Through 300 bold international recipes, this cookbook answers the question, What if the world were vegan? It encourages the reader to open their plate to food from around the world no matter where their kitchen is.

Written by Genevieve Gamlin, author of TwinCitiesVegan.com and Compassionate Action for Animals volunteer

Vegan Eats World starts with asking what if the world were vegan?, followed by a quick "How to Use This Book" section which includes a key for icons used to label recipes. The book is divided into three parts. Part One, Kitchen Cartography, includes six sections: Before Cooking; During Cooking; After Cooking, Chill Out; Ingredients; Shopping Lists; and Kitchen Equipment. These thirty-four pages can be a life saver for the novice home cook as they are filled with countless how-to's and cooking terms defined. Part Two, The Recipes, is broken down into twelve chapters: Spice Blends; The Three Protein Amigos: Tofu, Seitan, & Tempeh; Pickles, Chutneys & Saucier Sauces; Salads, Spreads & Sandwiches; Soups; Curries, Hearty Stews & Beans; Dumplings, Breads & Pancakes; Asian Noodles to Mediterranean Pasta; Hearty Entrees; Robust Vegetable Entrees & Sides; Rice & Whole Grains: One-Pot Meals & Supporting Roles; and Sweet Beginnings. Part Three ends the book with menu ideas, online resources, recipe by icon index, thanks & acknowledgments, metric conversions, index, and an about the author section. As you can imagine, this is a large book reminiscent of a college textbook.

Diving into such a large book can be overwhelming. I thought about picking a recipe from each chapter, but I ended up going to the "Recipe by Icon" index and picking a few from the "On a Budget Section". While making my shopping list I was greeted by unfamiliar ingredients. They are referenced in Part One, but I still had to figure out where I could get these ingredients in my neck of the woods. I started with my usual grocers, Trader Joe's and Kowalski's, but wasn't able to find many of the spices. The next day my sidekick dropped by Indian Spice House in Eden Prairie and was able to find many ingredients on the list. This cookbook will most likely make you venture to specialty grocers. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of spending a small fortune on spices at Kowalski's before realizing how cheap the spices are at places like Indian Spice House. I think the "On a Budget" icon only applies if you already have most of the spices or can find a good online source.

It was finally time to cook the first recipe on my menu, jerk-roasted seitan strips, which calls for the seitan coriander cutlets. I did not read through the cutlet recipe since it had the "under 45 minutes from start to finish" icon. Big mistake. The forty-five minutes does not include preparing other recipes needed for the final recipe or pre-soaking of beans or nuts. So even though the seitan has the "45" icon the recipe calls for three minutes of kneading, ten minutes resting, thirty-four minutes baking, and at least forty-five minutes cooling before use for a total of ninety-two minutes. The jerk-roasted seitan called for blending up all of the ingredients then cooking for thirty minutes. That is a grand total of one-hundred-twenty-two minutes, not including miscellaneous time for prepping ingredients for a recipe I thought would take fewer than forty-five minutes.

Aside from the misleading icons, the recipes were delicious as well as fairly straight-forward and easy. I did run into one snag during a recipe that called for spices to be ground in a coffee grinder. Not having a coffee grinder, I figured I could use my one-cup food processor, but it didn't work so I ended up just putting in the spices whole.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves going out to any international restaurant and is interested in recreating dishes at home. The author states that she took some liberties with regard to what is authentic, but I did not notice anything that was too far off. One improvement would be if this book had an index that sorted the recipes by region. The author states that vegan cuisine does not live on a map, but it sure would be nice to pick recipes based on a dinner guest's favorite region.

Jerk-Roasted Seitan Strips: Despite the length of this recipe, it was fairly easy. The seitan had a meat like texture and was delicious. The hardest part was trying not to cry uncontrollably after food processing the onion mixture. The finished product was very flavorful with a mild kick. The book suggests serving this dish with Island Brown Rice and Peas. I already had some cooked brown rice I wanted to use up so I just threw in some frozen veggies, coconut milk, and spices.

Coconut Black-Eyed Pea Curry: This recipe also calls for an onion to be food processed, convincing me that this book should come with a pair of goggles. For a recipe with coconut in the name, there was not a strong coconut flavor. This recipe was fairly bland, but makes a good side dish.

Lemon Garlic Potatoes: I had some extra potatoes to use up and I love garlic so I decided to make this dish as a side. They were really good mainly because you cannot go wrong with potatoes, but they weren't as lemony or garlicky as I expected.

Sri Lankan Red Lentil Curry: This dish was hot! The strong flavors from the various spices were new to me. I loved the texture, perfect for scooping up with naan.

