Evolving Vegan is an interesting kind of cookbook. I it is a mix of a few recipes that Mena Massoud has created or gotten from his mother and ones that came from restaurants or were inspired by restaurant meals. Because of this some of the recipes have a lot of ingredients and look intimidating. That being said there are several recipes in here that look exactly like meals I would want to make. One of the nice things is that many recipes utilize ingredients like cashew cheese/cream so you have one staple items you need that appears throughout the book. So often there are staple items that only get used a couple of times so you might create more than you need.
Another thing that is different about this book is that at the end of each chapter Mena highlights a city he traveled to and discovered their vegan scene with a vegan hero profile. Traveling can be difficult when you are trying to eat vegan so having those highlights is nice. I would not say this is a beginner cookbook but there are definitely a nice mix of recipes that I would try.

Evolving Vegan is a recipe collection and tutorial book by Mena Massoud. Due out 15th Sept 2020 from Simon & Schuster on their Tiller Press imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

The book has an interesting take on plant based food which hooked me from the beginning. The author has curated the recipes from 4 categories: recipes generously provided by restaurants (the same or similar to dishes on their menus), recipes inspired by a particular restaurant, recipes developed by the author himself, and family recipes (from mama's kitchen). The recipes run the gamut from trendy foodie-chic to ultra traditional/ancient and represent a wide variety of world cuisines: Asian, fusion, Middle Eastern, European, American, African, South American - lots of temptations from which to choose.

The recipes are arranged roughly thematically: breakfasts, appetizers, soups salads & sandwiches, entrées, sides, and desserts. They have their ingredients listed bullet style in a sidebar. Measurements are given in US standard only, with a metric/SI conversion table in the appendices. Special tools and ingredients are also listed, along with yields and cooking directions. There isn't any nutritional information included. Most of the ingredients are easily sourced at any moderately well stocked grocery store.

The graphics and photography are abundant and clear. The serving suggestions are appropriate, attractive, and creative. The layout is full-on edgy/trendy/young. It should appeal to foodies. Admittedly, my husband called it 'hipster trendy', which is maybe a tiny bit mean, but appropriate. I found it energetic and fun. I liked the inclusiveness of the book - there wasn't any preaching or stridency. The author says quite clearly that people come from different places toward vegetarian/vegan lifestyles and that's cool. Whether it's a philosophical choice, or a dietary choice, there's (literally) room at the table for everyone.

Four and a half stars, rounded up for the engaged and humorous writing, meticulously developed recipes (often with anecdotes from the author's life and family), and photography. The photographs are beautiful.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

What do we love more than vegan recipes? An inside look at the vegan visionaries behind the food, of course! Mena Massoud’s Evolving Vegan Cookbook gives us both!

Evolving Vegan takes us on a culinary adventure through North American cities in this part travelogue, part behind-the-scenes cookbook that spotlights vegan restaurant owners and chefs with the ultimate pay-off: recipes from, or inspired by, these famous kitchens.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mena Massoud took the vegan world by storm when he, well, took the whole world by storm with his stellar performance as the title character in Disney’s 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin.

Mena co-founded Evolving Vegan, a company that aims to introduce people to the vegan lifestyle and evolve into it at their own pace. His star-status led to his veganism gaining mentions in magazine and television interviews. Then it all went viral on social media!

This is why vegans LOVE vegan celebs, because they have the platform to inform! And set a compassionate example for the masses!

And with the Evolving Vegan Cookbook he does just that! Inside you will find over 70 recipes. Many sourced directly from, or inspired by, the restaurants he visits in his cookbook-writing-quest, in addition to recipes from both his home kitchen and his Mamma’s kitchen, too!

THE RECIPES:

The diversity of the recipes in this book is outstanding! It’s truly a trip around the world featuring recipes from every cuisine imaginable – Moroccan, Indian, Thai, Italian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Chinese, with some American classics, too.

I dove head first into the Potato Pierogies from Fare Well Restaurant in Washington, D.C. I love Pierogies, but have never before made my own. And I should mention, I love Doron Petersan. A perfect fangirl moment! (You’ll find yourself experiencing these moments again and gain throughout this book!) Doron is also the owner of Sticky Fingers Sweets and Eats and on a recent one-day trip to D.C. I was able to walk 45 minutes (one-way) from the airport to grab some vegan cupcakes, a milkshake and a wrap before my flight home.

So making Doron’s pierogie recipe was an extra special treat, and the recipe did not disappoint! The pierogies were authentic, and bursting with flavor. Assembly takes some practice, but it is worth it when you can sit down with a plate like this knowing that you made it yourself!

I love easy, fresh and flavorful salads, and who doesn’t want to make and eat what Mena Massoud is making and eating on the set! So the next fan-girl moment, um I mean recipe-testing moment, was the Fresh Chickpea Salad from Mena’s home kitchen.

