I recently purchased this book and I have to say that I was shocked by the sheer volume of recipes. If you're into quantity you definitely get that from this book. So far I've only tried 1 recipe from this book, and I can't really say that I tried the recipe. I used the information in this book to roast beets, after that I sort of took my cues from my intuition about what would taste good. Which is something I think all cooks should do. The book is filled with tons of ideas and recipes, some actually look like they taste good, So would I recommend this book, said the person who has yet to use one full recipe from the book--Yes I would. I haven't come across anything in this book that made me stop and say I'm going to make that, but that's not the type of cook I am. I think this book would definitely be beneficial to most cooks who are looking for ideas, this book is full of them--that's worth the price of the book alone.

This is a splendid cookbook. The recipes are completely doable for real world living; the ingredients are readily accessible; and the writing is terrific. My husband and I are trying to "clean up our eating act", and a huge part of the challenge has been learning to cook all over again. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes aren't going to cut it at 50. We've tried several recipes and loved them all. My only problem with this cookbook is that I have trouble putting it down! I just love reading it! Her passion for good food is contagious!

I definitely enjoy it this cookbook! I am part of a CSA (community shared agriculture) in the summer months, and it never fails to find me a recipe for the wide variety of vegetables I get and particularly the ones I have never tried before.

So the title of this review sums up what I love and what I hate about this cookbook. It is massive, detailed, and thorough--jam-packed with exciting recipes--but woefully difficult to browse. It is full of culinary jewels. My favorites include the Gujarati eggplant, vegan blintzes with blueberry sauce, and pumpkin polenta. Crescent Dragonwagon's pure joy of food and cooking is delightful and infectious. I like her colorful text introducing the recipes. She is the one I turn to when I have a special ingredient in mind that needs to be used up (the ingredient index is thorough and indipensable in such a big book), or when there's company coming and I want something impressive and delicious. Although this is not a vegan cookbook, there are plenty and plenty of vegan variations and vegan recipes to keep this mostly-vegan chef occupied. Yes, there are some recipes that rely heavily on eggs and dairy, but this is such a huge and rich cookbook that I don't think that should deter a dedicated vegan cook from purchasing it.

The issue is that I find the book a bit intimidating for planning a weeknight supper--there are too many recipes to look through, and many of them require a special, careful trip to the grocery store and a couple hours of prep time. This is a book that requires patience and time. There are simpler recipes interspersed with the more time-consuming ones, but you will need time to read the cookbook to find them. There are no time-estimates preceding the recipes, so you have to look through for yourself and guesstimate the effort involved. There is a section of "quick-fixes", but I find this section to be the least inspired of the whole book.

In sum, this is probably the most under-used gem of a cookbook in my collection. I recommend it to dedicated chefs who would like to experiment with eclectic and gourmet flavors. For a first vegetarian or vegan cookbook, I would probably look to something a little more straightforward.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will keep it to cook from and refer to in the future. I like the author very much. She has an open, confiding writing style that draws me in. Judging by a couple of the reviews, it looks like her unusual name and friendly manner seem to irritate some people, but I find her funny and charming.

There are many, many recipes offered here, and thus far I have only had time to make a few. I have had good luck with the ones I've tried (generally simpler ones), the results have been tasty and turned out as described. A few of the recipes seem to be heavier on unusual ingredients; but I think the majority are easily made by the average cook shopping at the average grocery store.

I consider this book to be an excellent value - it is a cookbook, dietary manifesto, humorous memoir, and inspirational reading all in one. Glad I bought it! I'm ordering one for my Mom for Mother's Day. I also plan to buy Crescent Dragonwagon's other cookbooks, they look wonderful!

I have NEVER enjoyed a cookbook more, fantastic recipes aside, this woman can write! It's good recipes plus warmth and wit and a whole lot of soul. Vege's and non-vege's alike will love this cook book!!

Written in Crescent's quirky, fun-loving style, this is much more than a cookbook - it is a window into Crescent's soul and a wonderful memoir to her beloved Ned. The "Innecdotes" will tickle your funny bone as much as the recipes will your palate.

