The history of vegan food reveals itself through cookbooks. This is what I found out while researching my book No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating, which chronicles the subcultures, key chefs, and changing tides of meat-free food. There have been popular restaurants, fad diets, and trendy ingredients along the way, but the major moments have always been grounded in cookbooks that focus on whole foods, from-scratch home cooking, and a global perspective that shows readers that meatless cuisine exists virtually everywhere.

Since the 1971 publication of Frances Moore Lapps Diet for a Small Planet, which made the case that the global food system could feed everyone if only people cut back on meat, there have been many different approaches to getting people on board with a more plant-based lifestyle. Since the 1970sfrom the publications of Mollie Katzens Moosewood to Hannah Ches The Vegan Chinese Kitchengiving up meat has become both increasingly mainstream and necessary to the health of the planet. The following cookbooks, which include options for both the beginner and the experienced yuba-fryer, can provide endless inspiration.

The Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, was established in 1973. In 1977, Ten Speed Press put out The Moosewood Cookbook, with signature illustrations and hand-written recipes by Mollie Katzen. It would become a classic, both of the time and the vegan movement, with sales now exceeding four million copies, and recipes like vegetable chowder, lentil-walnut burgers, and gazpacho becoming go-tos for many.

Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking

One of the best ways to start eating and cooking more plant-based meals is by looking toward cuisines where vegetarianism is more normalized. Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking by Julie Sahni, published in 1985, teaches fundamental cooking principles and includes a guide to common vegetables and grains, along with recipes for tofu dumplings made with chickpea flour, eggplant and rice casserole, and squash and bean stew.

The Greens Cookbook: Extraordinary Vegetarian Cuisine

Deborah Madison would become known as a doyenne of vegetarian cooking thanks to 1997s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but it all started with the San Francisco restaurant Greens, where she established herself as a chef who could take local, seasonal produce and make vegetarian food that even omnivorous critics enjoyed. This 1987 release is still filled with revelations, like beets in walnut vinaigrette, corn and green chili chowder, and white bean and eggplant gratin.

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook

Twenty years after The Greens Cookbook came the similarly encyclopedic and world-changing Veganomicon. What Moskowitz and Romero do here is teach vegans how to really cookcoaching readers through everything from knife skills to bakingwithout a reliance on prepackaged products. Their book would come to be known as The Joy of Cooking for vegans, for just how expansive, educational, and fun it wasand still is.

Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed

Terry came out of community organizing and food justice before making a big splash with Afro-Vegan in 2014. Here he made familiar flavors and staple ingredients sing, all without animal products; just take his tofu poboys, black bean and seitan stew, or blackened cauliflower. The book also offers extensive guidance on seasonings, pickles, and condiments that will bring more power to any dish, such as a creole spice blend, cumin-pickled onions, and harissa.

The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples

Schinner would become famous for establishing Miyokos Creamery, a line of fermented cashew-based cheeses and cultured non-dairy butters, but this 2015 book reminds readers that anything worth eating might be worth making from scratchfrom ketchup to baguettes to yuba-based bacon and eggless pasta. Schinner gives the plant-based home cook all the tools they need to spend more time in the kitchen and way less money at the grocery store.

The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition

When Che decided to pursue a plant-based diet, she realized that Chinese cuisine has a lot of meatless food. It inspired her to start a blog called The Plant-Based Wok, which provided the jumping-off point for this award-winning 2022 cookbook. Theres congee, seitan skewers with mala spice, char siu with oyster mushroom filling, and blanched spinach in sesame sauce, to name just a few of the delicious and visually stimulating recipes included here.

The Superiority Burger Cookbook

Brooks Headley came to culinary fame as the pastry chef at New Yorks upscale Del Posto restaurant before he began making veggie burgers at buzzy pop-ups on the side. When Superiority Burger opened its tiny storefront in the East Village, Headleys success continued; boasting constantly changing specials reflecting farmers market produce and extremely popular gelato, it made vegetarian food cool. (All this has carried on in its new, much bigger space around the corner.) But anyone can access the spots (highly technical) quinoa-based burger patty, tofu-fried tofu sandwich, and beet salads through his book.

Sweet + Salty: The Art of Vegan Chocolates, Truffles, Caramels, and More from Lagustas Luscious

Yearwood came to making chocolates in 2003, while running a vegan food-delivery business, and has changed the game for vegan confections since opening her Hudson Valley shop Lagustas Luscious in 2011. There, chocolates and caramels are infused with local fruits, surprising herbs, and worldly spices, and fair-trade versions of Snickers and pecan-studded turtles give the originals a run for their money. She collects those recipes in Sweet + Salty, besides giving things like candy canes and whipped cream the vegan, fair-trade treatment.

The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Ommas Kitchen

Molinaro first attracted a following through her vulnerable, narrative-driven cooking videos on social media. Then, in 2021, this cookbook became a best seller and James Beard Award winner, serving readers vegan approaches to classic Korean dishes. The book takes one through pantry staples like gochujang and ferments like kimchi, all the way through to bibimbap, Molinaros many takes on tofu, and tteokbokki arrabbiata.

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The 10 Best Vegan Cookbooks for Every Pantry - Vogue