East
120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Beijing [American Measurements]
by Meera Sodha
Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Bright, chatty, and recipe-driven, East presents approachable vegan and vegetarian dishes adapted for a US pantry, with short personal notes and craveable flavor combinations. Most recipes favor familiar techniques and ingredients that reward everyday cooks who want to expand beyond standard salads or pastas. Main limitation: several recipes expect a modest spice cupboard or specialty pantry items and the book rarely provides step-by-step photos or troubleshooting, so cooks seeking tight precision or minimal shopping may find parts fiddly.
Read this if...
- •a full-time working parent (two kids, weekday dinners) who shops once a week and needs 30–45 minute vegetarian meals — the recipes are designed to be flavorful, family-friendly, and doable with basic kitchen gear right now
- •a mid-level home cook planning casual weekend dinner parties who wants plant-based mains that read as elevated but require no restaurant technique — the book gives showy, crowd-pleasing plates you can pull off without extra practice
- •someone who recently shifted to vegetarian or flexitarian eating and is building a spice cupboard who wants to learn South Asian flavors gradually — recipes introduce spices and combinations in approachable steps so you can expand your repertoire this month
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when a recipe calls for many spices or pantry items you don't have — annoying if you prefer one-pot meals with minimal shopping
- •annoying if you prefer meat-centric cooking or expect chef-level technique and exacting instructions; the focus is on flavor rather than culinary precision
- •frustrating if you want photo-heavy, step-by-step guidance or nutritional breakdowns — the book lacks detailed troubleshooting and visual sequencing
This edition has been adapted for the US market. It was originally published in the UK. Named one of the best cookbooks of the year by The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Delish ?Enticing, inviting and delicious. Vegan and vegetarian dishes that are hard to resist (and why should you).? ?Yotam Ottolenghi?Sodha, who writes a vegan cooking c...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:easy
Audience Fit
- a full-time working parent (two kids, weekday dinners) who shops once a week and needs 30–45 minute vegetarian meals — the recipes are designed to be flavorful, family-friendly, and doable with basic kitchen gear right now
- a mid-level home cook planning casual weekend dinner parties who wants plant-based mains that read as elevated but require no restaurant technique — the book gives showy, crowd-pleasing plates you can pull off without extra practice
- someone who recently shifted to vegetarian or flexitarian eating and is building a spice cupboard who wants to learn South Asian flavors gradually — recipes introduce spices and combinations in approachable steps so you can expand your repertoire this month
- you'll likely put it down when a recipe calls for many spices or pantry items you don't have — annoying if you prefer one-pot meals with minimal shopping
- annoying if you prefer meat-centric cooking or expect chef-level technique and exacting instructions; the focus is on flavor rather than culinary precision
- frustrating if you want photo-heavy, step-by-step guidance or nutritional breakdowns — the book lacks detailed troubleshooting and visual sequencing
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
appears in Vegan Cooking, Vegetarian Cookbooks, and Vegan Cookbooks.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
No verified recommendation proof available yet.
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Food52 Vegan by Gena Hamshaw.
“Food52 Vegan, by Gena Hamshaw, collects vibrant, approachable vegan recipes built around bold seasoning and straightforward technique. It reads like a tightly edited recipe column: short headnotes, clear steps, and dishes meant to be cooked and repeated rather than deconstructed. The book’s useful part is reliable, memorable meals that work for omnivores and vegans alike; its main limitation is a tendency toward similar templates, so cooks seeking technical depth or constant novelty may feel constrained.”
Similar books
Food52 Vegan
Gena Hamshaw
Easy Vegan Home Cooking
Laura Theodore
Fast Easy Cheap Vegan
Sam Turnbull
The Korean Vegan Cookbook
Joanne Lee Molinaro
Sweet Potato Soul
Jenne Claiborne
Deliciously Ella The PlantBased Cookbook
Ella Mills (Woodward)
The Plant Based Diet for Beginners
Gabriel Miller
Vegetable Kingdom
Bryant TerryHow recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.