Looks like some shelfware,but it is still Crescent Dragonwagons book, and I love that. She has great, imaginative recipes

I find it hard to say anything at all positive about this book. There are two aspects of any cookery book: the recipes, and the general style of the book and its writing. 'Crescent Dragonwagon' (silly and pretentious or what?) fails on both fronts. The recipes are awful. Lengthy, overcomplicated, expensive and calling for hard-to-find ingredients - Corn and Vegetable Pancakes, which she describes as a quick, knock-together supper dish, contains fourteen items, not including salt, pepper and water, and requires the use of four different kinds of flour. I tried the menu suggested to go with the 'Oven-Baked Chicken Fried Tofu and Gravy' Despite only including the simplest of the three suggested side dishes, and substituting a much simpler dessert, it still took me two hours to produce. 'Crescent Dragonwagon' criticises Laurel's Kitchen as not being suited to single people or those pressed for time; but Laurel's Kitchen has far more easy, cheap recipes made from easy to obtain ingredients than The Passionate Vegetarian. The chapter on quick cooking contains some truly horrible recipes. Throwing some frozen vegetables into the water with boiling pasta, and calling that a meal? Is she having a laugh?
As to the second point, the style, well, I find it hard to think where I've read so much gush in one place. The book is a huge doorstop of a volume, more than a thousand pages long, but I'm sure it could have been at leas two or three hundred pages shorter if the author could have resisted the urge to insert huge chunks of autobiograpy, as well as lots of what I imagine she thought were amusing anecdotes. (or 'Innectdotes', as she she describes stories about the time she ran an hotel. Did her editor not tell her that nobody over the age of ten finds puns all that funny?)
The 'howdy, y'all' tone doesn't half get wearing after a bit, particulary when you know (because of all that autobiograpy) that she is in fact a middle-class New Yorker. It's a bit like the unconvincing cornball rural accent adopted by Doris Day when she played Calamity Jane. I think, after reading The Passionate Vegetarin, I'd run a mile if I saw 'Crescent Dragonwagon' coming my way. I can't help but feel that she is the sort of person who would introduce you as a dear friend fifteen minutes after meeting you.
If you want a big, comprehensive vegetarin oookbook, then I think that 'Vegan Planet', 'How to Cook Everything Vegetarian', 'Leith's Vegetarian Bible', or, best of all, Deborah Madison's 'Vegetarin Cooking for Everyone' are all better choices.

Fantasic book! Fantastic food! I haven't found a bad recipe yet! Veggies don't have to be boring.

We bought this on a recommendation about 8 months ago, and we don't regret it. The book is well organized, the instructions are thoughtfully written, the recipes we've tried thus far have been superb, and we've found this cookbook gets far more use than the others on the shelf in our house.

This cookbook is my all time favorite of all the many vegetarian cookbooks I have used throughout 14 years of cooking. It is very large but is both cohesive and easily accessible. Her writing too is very clear with an informal style to the stories preceding most recipes that is comfortable and compelling to read (like a conversation among friends). The recipes are delicious and really demonstrate the range of possibilities in homestyle vegetarian cooking. There are recipes made with tofu, seitan, and tempeh (as well as none of the above) and does it all in new and innovative ways that taste great and can't be found in other cookbooks (her angel biscuits are incredible). I think this is key as many cookbooks repeat each other. This one is very original. Having read all her stories and tried several recipes (once I tried a few, I was hooked), I feel as if I have sat down before to have a meal with her in the inn she ran with her late husband. Also, though this is called The Passionate Vegetarian, many of the recipes include easy vegan variations and all recipes include ingredients that are easy to find if not already on hand.

Ok, i own a zillion vegetarian/vegan cookbooks, and i have a feeling i won't be using so many of them much after skimming through this cookbook!
An amazing collection of incredible recipes, wonderfully written (you'll want to sit down and actually read it-even though it's over 1000 pages!) by someone who obviously IS passionate about cooking.
I really like that the author takes into account leftovers and how to use them later in other dishes- a great way to make vegetarian eating even MORE budget-friendly :)
She respectfully addresses specific dietary concerns (vegan, allergies) and offers lots of suggestions.
A seriously fantastic cookbook!

I read this book for enjoyment. She makes the food sound so sensuous, I can't wait to try all of them, and that would take awhile. This book is seriously large, heavy, and packed with delicious recipes. It's also filled with helpful information about buying and using every grain, bean, vegetable and alternative protein source you could imagine.
Along with the food, you get the story of her marriage to her late husband, and tales of restaurants they ran and visited.
A wonderful read!

