Vegan Soul Kitchen

Raise your hand if you've ever entered a bookstore intending to buy a literary work and left with a cookbook or two. It's ok. It happens to all of us.

Vegan Soul Kitchen came out in March of this year, and I had been lusting for it since hearing an interview with Bryant Terry, the author, on The Splendid Table in April. Therefore, when Amazon gently recommended it to me- on sale- as I bought my fall textbooks, I happily added it to my virtual shopping cart.

The recipes are modernized, veganized versions of the traditional African American and Southern recipes Terry enjoyed growing up in Memphis. When one thinks of Southern cooking, "vegan" is not the first word that comes to mind. Even the vegetables tend to be battered, deep fried and flavored with bacon or lard. Terry proves that one can enjoy Southern and African American cooking without sacrificing lifestyle or nutrition. "To be clear, though, I am not presenting this as a 'healthy cookbook,'" Terry writes in the introduction, "Vegan Soul Kitchen is a real food cookbook for anyone with a soul that likes tasty eats."

The recipes range from drinks to sides to entrees to desserts, with an entire section devoted to watermelon. One theme throughout is a focus on sustainability. As an example, Terry encourages readers to compost the matter remaining after making the stock for the Tempeh, Shitake Mushroom and Cornmeal Dumpling Stew I prepared last night. I picked up all of the vegetables for the stew (except the mushrooms for the stock) at the farmer's market yesterday: every ingredient called for in the recipe is in season at the same time. In fact, the concept of the book grew out of the director of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) asking Terry to create recipes for CSA members.

The book is peppered with pop culture references; for example, Terry titles his vegetable section "So Fresh and So Green Green." (Outkast, anyone?) He also includes a soundtrack for each dish, drawn from an eclectic variety of musical genres. The songs accompanying my stew were "Chicken an' Dumplins" by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and "Shroom Music (Champion Bound)" by Quasimoto (neither of which I had in my iTunes library).

However, the only music I needed was the sound of a hearty, delicious meal simmering on my stove.