Rating: 
Summary: You use it until it falls apart
Review: After 11 years of hard use, my book finally fell apart! I highly recommend this one, and not just for vegetarians. This is one of the best cookbooks out there, especially the section on bread baking. Also take note of their pesto recipe. It is simply the best.
Rating:
Summary: the Absolute Best of the Bunch
Review: hi there.i rarely write reviews, but i did want to add my voice (or, as it is, my 5 stars) to the now & hopefully forever growing commending fans of this quietly spectacular cookbook. i certainly second, third, fourth or even fifty-hundredth the idea that "this is the only cookbook you will ever need," or "this is the vegetarian joy of cooking." absolutely!! as an ex-vegetarian cook/chef (take yr pick. add caterer. note: turned bookdealer), & one who has at least 100 cookbooks, i can honestly commit to this as being my all time favorite. i buy it every time i see it (the bookdealer business) & make sure everyone i know has a copy. & as much as i love the "greens"/deborah madison series, as much as i coveted (& finally got for Xmas) her giant basics cookbook, this one is better. in its subtle way it even beats "moosewood." & not that any of these are in the slightest bit bad -- just a note to convey just how phenomenal this one is. its secret?? that it is the best build-from-the-ground-up vegetarian cookbook around. meaning: the goldbecks give you the quick & dirty. anything you make following directions straight from the book will turn out grand. but, in addition, they give you the foundation from which to expand upward into the vegetarian cooking skyscraper stratosphere. you can start from what they give you, move, delete, exchange, fiddle -- figure how to cook the base recipe to yr particular taste or demands -- & it works!! it always works!! this is a great cookbook. as to its vegan content, take 2 from yr long longterm animal-free (at least eatingwise) household: • when this cookbook was written veganism was an extremely difficult business to accomplish (yr correspondent tried valiantly -- & this was later, in the 80s -- & still was beset by an onslaught of hidden ingredients). • &, of course, SUBSTITUTE!! finagle those ingredients!! tofurella for cheese -- i believe it is applesauce for eggs (maybe it's butter) -- but it CAN be done!! & if ever there were a cookbook adaptable, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: the Absolute Best of the Bunch
Review: hi there. i rarely write reviews, but i did want to add my voice (or, as it is, my 5 stars) to the now & hopefully forever growing commending fans of this quietly spectacular cookbook. i certainly second, third, fourth or even fifty-hundredth the idea that "this is the only cookbook you will ever need," or "this is the vegetarian joy of cooking." absolutely!! as an ex-vegetarian cook/chef (take yr pick. add caterer. note: turned bookdealer), & one who has at least 100 cookbooks, i can honestly commit to this as being my all time favorite. i buy it every time i see it (the bookdealer business) & make sure everyone i know has a copy. & as much as i love the "greens"/deborah madison series, as much as i coveted (& finally got for Xmas) her giant basics cookbook, this one is better. in its subtle way it even beats "moosewood." & not that any of these are in the slightest bit bad -- just a note to convey just how phenomenal this one is. its secret?? that it is the best build-from-the-ground-up vegetarian cookbook around. meaning: the goldbecks give you the quick & dirty. anything you make following directions straight from the book will turn out grand. but, in addition, they give you the foundation from which to expand upward into the vegetarian cooking skyscraper stratosphere. you can start from what they give you, move, delete, exchange, fiddle -- figure how to cook the base recipe to yr particular taste or demands -- & it works!! it always works!! this is a great cookbook. as to its vegan content, take 2 from yr long longterm animal-free (at least eatingwise) household: • when this cookbook was written veganism was an extremely difficult business to accomplish (yr correspondent tried valiantly -- & this was later, in the 80s -- & still was beset by an onslaught of hidden ingredients). • &, of course, SUBSTITUTE!! finagle those ingredients!! tofurella for cheese -- i believe it is applesauce for eggs (maybe it's butter) -- but it CAN be done!! & if ever there were a cookbook adaptable, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: I'm on my second copy
Review: I am not only astounded that anyone would give this excellent cookbook 1-star, but I'm equally astounded that Amazon would pick that one as its Spotlight Review. Every other reviewer gave this cookbook 5-stars. And so do I. This is by far the best cookbook I own. I completely wore out my first copy. Not only are the recipes delicious, but the ingredients used are mainly items you can purchase in a normal supermarket...a big plus for those of us who don't live within easy access to exotic markets. These recipes are great for the person who just wants to improve their diet, as well as for the hard-core vegetarian. Even meat-eaters would enjoy this food. I can't recommend it highly enough. I only hope that someday the Goldbecks come out with a new and expanded version!
Good job!
