A great book showing how to use the whole of the plant to make delicious food. With over 70 vegan and vegetarian recipes, with mouth watering pictures, to tempt even the most stubborn meat eaters!

I judge cookbooks on three things: clear theme, easy to understand recipes, and good photos. This book had all of those in excellent quantity and quality. While I did roll my eyes a little at the title (because taste is subjective and while I might agree I still think it is a bit silly) overall I rather liked the theme. I find a lot of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks are preachy, this one is all about the art of cooking just with only plants rather than a mix, so that got the book my respect.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes cookbooks and wants plant based recipes and likes cookbooks where pretty much every recipe is represented with a picture of the finished dish. Now, if you excuse me I want to go make that Pistachio Pate!

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
This is an incredible cookbook! The photos are beautiful and the recipes are inspired. Although I'm not vegan, there are many wonderful ideas and techniques that might help me explore cooking more plant based food. That being said, many of the recipes are very involved with lots of ingredients. I am a little intimidated by some of them, but I would really like to give most of them a try! The pâtés look really cool (might be the only pâté I'm interested in trying!) and many of the pastas look do-able. Definitely a keeper.

Cooking plants carefully and with skill is what Plants Taste Better is all about. Because most of your food dishes receive their flavor from plants, it’s important to know them and prepare them properly.

In the introduction, the author explains the philosophy of cooking with plants and understanding plants. In the Craft Of Plant-Based Cooking section, choosing ingredients, flavors, taste, seasonings, etc. are discussed.

Also included in the same section is a list of required or recommended equipment. While strictly speaking a knife is all that is required, these extra items may make life easier.

Recipe categories include:

Snacks
Soups, Pates & Light Lunches
Salad
Mains
Desserts
Bread

Each of the recipes includes an introduction to the vegetable, plant, used as the main ingredient. Serving sizes are also included as well as in some cases serving suggestions.

Tips are also sprinkled throughout the book, giving information on using various ingredients to the best advantage. Most of the recipes also offer a lovely photograph of the finished product. While several of the recipes are displayed in combination photograph it does not detract from the usefulness of the picture.

Unique And Timely

So many of us are trying to be more healthful these days, a plant-based diet can help with that. These recipes will help you introduce more variety into the plant-based flavors in your diet.

The recipes are all very attractive offerings. Several of them, however, many involve recipes within recipes, so we’re not for the quick easy meal. These are for the meals that you want to take your time over and savor.

See the full review and the recipe for Tomato Chutney at The RecipesNow! Reviews And Recipes Magazine. This review is written in response to a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.

I have a ton of food intolerances, so I read a LOT of cookbooks to inspire myself or find new recipes that I can adapt. Vegan recipes are often the best for me, this is why I was happy to read this cookbook. I liked the recipes, I found some (like the Sweetcorn soup that looks DELICIOUS and the Hazelnut butter) that I will love for sure, and I can't wait to try the Almond milk recipe ! I loved that the majority of the recipes come with pictures, but the plates seemed too fancy for me, since I have a 3 y.o. and a new baby on the way.

Big thanks to the publisher for my e-copy of this book through NetGalley.

It may be that the mojo is strong right now, or perhaps I've just been lucky with selections, but I have reviewed some great cookbooks recently. Richard Buckley's "Plants Taste Better" stands out even among those. Before I continue with what this book is, I should perhaps spend a moment explaining what it is not, from my perspective as someone who loves spending time in the kitchen and is always eager to try new recipes. This book is not for cooks who prefer to spend as little prep time as possible. Yes, there are a few recipes that will accommodate you, but the majority will seem like frustrating exercises to you. Buckley features quite a few recipes whose individual parts must be made in advance, and even though that means up to days in advance, I realize a good number of casual or busy cooks won't want to bother.
So, who is "Plants Taste Better" for? Anyone who enjoys recipes that feature commonplace ingredients with a twist and beautiful garnish. Cooks and gourmands who love to tickle the taste buds and don't mind a little extra effort. One refreshing feature of the recipes is that the ingredient lists are generally relatively short to moderate.