This oil-free salad is layered with flavor – cumin, coriander, fresh dill and kalamata olives – and takes about 15 minutes to prepare. I can see this as a regular lunch in my house!

The Gluten-Free Chocolate Brownies from Trilogy Sanctuary in San Diego, California were quick to appear in my kitchen. Almond flour based, these brownies were very gooey, so much so that they need constant refrigeration to keep their shape after baking and cooling, but the flavor was rich and fudgy, reminiscent of a box mix, which to me is the ultimate goal of any brownie recipe. With that flavor, cold brownies? So what

OTHER RECIPES I WANT TO TRY:
“Cheesy” Kale & Butternut Squash Scones by Sweet Hart Kitchen

Giambotta Stew from Pura Vita

Toasted Jackfruit Tuna Sandwich from Off the Griddle

And many more!

THE VERDICT:

This is a wonderful (and long-awaited) addition to your cookbook shelf. The recipes are easy to follow with well-written steps and instructions. The photos will inspire you to get cooking. If you have been lucky enough to visit some of these great vegan establishments, this cookbook will be even more exciting! And if you haven’t, you can get to work updating your vegan bucket list!

Set to release on September 15, 2020, you can pre-order Evolving Vegan: Deliciously Diverse Recipes from North America’s Best Plant-Based Eateries — For Anyone Who Loves Food directly on the Evolving Vegan Website. And join the over 75K followers for even more behind-the-scenes with Mena and friends on Evolving Vegan on Instagram.

If you purchase this book, be sure to come back and let me know what you think in the comments! I can’t wait to see what you have cooked up!

Happy Reading!

Thank you to Tiller Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital Advanced Reading Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. www.realfoodkindfood.com

Love Massoud’s theory of “evolving toward” becoming vegan, and the idea that making small steps still makes a huge impact. Definitely a refreshing mindset compared to the stereotypical hardcore vegan types that the internet likes to joke about! I like how he incorporates recipes from his favorite restaurants and from his childhood which results in a great collection of vegan recipes that sound delicious as is but appear to be easily adjustable for those who don’t or can’t subscribe to a strict vegan diet.

As a working single woman, a lot of the recipes particularly in the entrée section seem difficult to make on a weeknight because of the amount of time required to make them. However, the ingredients are relatively accessible (a little harder for me to find in Alabama, but not impossible!) and a lot of work could be done ahead of time as a meal prep.

HOWEVER, I did make the stuffed eggplant from the book and it was. so. good. I read through the rest of the recipes and given enough time I would try most of them! And I’m not even vegan!!! This is a great book, particularly if you’re wanting to venture into vegan cooking! The recipes are inspired by a lot of different cuisines and has a lot of variety throughout.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Evolving Vegan by Mena Massoud provides recipes for learning to live a plant based lifestyle, many of them from restaurants all the over the country. The Kindle version I was given to review was very hard to read, as the recipes were interspersed with the text, so it was hard to see how much of each ingredient to use. Many of the pictures were also missing. I'm giving this book four stars because the material I could read was very good. However, there are problems with the Kindle version.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

A fantastic cookbook with relatively easy ingredients to find. Sometimes with vegan cookbooks the ingredients are really obscure and not available anywhere locally for purchase so I really liked that about this book. I also really enjoyed reading what inspired each dish and where it came from.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an arc for an honest review.

I loved how the recipes in this book felt accessible and perfect for everyday. She even includes recipes from (or inspired by) some restaurants i have been to and loved. Her tone is fun and made me laugh in parts. Great addition to a collection of vegan cookbooks at home. Photography is average- pretty but not much personality. May not matter to most people. The content though is great!

The world always needs more vegan cookbooks! This is a concise, original book with lots of finely tuned recipes to add to an established cooks repertoire

I'm in love with this clever cookbook, which features a compilation of recipes from four sources -- either directly from celebrated vegan restaurants who shared their recipes, inspired by dishes at such restaurants, from the author's own kitchen, or from the author's mama. I really love this concept, as there are so many fantastic dishes at vegan restaurants and now you can find out exactly how to make them yourself at home, plus it allows the author to also include those recipes that are his favorites from other sources.

About half of the recipes include color photos, and they tend to be gorgeous. I definitely prefer a photo for every recipe and many of the photos helped show me why that dish is likely a hit in its restaurant. There's also a great mix of recipes. Some are very international, some are basic comfort foods, some are spicy, some are sweet, some are whole-foods based and very healthy, some use purchased vegan foods like sausages, some are gluten free and most can be converted.... There's just a really rich mix. Nutritional information is not provided.