Rating: 
Summary: Just not good
Review: I bought this book several years ago at a time when I was both selling cookbooks and growing my personal collection of vegetarian cookbooks. The only reason I am thinking of it today is because I just gave it away--the only cookbook I have ever not kept. I bought it because it seemed like a great encyclopedic reference to have on hand. Yet when I actually began trying recipes, they were unbelievable bad. Not one was worth eating, let alone making again. I am experienced in the kitchen and at the time was cooking strictly vegetarian (successfully, until I encountered this book). After several terrible experiences I started comparing the recipes with others in cookbooks I trusted. Looking closely and comparing, I found nothing but bad techniques and bad kitchen science in the recipes I had tried. Yesterday I finally purged it from my collection. I am absolutely astounded that anyone could give this five stars. It as absolutely the worst cookbook I have ever tried.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great cookbook
Review: I disagree with the reviewer who gave this book only one star and said it was not good. I've used this book for years, everything I've made out of it is great. I've made the Mexican Pasta Bake for my family over and over again and they love it. The best thing about this book is the amount of information it gives you on different aspects of cooking, such as bean cooking, freezing, canning, etc, and pitched for vegetarians. I would never be without this book, and have bought another copy to keep for when my original one finally gives out. I can't believe anyone would find this book bad, maybe that person was having a bad kitchen day.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Cookbook
Review: I have about a dozen or so Vegitarian Cookbooks. This is the only one I actually use. The others gather dust. The only problem is really a compliment. I've used the book so much it's binding is getting broken. The book need a ring binding. In all, it's a great book. I will definitely split with the bucks and replace it someday.
Rating:
Summary: Good Cookbook
Review: I have about a dozen or so Vegitarian Cookbooks. This is the only one I actually use. The others gather dust. The only problem is really a compliment. I've used the book so much it's binding is getting broken. The book need a ring binding. In all, it's a great book. I will definitely split with the bucks and replace it someday.
Rating:
Summary: Just the guide in the last section makes it worth the $
Review: I have not even tried any of the recipes yet, and I'm already happy I bought this book. I never went to chef's school. My parents weren't rich chefs. So I didn't learn how to store many of the foods I buy properly until I read this book. My previous idea of food storage was cans go in pantry, veggies and fruits all get crammed in the crisper box in the fridge in the plastic bags they were bought in, and spices go on the rack over the stove, imagine my suprise to find out that some veggies and fruits can be left OUT on the counter and in the pantry! I always wondered why the crisper bin was so small! The whole last 50 pages or so is PACKED full of GREAT information on things like how to store, prepare, and safely handle and cook every vegetable, grain, and otherwise whole food under then sun. The diagrams that show the EASY way to cut your veggies to make little squares and sticks are SO easy to understand, and things you just would never think of on your own (you don't have to peel carrots)! The kitchen math section give the conversions for just about every measurement I can imagine exists in the english language. A great help to my math-poor brain! Tips and short cuts such as storing unused portions of tomato paste frozen in ice cubes trays are just dead on BRILLIANT! The pantry lists give you a great starting place to copy down and take on your shopping trip to stock your pantry, freezer, and fridge with all the useful stuff you'll need to cook the recipes in the book, very helpful to me since I don't have ANY of this stuff on hand, and otherwise would be making daily trips to the co-op to buy each recipe's ingredients. I may not have to leave the house for DAYS thanks to this book! Being able to cook a meal without making a grocery trip is something I have never been very good at. Basically, the tips in this book are idiot proof. Maybe that's why it's gotten a few bad reviews, because it's got a lot of info that most of the "professional" and "lifetime" cooks who buy it already knew, but if you are in your twenties and not very experienced in the kitchen, or are a new convert to the vegetarian world, I think this book is the BEST guide I've seen so far. SO many of the other vegetarian cookbooks I've bought were SO over my head and out of my league. This book really helps! Even if every recipe in it is bad, I will still be happy I bought it! I have skimmed over some of the recipes, and the stuffed veggies section looks very promising, and the recipes sound very good, so I don't think that will be the case anyways.
All that, and it looks pretty on the shelf too, with it's checkered print spine. :)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent cookbook...but wish it were more vegan-friendly
Review: The recipes in this cookbook are great. There are meals for every cooking skill level, and for almost all tastes (excluding meat, of course). The recipes don't include refined ingredients, opting instead for whole wheat pasta, brown rice, molasses, etc. The recipes are filling and delicious. Of all the recipes I've tried in this cookbook (and I've tried LOTS), there's maybe two that I didn't care for. One of my favorite things: There's a detailed section on bread baking, which has been very helpful. (The pumpkin pan rolls are some of the best dinner rolls I've ever had.) One thing to note is that this cookbook was written some time ago, so it can seem a bit...stodgy...at times, especially considering how far vegetarian cuisine has come in recent years. But I really enjoy classic (and, yes, sometimes stodgy) dishes, full of lentils and brown rice and the like. The barley-mushroom soup is amazing. But here's the downside. Since falling in love with this cookbook, I've gone vegan. And there's a lot of eggs and dairy used in this book. Some substitutions are easy to make (soy milk for cow's milk, for example), but others aren't. I used to use this cookbook several nights a week, but now it's more like once or twice a month. All in all, I recommend this cookbook, particularly for people who don't believe that meatless meals can be good. It was the first vegetarian cookbook I bought, and because of it I realized that doing without meat is not only possible, but very tasty!
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