Buckley begins by offering a bunch of no-nonsense, down to earth advice on cooking, combining flavors, and choosing and buying produce. Unlike most other chefs, he offers a word of wisdom on using salt and cayenne pepper properly, as well. He spends some time explaining what exactly 'umami' is and how one can achieve it when cooking. Finally, he goes over essential and nice-to-have kitchen equipment.

The book is divided into Snacks; Soups, Pates, and Light Lunches; Salads; Mains; Desserts; and Breads. The recipes are frequently amended by helpful hints. Nothing is left to chance for those who enjoy stocking their pantry, fridge, and freezer with homemade essentials: From making stocks and pickles, a variety of garnishes like spiced nuts and dukkah, to making pasta (with photos to help with more complicated shapes like tortelloni and an entire section on making perfect gnocchi), oils, butters, and milks, the options are virtually endless. I was particularly impressed with the fact that the Breads chapter begins with a sourdough rye bread, something I have tried to find in our area for ages.

So, is this a must-have? If you feel about food and its preparation as I do, then definitely. More timid cooks may be happy to know that every recipe is featured in a photo, as well.

To preface: I am an omnivore, but eat plant-based as much as possible, so this book is the perfect accompaniment to my lifestyle. There are so many fantastic recipes I can't wait to tråy (I'm pretty sure I've bookmarked the entire "Desserts" section!) The pictures are gorgeous and the recipes clean. My only complaint to the formatting of the book is that the descriptions of the recipes are above even the name of the recipe, so the flow of information isn't ideal, but it's enough for me to overlook and give five stars to!

I love this book! It has a refreshing and exciting spin on vegetarian cooking. Every recipe excited me and it deserves a worthy place on ones bookshelf. I can’t wait to cook from this book

Very well done vegetarian cookbook. Stunning images. Excellent recipes. Only disappointing part is that it felt short but I'll take the good recipes in exchange.

Really liked some sections of this book including risottos, breads and soups. I thought alot of the meals would be suitable for a celebration dinner with likeminded friends or family. Some of the recipes I definitely would cook but that can be said of most cookbooks.

Overall lovely photographs, clear instructions but too fancy for everyday meals

The author begins by mentioning why we eat the parts of a plant that we do, and how different types of plants are in the same family.
The instructions for the recipes are thorough yet they inform you as to what the food is supposed to look or feel like, such as the words “beginning to soften”, and “soft and translucent”, which helps you what the food should be like. This method of communication is very helpful to an experienced as well as a novice cook!
You will find recipes for hummus, pistachio pate, gazpacho, sweetcorn soup, and split pea soup in the snacks and soup sections.
There are recipes with strange names, such as “roasted donkey carrots with cashew cheese and seeded buckwheat”, and fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchee.
The recipes encourage you to use the parts of a plant that you may normally not use for garnishes and added flavors.
The recipe for potato gnocchi tells you exactly how to mix, form and cook the gnocchi, so your dish should turn out well if you follow the directions exactly.
There is a recipe for burnt peaches with prosecco sorbet and almond biscotti that looks delicious as well as giving your taste buds an awesome treat!
What an amazing cookbook, it contains recipes that are interesting, flavorful and doable as the directions are so thorough - enjoy!

Beautiful, if useless, photography accompanies a wide variety of vegetable-centric recipes. Not for the casual reader.

This is not an introduction to vegan cookery. These are not the kind of meals you dish up for your kids on a school night. These are recipes for ambitious amateurs; the sorts of things you’d make if you were entering a Vegan Masterchef competition. They look beautiful on the plate – check out the Rich Mushroom Parfait (with port glaze and a pea and shallot salad) – gorgeous, but just finding the ingredients would be challenging enough for me.
This kind of cookery is out of my league. But on further examination I realised that this book does deserve a place on my shelf.
Some of the advice given, while basic to some, is actually useful to me. (The section on salt particularly so.) And although I may not make any of the dishes as given, there are ideas to be extracted on cooking methods, flavour combinations and food presentation.
An aspirational cookbook.
Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing/ Jacqui Small for this review copy.
https://mypertopinions.blogspot.co.uk/