I read this book for enjoyment. She makes the food sound so sensuous, I can't wait to try all of them, and that would take awhile. This book is seriously large, heavy, and packed with delicious recipes. It's also filled with helpful information about buying and using every grain, bean, vegetable and alternative protein source you could imagine.
Along with the food, you get the story of her marriage to her late husband, and tales of restaurants they ran and visited.
A wonderful read!

This is the single best vegetarian cookbook. It also details the authors life and ties in with each of the recipes. It is a useful tool and a good read.

My all-time FAVORITE vegetarian cookbook. I know the author's name sounds very tra-la-la but don't let that turn you away from a fabulous cookbook. Almost like the Joy of Cooking for the veg set. I have a whole slew of cookbooks and it is probably the one I turn to most, even though I acquired it fairly recently. (It's also huge, and has a lot of good vegan options... Not relying solely on butter, cheese and milk to make veg stuff taste good.) Lots of wonderful background information and stories. I think it is the first cookbook I ever sat down and pretty much read from cover-to-cover. My copy is full of bookmarks, pages with turned-down corners, and food stains. It is my favorite reference guide, and a continuing source of family-favorite receipes.

This book changed my life. Have you ever cried while reading a cookbook? Well, you will if you buy this one, so be warned.

I bought this book while visiting my folks in Oklahoma because I wanted a good vegetarian recipe for gumbo. I almost didn't select it because I thought the cover photo was cheezy. (I'm sorry, Crescent.) Now PV has travelled from OK to NY to the Netherlands to Scotland.

Back in August, 2004 my parents and I took a trip out to the edge of the OK panhandle because none of us had been there and all of us were curious. I read this entire 1200+ page cookbook from Northeastern Oklahoma to the western tip of the panhandle where Oklahoma meets Texas and Colorado. And then I read it all the way back. You couldn't pry it out of my hands. Why?

First, CD writes in a way that makes you feel like you know her and love her as a best friend who is down-to-earth yet smart, friendly, clear, honest, extremely witty, and I'll say it again, smart. (Yes, I've had at least one of those 'celebrity' dreams where you, a common, humble no-body are the best friend of a famous person. My list? Madonna, the Bradys, Hillary Clinton, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, and now Crescent Dragonwagon.)

Second, the poignance with which she writes about Ned, her prematurely deceased partner is powerful. She writes of a love and a connection so strong, so beautiful, so rare. AND THIS IS IN A COOKBOOK! Through reading about their life I fell in love with my own wonderful partner all over again. Hers are the kinds of stories, tragic as they are for those involved, that can touch and change other people's lives by reminding them of how precious and fragile love and togetherness is. A cookbook -- this cookbook -- did that for me.

Third, Don't forget the recipes! Oh my goodness, are they good, and not just to read. Some are quite challenging, others are simple as 1-2-3. I have cooked a big chunk of the recipes in this book and I have fallen in love with many, many of them. I typically have a variation (throw in this or that) of her 'The Salad' several times a week. All the cornbreads are to die for. Austin Hill Country Quesadillas. I have to stop the list now or it will never stop. Pasta Sol. Oops. Yum.

Fourth, and maybe most importantly, this cookbook connected me to my roots at the same time it introduced me to techniques for cooking cuisines from around the world. Being a progressive feminist, I have a hard time connecting to anyone in Oklahoma outside my family. When I return to the buckle of the Bible Belt it's worse than being the cliche fish out of water. But through this book I was able to, through food, discover and rediscover so much about myself and my people -- and I mean good stuff. While there is so little for me to connect to in terms of beliefs, ideologies, ways of life, this book gave me something real, tangible, and respectful through which I can stay connected to my people while I live in a foreign land.

Finally, through this book my interest in cooking grew into a love for cooking. Now I live in Scotland and sometimes I JUST CAN'T find the ingredients called for in Passionate Vegetarian. (Try finding potato flour or hominy. Mom sent me the hominy through the mail. I hoard it in my pantry.) Well, so what? I no longer give up on a recipe, I just do a little fusion between what the organic veg box guy brings, whatever Crescent has suggested in a recipe, and whatever creativity I may be able to muster. And it's FUN!

I now have 2 other Crescent Dragonwagon cookbooks: My partner chased down a copy of Dairy Hollow House for me and I got my own Soup and Bread. And that is not enough. I want them all. I cannot wait for the cornbread book.

I know it's a little creepy but I love Crescent Dragonwagon for what she's given me through this book. Thank you, Crescent!

Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT a vegetarian. Therefore, I am not judging this book on its vegetarian merits. I am simply looking for some good meatless meals, and in particular, information and recipes for various grains.

I am a cookbook reader. I do plenty of cooking, and I try many new recipes. But the cookbooks that I love are "readable". In the sense of curling up in a chair with them, or taking them to bed at night. This one is definitely readable. I had glanced through PV several times in various bookstores. I finally ran across it at my library, and checked it out.

I enjoy the stories and anecdotes sprinkled throughout, and her love for her late husband is vividly apparently. To me, this makes it more than a "cookbook". What sold me, however, was the attention to grains. Are there other books who might "do" grains better? Perhaps there are. But PV has a blend of info, good recipes, and readability that appeal to me.

I used to buy any and every cookbook that caught my eye. I found that most of them sat gathering dust on my shelf. If I can't read it like a novel, I likely won't pull it out often. I like books that can both inform me (on subjects such as ethnic or regional cooking, or in this case, vegetarian cooking) AND provide me with good, reliable recipes. Now, I generally try to check a book out from the library or browse through it in a bookstore before I purchase it... to make sure it is the type of book I want to fill space on my (limited) bookshelves. After keeping this one out of the library for a month, I decided it was worth my shelf space. I purchased several new (to me) grains over the weekend, and plan to begin cooking immediately!

Due to a busy schedule I struggle often in trying to eat a healthy, vegetarian diet. Although some of the recipes in this book are time consuming, many can be made relatively easily and cheaply. I've never found a cook book where I enjoy most of the recipes before, but this one is it. I use this book continually and you should too! You'll love it.

I've had this book for three years and it is really terrific. So many new ideas and great recipes. This has really opened my world and gotten me to expand my vegetarian diet. Great writing, easy to read, really love this book. I turn to this book every week. Get it!

This book was an amazing treasure the first time I received it, over a year ago. Then I was just a vegetarian and it amazed me with the exhaustive information, anecdotes, tips and tricks.

Sixteen months later and a happy vegan, I was made all the happier when I looked through the book again and found that Ms Dragonwagon had included vegan notes for recipes where substitutions (or eliminations) were possible, and that a vast number of the recipes were vegan to begin with.

I've given this book as a gift and will continue to do so, because it's been a gift to me every time I use it.

I received "Passionate Vegetarian" as a birthday gift this year. I find it to be the BEST vegetarian cookbook I have ever had! The recipes are tasty, satisfying and wonderful. If you love pecan pie, try Crescent's browned butter pecan pie. It is great! The "Chicken Fried Tofu" is also wonderful. I use this cookbook at least twice a week and, after three months, am still finding new recipes to try and enjoy.

A cookbook can be many books at once: instruction manual, self-help guide, memoir, fantasy tome, even a down-to-earth novel. Crescent Dragonwagon's Passionate Vegetarian (PV) is all of these, but most of all, it conjures images of home. Home is a place of nurture, a place to rejuvenate our bodies and souls. It is also a place from which to welcome the world, a place to celebrate, a place to entertain. Crescent Dragonwagon, or CD as she calls herself throughout PV, understands these concepts of home and captures them in a phenomenal tome of cooking and story-telling. PV is an amazing, fun-to-read cookbook, filled with interesting recipes, helpful tidbits, and the memories that have shaped CD's life and cooking.

Cooking with CD via her cookbooks is like a having a best friend hanging out with you in your kitchen. Her style is casual, entertaining, and informative. She has inspired my cooking in countless ways; I've even acquired new kitchen toys and ingredients because of PV! The sheer size of PV practically guarantees that it would take years to try all the recipes, and of course, once you start trying the recipes, you find that they are so good that you want to make them again and again. PV is by far my favorite cookbook ever because reading it and cooking from it always bring me home.

This is an exhaustive text -- no stone was left unturned. Recipes, tips and advice (cook once for two meals). This book covers it all. It pulls recipes from multiple cuisines.

It's great even if you are not vegetarian. Many of the recipes can be used to accompany meat dishes.

My mother brought me this book as a gift just after I announced my newfound vegetarianism. Over lunch at a local diner, I began scanning the pages, and soon I was guiltily ignoring my mother and reading Passionate Vegetarian instead. I read the book over the course of one day, and boy, was there a lot to read. You wanna make a salad? Crescent Dragonwagon will show you how to make a salad! But there's more- beyond her recipes (which are fun to read)- there's a story here. Crescent shares her home and work life in tiny, eloquent snippets. A cookbook never made me cry before- unless I was chopping onions at the cookbook's request.