Yogurt Naan Griddle Bread: This was by far the best naan recipe I have ever tried. This naan was made with garlic and cilantro, but the book offers many different variations.

Japanese Soul Food Menu: Tonkatsu Sauce, Sesame Panko Tempeh Cutlets, Shredded Green Cabbage, Lemon Wedges, and Steamed Rice: This is my new favorite tempeh recipe. Normally I am not a huge tempeh fan because of the texture, but the way it's prepared in this recipe creates a perfectly crunchy outside and meaty inside. The tangy, salty sauce was easy to make and really made the whole meal, who doesn't love dipping?

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While we were planning Twin Cities Veg Fest, Annette made these easy burritos and wild rice with eggplant and mushroom dishes for our volunteers. They were a big hit! Try out the recipes yourself.

There are many ways to contact CAA and follow our work. I'd like to hear from you! Last week I started writing these short emails, and I wonder if you prefer these or the longer ones we used to do?

For the animals,

Unny Nambudiripad

Executive Director

Thanks for making the second annual Twin Cities Veg Fest a tremendous success! The 2013 incarnation built on last year's inaugural event to share knowledge of where our food comes from, how to be a healthy vegetarian or vegan, and why being compassionate benefits everyone. Here's a rundown of the highlights.

About 2000 people attended the festival this year, a two-thirds increase from last year. A steady stream (more like a torrent) filled the Great Hall in the University of Minnesota's Coffman Memorial Union throughout the morning and kept flowing the rest of the day.

Early attendees were treated to swag bags loaded with goodies and coupons from Alternative Baking Company, Way Better Snacks, Tofurky, and many more!

Inside the exhibitor hall, attendees had an overwhelming array of tasty vegan snacks to sample and dishes to scarf down, thanks to our wonderful food vendors. Samples included sausage from Field Roast, seitan from the folks at Upton's Naturals, marshmallows and cheese from Chicago Vegan Foods, and tortilla chips from Way Better Snacks. Oh yeah, we also had nut cheese from Punk Rawk Labs, Bee Free Honee, caramel confections from Comfort Candy, chocolate from Theo Chocolate, bulk snacks from Mississippi Market, Tofurky sausage, chocolate soy milk, Peace Coffee, and So Delicious ice cream sandwiches. That's a lot. It was all awesome.

For the hungriest among us, four vendors offered up delicious food by the plateful. Asase Yaa had a dazzling variety of world cuisine, Kitty Corner Cafe loaded Turkish waffles with dark chocolate and fruit, Flamingo impressed with their Ethiopian dishes, and Seward Cafe served up their delicious vegan and gluten-free baked goods. There was much rejoicing.

Indeed, many who had never thought too seriously about vegan food expressed delight at the diversity and tastiness of all the samples. Many vegetarians and omnivores alike expressed a commitment to reduce or remove animal products from their diets. Yay!

And yes, there were exhibitors who didn't serve food. Move2Veg advised attendees on plant-based nutrition, while Ethique Nouveau and Happy Animals sold a variety of animal-friendly goods. Heartland Farm Sanctuary, Minnesota Voters for Animal Protection, Chicken Run Rescue, and others showed Twin Cities Veg Festers how their actions can make a huge difference in the lives and well-being of animals. There's too many to list, so please check out the rest of our great exhibitors.

Upstairs, we had presentations from five compelling speakers. Christine Coughlin, founder and President of Minnesota Voters for Animal Protection, spoke about the importance of political action to protect animals. Suzy Sorensen, owner of Move2Veg, provided introductory information on healthfully transitioning to a plant-based diet. Nathan Runkle, founder and Executive Director of Mercy for Animals, provided a glimpse into the hidden lives of farmed animals and the destructive impact of industrial animal agriculture. Nick Cooney of Farm Sanctuary highlighted ways we can be more effective advocates for animals. Our day of speakers concluded in the afternoon with a talk by Jeff Johnson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. Catherine University, on the ethical arguments that inform our treatment of animals. The talks sparked useful conversations among attendees and piqued the interest of those unfamiliar with a more compassionate lifestyle.

We also held a concert in the Whole in the Coffman basement. In Defence, Alison Scott, Sean Anonymous, and Sleepyhead entertained Festers looking to groove.

Nearly all who attended, regardless of their current dietary choices, expressed overwhelming enthusiasm about the festival. We're happy to provide an environment where a diverse crowd can try new food, gain new information and perspectives, and learn about leading a more compassionate life. The second Twin Cities Veg Fest was better than we hoped and we're incredibly excited about making the event bigger and better next year!

We'll see you there!