Not only is this a fabulous vegetable cookbook, but the presentation and photos would make it a very beautiful addition to the table top collection.
This wonderful book explains the use of the whole vegetable base or root to plant matter and final fruit. The recipes are very easy to follow, with some really good step by step instructions for some techniques. The presentation is mouth watering and with some effort does not look to difficult to achieve.
All in all, a very inspirational book celebrating the not so humble vegetable, from snacks, pates, soups lunches, salads, mains dessert and bread. This book will not disappoint

Plants Taste Better delivers everything you'd expect from a cookbook focused on a plant based diet. The photography is gorgeous, featuring earthy and rustic photos of a variety of vegetables and fruits. The recipes are kept somewhat simple to let the vegetables flavor and texture remain the focus without being bombarded by too many additional ingredients.

Recipe Highlights:

The Butternut Mousse recipe is a classic with a gourmet twist that is quick and easy to make but will wow those eating it. The Roasted Donkey Carrots is a fun take on a traditionally plain food that even my young children enjoyed saying as much as eating. Finally the Parsnip Barley Risotto is a brilliant collection of two underrated and underappreciated ingredients: Pearl Barley and Parsnips, the combination in this savory dish is sure to boost the popularity of both.

I never like to post a review for a cookbook if I haven't at least tried some of the recipes. I am in New York, it is March and we have had four nor'easters since the beginning of the month. That will probably tell you why I was drawn to Plants Taste Better. The only thing keeping me positive this month is the fact that I grow my own vegetables and everywhere I look there are seeds germinating and plants growing all hoping that April is the month for spring to arrive. As the author/chef suggested, I try to use seasonal produce, however, I wouldn't eat many plants if I wasn't willing to buy some items out of season.
That being said, there are numerous recipes I plan to try once the growing season begins, however, I did make the Everyday Bread, Sweet Potato & Aubergine with spiced peanut sauce and kimchi, the Mushroom and Fennel Stock, Risotto Milanese and the Butternut Moose. All were excellent and definitely improved the meals I served over the weekend. This is a really good book if you want to focus on less meat in your diet. Lovely pictures, a nice introduction and some good tips(how to make Aquafaba was one which was an ingredient in the Butternut Moose).The only thing missing for me was nutritional information. A member of my household is on a low sodium diet, so while I can look up recipe ingredients to figure out what substitutions I need to make, I always appreciate seeing the nutritional values with the recipe.
Thank you, Richard Buckley, Quarto Publishing Group-Jacqui Small, and NetGalley for a digital copy to read and review. The vegetables I grow this season are going to get some recipe makeovers this coming season and I couldn't be more excited to elevate my cooking.

As I read through this cookbook words like elegant, refined and sophisticated were whirling through my head. It's a really beautiful cookbook with many amazing looking recipes. Some of them seem a bit time consuming, but that's not always a bad thing. I did notice a good many ingredients that you just don't see in the US commonly like cavolo nero and rooster or maris piper potatoes. What I found most appealing were the great many recipes for broths, pickling and flavored oils.

Wide variety of tasty looking and unique recipes - all plant based!

Probably one of the prettiest cookbooks I've every seen, the pictures and layouts were just gorgeous. However, the recipes themselves were complex and very difficult for me to recreate. If you are a rudimentary chef and/or short on time then this cookbook is not for you. But if you love to create beautiful masterpieces that also happen to be vegan (yay!), then I'd suggest picking up this book.

British chef Richard Buckley has, with this book, continued the trend towards high concept, gourmet vegan cuisine. Too often, plant-based diets are seen with a reductive and backwards-facing condescension, and people's minds are closed off to how delicious these foods can be simply because they are labeled vegan. In Plants Taste Better, Buckley lets nature be the real star. Missing from this cookbook is substitute meat, processed soy-based cheese product--no, this is a cookbook where high quality produce, spices and oil work together to provide glorious meat/animal-product free options. From rye bread to homemade pastas and mushroom pate, Plants Taste Better offers myriad elevated vegan food options satisfying for vegans, vegetarians and omnivores alike. And it looks pretty doing it, too.