You get the feeling, when you read Passionate Vegetarian, that you're receiving a condensed version of Crescent Dragonwagon herself. Here's the deal: own Passionate Vegetarian, and you feel like you've made a friend. A wise, exuberant, passionate friend. It's a great cook book, even if the recipes seem intimidating (or even impractical) at times-the writing is magnificent, the atmosphere is haunting, and the food, when done right, is delicious. Buy it, buy it, buy it.

First the pros: She certainly has passion, and totally covers every possible grain, and ingredient with Asian, Italian, American influences. She also does a great job of suggesting alternative ingredients and substitutions, which is nice, since while northern california is pretty good about finding every ingredient under the sun, she still does use a fair number of ingredients that are local to her eastern location.

I really like reading it, but here is the con, I've tried two recipes, and both were disasters because of flawed cooking techniques. I've practically cooked my way through say Deborah Madison's or Mollie Katzen's or even Jamuna Devi's cookbooks for e.g. and while some recipes may be challenging and require hours of prep, I have never been left with raw, dry inedible casseroles etc. Which happened to me with a gratin recipe. As I prepared it according to her very much eyeballed measures I was concerned because most I've made in the past required more fluids or blanching to precook, and sure enough the results were off.

Similarly, another recipe I made also did not have good results, so I have now relegated this to least used category, and merely use it if no other cookbook I own has any suggestions for some really exotic grain or vegetable. Happens maybe once a year when you have deborah madison, alice waters, etc to look up first. I would cook/try a recipe from any one of the other mentioned authors in my review for the first time, for company, but will never trust this cookbook again to that extent.

I'm not a vegetarian, but this book is a great resource for anyone who loves to cook and weants to eat healthy. If I had to throw away all but two of my cookbooks, I'd keep this one and Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything."

It took me awhile to get a copy of THE PASSIONATE VEGETARIAN, mostly because I wasn't sure I wanted a thousand page cookbook taking up more space in m y kitchen. But I am so overwhelmingly pleased with it that I couldn't imagine my kitchen without it. The pages are already dog-eared from use.

The thing that impresses me most about THE PASSIONATE VEGETARIAN is that from start to finish the author not only conveys her own passion for "beautiful eating", but as a reader it is hard NOT to get caught up in her infectious passion! Her cookbook is an inspirational delight. It has restored my own passion for good food and good times around the table.

This cookbook has just been a wonderful purchase. There are so many recipes to choose from. Once a week, I pick out a new one to try. The kungpao tofu is out of this world! I also really appreciated Ms. Dragonwagon's quirky sense of humor and her stories about life and cooking. She is an insightful writer with a knack for explaining all the steps of cooking in language that even a beginner can understand. I've read other reviews that complain a little that she uses ingredients that mainstream americans wouldn't use. I can understand this, there are a few ingredients that left me thinking "huh?" Until I tried them, that is. Take it from me, broaden your horizons and try some of the recipes that may sound a little out of your comfort zone. You won't be dissapointed. Best Wishes and Peace in your kitchen, Shellie Tabb

I have a lot of cookbooks. I enjoy reading bits and pieces from many of them. Most, if I am lucky, give me a handful of recipes that my family and I can enjoy, but there always seems to be large portions of many that I just ignore as not relevant, not delicious enough, or just not interesting. Well, The Passionate Vegetarian is like no other cookbook I own. It is phenomenal; the recipes are delicious and appeal to my entire family. There is a ginger-carrot-curry dip that I bring to many parties and it is always a huge hit (even with several carrot haters I know). After cooking several tremendous recipes in this cookbook I realized that there are just no stinkers in here, everything is tasty and you can trust in Crescent Dragonwagon. One wonderful bonus to this cookbook is Dragonwagon herself. Each recipe is preceded by a little story of how it came about, and after reading a few of these stories, you will discovery what a warm and wonderful person Dragonwagon is. Unlike many vegetarian cookbooks, The Passionate Vegetarian recipes will appeal to the meateaters in your crowd. I highly recommend this cookbook. It is a delight to read and the recipes are imaginative, yummy and fun to make. Never anything too complicated and always logical. This is a terrific cookbook.