical photography of the food and the author, and recipes that sound delightfully, unhealthily delicious, from the creator and host of The Vegan Roadie. This isn’t a cookbook for people in a rush on a weeknight who need something easy to make, as the author states in his introduction. Instead, it’s a joyful love letter to the fun of playing with food and to the decadent flavor possibilities of vegan food, flavors that are meant to be accessible to vegans and carnivores and every human in between. Harder calls this “stunt food”, food that is extravagantly delicious and attention-getting. His playful, non-judgmental exuberance rings throughout the text and photos of the book and in his personal stories of life with his husband and his extended family and friends.

The only part of the book that didn’t really strike me as consistent with its fun and joyful theme was the simple, sometimes dense, black font throughout the book. I gave up on trying to read the electronic advance copy I had, and waited til it came to my library instead. Even so, it can be hard on the eyes. As much photography as there is throughout the book, many recipes don’t actually have an accompanying photo, so there can be page after page of dense black and white text.
The only other possible party pooping element of this book is if you have food allergies or other dietary restrictions. The author has apparently attempted to include less soy in his creations, but manages to do so by relying HEAVILY on gluten-containing products. Vital wheat gluten, all-purpose flour, bread crumbs, baked goods, and seitan are on heavy rotation in the recipes. Nuts, especially cashews, also figure heavily in the recipes. I wouldn’t recommend these recipes to anyone who is trying to eat vegan for health reasons, either–they are full of refined and/or saturated fats, such as vegan mayo and coconut milk, and processed foods (although there are also many recipes for basic items that can be used in recipes throughout the book). These recipes are wild and over-the-top, as the cover says, and are meant to be fun and decadent and delicious, not healthy. There’s no shame in that. It’s just a consideration for any reader of the book.

Despite the elaborate, if playful recipes, this cookbook is actually quite practical. The kitchen equipment called for is fairly simple and standard–some pots and pans and a blender and food processor. There’s a list of the more obscure ingredients mentioned throughout the book, with suggestions for acquisition or substitution, and cooking hacks featured throughout as well. The recipes are written up in an orderly and easy to understand way, with simpler recipes featured in the first section of the book, while progressively more complicated recipes are in the following two sections. Many of the basic recipes, for sauces and other ingredients to later dishes, can be used on multiple recipes throughout the book, so you shouldn’t be left standing with the remnant of a batch of Cheesiest Cheese Sauce or Aquafaba Whip that you don’t know what to do with.

These recipes remind me somewhat of recipes by Chef Chloe Coscarelli, who has written several cookbooks I enjoyed and now has an eponymous line of fast casual restaurants. While the recipes aren’t healthful exactly, they offer a painless way ahead for those who want to eat vegan without sacrificing favorite tastes and textures, and may, as Harder says, serve as a guide to a healthier lifestyle. He says, “Vegans can create fun, irreverent, and exciting food too!” (quotation from post-publication copy)

While my health and dietary restrictions mean that I won’t be trying the vast majority of these recipes, there are some, especially many basic recipes, that do sound worth trying for me. I’m especially intrigued by Quinoa Bacon Bits, Dreamy Creamy Cream Cheese, Carrot Lox, “Lobster” Rolls, Silky Sunflower Caramel Sauce, Carby Carbonara, Keep It Clean Bowl (a lettuce bowl! how have I not thought of that sooner?!), and I Try to Think About Elvis Ice Cream. I look forward to trying them and hopefully incorporating them into my plant-focused diet.

Thank you to #Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for letting me read an advanced copy of #EpicVegan in exchange for my honest opinion. If you’re looking for fun and fanciful vegan dishes, and don’t have a lot of dietary restrictions, I hope that you too will pick up a copy and check these recipes out.

This recipe book is filled with recipes that sound really delicious and I look forward to trying out some. Even though |I'm not vegan, or even vegetarian. we do enjoy several non-meat days every week.

I don't live the Vegan life-style and I still enjoyed this book. Packed full of recipes I'm looking forward to trying. I only wish it had more pictures.