I'm looking forward to making many of these recipes, such as the loaded pancakes (gluten free!) with banana caramel, the "crab" cakes with curried dal, the jackfruit flautas with avocado crema and cabbage slaw, the split pea soup with crispy shallots, the cast-iron mac and cheese, the stranger wings pizza with cauliflower hot wings, vegan bleu cheese and bechamel sauce, the spicy and sweet peppas, the Moroccan carrots, the orange cauliflower bites, the Peruvian potatoes, the no-bake maple pecan pie, the Boston creme pie cake (another gluten free recipe), the coconut cream pie (raw, vegan, gluten free), the gluten free brownies, and the chocolate mousse with coconut dulce de leche.

This is altogether a really fun cookbook that I really enjoyed.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

I find what sets this book apart from other vegan cookbooks are the recipes from vegan restaurants. These recipes are a fun peck into what vegan dining looks like for people who live in cities without vegan options.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting recipe book!

I am vegan and always looking for ways to broaden my meals and this book helps with just that! It also gives suggestions for vegan cheese which is very useful if you are new to this world. I do wish there was more color in the pictures though. I am very much looking forward to cooking more things from this book though!!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting recipe book!

I've been trying to eat less meat and was interested in checking this book out. I was surprised to see that instead of recipes that include no cheese or meat many of these recipes included vegan cheese and meat substitutes. Because of the inclusion of plant-based alternatives there are a lot more "traditional" recipes such as a vegan macaroni and cheese.

There are beautiful pictures for the recipes that have photos! I was hoping for more pictures. While some of these are a bit complicated for weeknight dinners some of these recipes look like good finds!

Evolving Vegan by Mena Massoud is a cookbook for people who are on a journey toward a more plant-based diet, but may not be there quite yet. It is also a book filled with restaurant-quality and restaurant-inspired vegan recipes which require not only new and interesting ingredients and substitutions, but also some different techniques. In addition to recipes and the usual personal narrative stuff, Evolving Vegan includes a number of Restaurant /Restauranteur Spotlights, which share information about the restaurant and chef. I liked this, but as quickly as chefs move, this section will likely date the book for future buyers.

The recipes are divided into Breakfast, Appetizers, Salads, Soups & Sandwiches, Entrees, Sides and Desserts. I tested a number of recipes including Potato Pierogies and Sweet Potato Tacos., and all were delicious - definitely better than Vegan recipes aimed at beginner cooks or those looking for quick and easy meal ideas.

The recipes are concisely written and many are challenging, which is fun for an experienced home cook, but can be daunting to someone new to the kitchen. Likewise, many of the ingredients and substitutions may be difficult to locate in smaller markets. All of this becomes more practical for people who have already committed to the Vegan lifestyle, however, this cook book is not geared to that audience.

So, as an intro to vegan cooking, it may fall short, but as a collection of advanced and fun recipes that happen to result in vegan dishes, this book it fabulous!

This review is based on an advance copy read.

I will start by saying the galley I was given to download appears to be a little warped. There's odd marks/squares where I'm guessing photos are supposed to be? And some of the links to pages/recipes are broken and the pages won't "turn". That being said, from what I was able to read and see of the cook book, it looks like it has some interesting adapted recipes from well known vegan restaurants across the country. While none of them seemed too original, I like that Massoud prefaced the recipes by stating how/when/why she became vegan and giving more of a background into environmentalism/healthful eating (her reasons for becoming vegan rather than animal rights).

Evolvling Vegan is a fantastic compilation of vegan recipes from top restaurants around North America. The photos in the book make everything look instagram worthy and the recipes are clearly written. Recipes that caught my eye are "Hashtastic" Potato Hash with Cashew Cheese, Jackfruit Flautas with Cashew Crema, Only Plants Allowed Burger, and a No-Bake Maple Pecan Pie. There are also interesting City Spotlights to bring attention to the plant based food scene in cities worth visiting. This book is a great one to add to your healthy kitchen library! I am rating this 4 stars because many of the recipes use tree nuts and soy, which limits many who have dietary restrictions or allergies.

Advanced readers' copy provided courtesy of #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book felt like I was in sort of a secret VIP club, accessing secret recipes from some of the most known vegan restaurants in the US and Canada.

I'm not even vegan, but I knowing that there ere delicious vegan recipes I can make at home in the same (or less) time than it takes to make meat dishes actually makes it easier to incorporate more vegan meals into my diet. This book is especially helpful because it prioritizes flavor over making hashtag healthy or low calorie dishes. The recipes are still fairly healthy, but certainly the kind that will excite even a huge foodie like me.

I loved the layout of this cookbook. Each recipe is on a separate page, so I don't have to flip pages while my fingers are covered in food, thank you very much. In addition, it has a feel of a travel diary or a scrapbook with stories in each city and "plastered" pictures, so it feels like going on a vegan tour in my own kitchen.

One more word: COLORS. It's such a delight to own a book bursting with color on each page, but all that without making the writing difficult to read.

The only drawback is that not all recipes have an accompanying picture. I understand that it is more expensive to print, but when I buy a cookbook, having pictures to actually know what I'm making is my top priority.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.