A steaming bowl of soup with fresh bread and a green salad, a tempting combo plate of crisp, complementary salads--these Daily Specials have been staples of Moosewood's ever-changing menu board since the restaurant opened its doors more than twenty-five years ago.

Over the years the creative chefs of the Moosewood Collective have introduced literally thousands of new soups and as many salads, all devised to showcase the fresh seasonal produce, vibrant ethnic flavors, and meatless food products that form the core of their cuisine. Now, for the first time, they have gathered the very best offerings from their vast soup and salad repertoire, as well as the ingenious extras that transform these simple dishes into world-class meals. Here are classics like Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder and Tuscan Bean Soup, as well as intriguing new creations like Caribbean Sweet Potato Coconut Soup, Golden Gazpacho, and Fennel Vichyssoise. Salads range from straightforward choices that are easy to mix and match, such as Spinach with Cilantro Cashew Dressing, Mexican Chickpea Salad, or Tunisian Carrot Salad, to satisfying one-dish meals like Broiled Tofu & Sugar Snap Peas or Persian Rice & Pistachio Salad. Each recipe is followed by helpful suggestions for selecting dishes so that creating well-balanced combo plates at home is a snap.

There are easy-to-use indexes of recipes by categories including children's favorites, quickly made, low-fat, low-carbohydrate, and vegan dishes. And each recipe has a complete nutritional breakdown, so it's simple to create menus for those with special health or dietary concerns. The section on transforming leftovers into sprightly new dishes also makes Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special a practical primer for those who want to make the most of seasonal bounty.

Few foods are more comforting--or satisfying--than a good soup and a well-made salad, and because many can be made ahead and served on demand, they are perfectly suited to the way we eat and live today. With more than 275 kitchen-tested recipes to fit any occasion, Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special offers years' worth of inspiration for Daily Specials every cook will be delighted to serve.

Moosewood Inc. and the authors of this book have donated 1 percent of their royalties from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special to the community food and nutrition programs of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (G.I.A.C.) in Ithaca, New York.

Since 1973, The Moosewood Restaurant, well off the beaten path in Ithaca, NY, has been demonstrating how exciting vegetarian cooking can be. Their excellent use of seasonings and the variety of their multiethnic menus have influenced chefs all over the U.S. Customers come from all over the world to dine at this shrine to natural foods at their best. The collective running the restaurant, whose members put together The Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special--their eight cookbook--spread meatless inspiration to home cooks, too.

At the restaurant, everything on the menu changes every day, except the daily special, which consists of a bowl of soup, a salad, and a hearty slab of bread. Here, in more than 275 recipes, you can have comfortable, easily prepared ethnic adventures inspired by places in every corner of the globe, from Tibet to Cuba. Beginning in the east, there's Asian Bean Curd Soup, based on a rich broth, and fanciful Balinese Rice Salad, made with brown rice and a zippy, chutney-spiked dressing. Moving west, you find briskly chilled Golden Gazpacho, made using mid-summer's sunny, yellow tomatoes, and Alabama Hot Slaw, a classic cabbage salad doused in a warmed-up dressing. For accompaniments, there are cloud-light buttermilk biscuits, vibrant curried croutons for enlivening soups and salads, and nine of the restaurant's most popular salad dressings.

Every recipe is accompanied by information-packed notes about its ingredients, a nutritional analysis, suggested accompaniments, and alternatives, such as adding grated cheese, rice, or shrimp to Pepperpot Soup, a stew of greens, sweet peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, spiced with a Caribbean blend of thyme, cinnamon and chiles.

This book is a perfect way to get pleasantly acquainted with a wide variety of grains and vegetables, from millet and South American quinoa to daikon radish and tomatillos. A useful gift for students, beginning cooks, budget watchers (many of the soups require only water, not stock), newlyweds, and everyone who wants to eat well and healthfully, this sweetly illustrated book could live happily in any household. It includes some recipes using fish, as well as a good selection of vegan choices. --Dana Jacobi