Really my one criticism of this book is the reusing of recipes from the front of the book to make more complicated recipes at the end of the book. I mean, it sounds great in theory, until you realize you would have to have the book open at 4 different pages to make one recipe. Unless, of course, you've memorize them, rewrite them on a separate piece of paper, or, you know, own this book in four-fold (great for the author, looks a little silly on your bookshelf).

Having said that, this book is beautiful. Great recipes, decadent food completely made vegan, and gorgeous food photography. I mean, what more could a vegan enthusiast want?
I also think the selection of recipes makes this a perfect book for anyone who complains about how boring vegan food is, because this book is anything but boring.

So 4 stars, with an definite round up if you plan to use it regularly enough to make the recipes from memory in the future.

Very well done cookbook, that I think will be especially helpful for newer vegans or those tha tjust want to eat more plant based, since this book has great ideas that are especially comparable to "normal" meals that most people that say they could never be vegan say they would miss.

Great book, worth a look!

Vegan cookbooks can be at times repetitive, which is why I enjoyed this cookbook so much. The recipes are quite frankly crazy (crab rangoon pizza?!), but that will definitely appeal to vegans who are looking to try things that are beyond the repetitive vegan recipes often found in other vegan cookbooks. I think this book will also hold appeal for non-vegans who might want to try out something crazy, or for vegans trying to impress. The photography was great, the graphics appealing, and the instructions were easy to follow.

This cookbook is literally epic! Every single recipe I am absolutely dying to make. Perfect for all those junk food vegans like myself out there!

REVISED VERSION!


Thank you to the publisher's for sending me another copy that had actual content between the endpapers.


Yes, the book has a boisterous title, I stand by that, but it delivers, add a pinch of humour and a side of reality, and you have a wonderful cookbook. Honestly, Mr Harder wants to make cooking a joy and not slaving at the stove, following recipes that have weird ingredients and even weirder instructions.

My personal favourite is the very first recipe in the book, Quinoa Bacon Bits. Who doesn't love bacon? Here's a vegan variant that works not only for the potato soup recipe on p. 140, but with a lot of other recipes.

Speaking of potato soup. My father likes potato soup in a particular way and with lots of bacon in it. Mr Harder, Dustin, I fooled him with your bacon bits, so that is a very big win in my book.

In conclusion, I agree, this cookbook has epic recipes with instructions that are easy to follow. As a part-time vegan, I might not try all of them, but I am definitely trying to cook as many as I can.

This is just...epic! There's no other word for it. Over-the-top, yet accessible recipes for anyone. Love it!

Veganism intrigues me. It's more extreme than I'm inclined towards but I admire the dedication. I like that all these recipes avoid processed ingredients. They even make their own vegan sausage. There's no pretension either. Burgers, soups, sausage gravy. Everyday foods. It's a straightforward approach to cooking, focused on appreciating foods.

An unusual cookery book containing vegan recipes from Dustin Harder, also known as The Vegan Roadie.

It contains ten chapters of plant based recipes, starting with the basics though if you just look at the recipe titles on the contents page, chicken, meats and bacon do feature as names; it feels a little wrong to see those if its a vegan book, even if it's not real bacon, meats or chicken being used.

The other nine chapters cover Sauces, Breads, Nibbles, Handheld, Pizza, Pasta, Bowls of stuff, Shakes and Desserts. There is also an introduction in the book which explains the tools required, ingredients and staples along with how the chapters work.

The main recipes often refer to other recipes in the basics chapter of the book to make a complete dish and vice versa, the basics refer to the main recipes that can be used in conjunction with each other.

Each recipe comes with its own introduction, all the ingredients required in both imperial and metric measurements, how much it makes and plenty of steps to follow. Not all dishes have a photograph to accompany them. The recipes also include tips, such as how to press tofu or adding extra seasoning when looking for a particular flavour.

It's interesting enough but a little too much going backwards and forwards between recipes for my liking and the misnaming of the foods as mentioned before doesn't feel true vegan. Also it seems odd to recommend using organic sugar but not organic flour.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

Epic Vegan is a cookbook full of hearty and satisfyingly tasty classic plant based recipes with an American slant by Dustin Harder. Released 9th July 2019 from Quarto on their Fair Winds Press imprint, it's 192 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

As the author says in the introduction, plant based dishes have an undeserved reputation for being bland and boring. People who love bacon, Philly cheese-steaks, pizza, fried chicken, and BBQ burgers tend to think that vegan cuisine has nothing to tempt them. This book has recipes for all of the above and more.

The book is laid out logically. Staples and recipes for ingredients are followed by categories like beads, appetizers/snacks, handheld food (burgers, sandwiches, etc), pizza, pasta, soups/bowls, drinks, desserts, etc.

Some of the ingredients could prove difficult to source unless the reader has access to vegetarian specific ingredients or specialty suppliers. The rest of the ingredients should be buy-able at any well stocked large grocery.

There's a lot of humor and whimsy in the instructions and recipe names: the pastabilities are endless, cheesus take the wheel, etc. I found it amusing; serious foodies might take exception (lighten up, it's supposed to be fun).

I really feel that moving toward a plant based diet will solve a lot of problems for our resource management as well as provide positive health benefits for all of us. I do think that there is room for a cookbook based on 'cheater' recipes which attempt to replicate meat heavy dishes. I've only tried a handful of the included recipes but we found them tasty and anything but bland. The cover photo is a good indication of the style of recipes included in this cookbook.

Many (but not all) of the dishes are photographed and the photography is lush, clear, and beautifully appealing. I must say, however, that many of these recipes require quite a bit of prep-time. They are mostly 'cooking on the weekend' type recipes and not so much 'I worked all day, the dog threw up in the lounge, and my toddler is naked and running around with her undies on her head for the 34th time today' type recipes. I feel better for having said that (no judging here).

This is the go-to book for veg*ns who want to convince their omnivorous friends and family that plant based meals are not boring and bland.

Five stars, very well done. The flower petal unicorn french bread pizza is -really- beautiful (but all my friends took the petals off before they ate the pizza, cowards).

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley.

This book lived up to the title: epic! I tried a variety of recipes, and had my husband try them right along with me. He is a meat and potatoes guy, and expects every meal he eats to contain meat...and if it doesn't, he says something is missing (the meat). My goal was to pick a few recipes from this book that would have him not missing meat in a meal at all. I am happy to report that I achieved this goal.

We tried a few recipes from this book, and I still have a few more I'd like to do. We loved the cauliflower tacos, and the loaded potato soup (with quinoa bacon bits) was quite good. We even ventured into making the "fried chicken" (starting with the seitan recipe). The chicken was probably our least favorite, but I think that's because we ate it alone, as chicken "poppers." I think it would have been delicious in the buffalo chicken lasagna. We also tried the fried potato wedges, which were really, really good as well.

Overall, I thought this book had some great buildable recipes. They were definitely epic...the ones that I picked had several component parts that were time-intensive when put together to form the end product. We also chose a lot of fried foods from this book, and this is not something we normally do at home. The results were delicious, but I would like to try the baked versions of these recipes (many of them do, thankfully, have baked versions).

All of the flavors in the recipes were spot-on. Everything we have made has had layers of flavor (even the batter for the "fried chicken"), and didn't use loads of salt to get there. This guy knows what he is doing, and if I can adapt some of the healthier versions of these recipes, I will definitely be making them as comfort cravings hit and I want a better alternative!

I'll never make a lot of these recipes, but I enjoyed looking at the recipes and getting ideas on how I can make some of my recipes more vegan (even if not completely vegan). Coming at this from a health point of view, some of it is just too much work or I don't have the ingredients (I'm not going to be using edible flowers anytime soon), but the ideas are definitely helpful. I wish that there were more pictures, though! (I find it hard to picture the recipe without a picture...).