The Vegeterranean: Italian Vegetarian Cooking

I feel compelled to write a short note to counter some of the enthusiasm of this book's (and the restaurant's) devotees. I have not eaten at the restaurant in Italy, so I can't vouch for its delights, but I ordered this book with some anticipation, and was very disappointed. While it appears that many like the design/photography of this volume, I found it really dated. The colour is over-saturated, the food styling uber-seventies, the format over-large and ostentatious, the paper glossy and off-putting to handle... This, quite apart from the recipes which are over-complicated and old-fashioned looking. They remind me of some 'gourmet' vegetarian food I had in Rome once, which was enough to put me off veggie food for life. So stylised - and not in a good way! For my money, if you want to buy books on gourmet vegetarian food, try Denis Cotter of Cafe Paradiso, Cork, fame. His books are much more beautiful and tactile - and the recipes user-friendly and authentic - not the kind of poncey rubbish this book tries to proffer.

Yummy! (1/1 people found this helpful)

I'm a vegetarian but my husband isn't and it is really difficult to find recipes I can eat but which satisfy him. I bought this book as previous reviews said this will meet this requirement. I think it does and the more I cook from it the more my husband agrees!

The pictures are really inspiring and make you really excited about cooking them. Although some of the ingrediants are impossible to get hold of in my neck of the woods the recipes still seem to work with a few well thought out alternatives and substitutions.

I wasn't too keen on some of the pages dedicated to stories about their life. Quite frankly some of them are a bit too self-congratulatory and remind me of the "hilarious" stories people tell you about people who you have never met and have no inclination to. However, as a cookery book I like it and best of all I the receipes on the whole seem to actually work which is always a bonus for an enthusiatic but unskilled cook like me.

How Veggie Food Should Be... (1/1 people found this helpful)

Wow! Just looking at the pictures is enough to want to make you book a flight to Umbria to eat at the hotel from where this cookbook originates.

The recipes are fabulous and reasonably easy to follow - although they do take some careful reading just to make sure you get everything right - and the photos are superb. But also there's some nice commentary about the ingredients and the philosophy of the hotel etc which gives you a real feel for the passion that they have about the food they create.

This is a fabulous book and will be an inspiration to me for ages.

the best veggie cook book ever? (0/1 people found this helpful)

i cant believe how amazing this bookis. have cooked lots from it and it is truly amazing.i have been veggie for 30 years and this is the best book ever. buy it or your kitchen will be naked and you will have missed out on some amazing tastes

the best vegetarian food in the world (0/2 people found this helpful)

Having been amazed at the food at Montali over a number of years, we always hoped Malu and Alberto would write a book - and I'm so glad they have. Malu's style of vegetarian cooking is truly brilliant and worthy of Michelin stars. The book itself is lovely and beautifully laid out, giving you a real insight in to the place as well as the food. I have found the recipes easy to follow with fabulous results, and no wonder, they trialed the recipes for 2 years to check they could be replicated at home. I've already given the book to friends as gifts - meat eaters or not - they all love it. Good luck with the book Alberto and Malu - I hope it brings you the recognition you deserve!

Malu Simoes, Alberto Musacchio

Reader Reviews:

Tempering their enthusiasm... (6/12 people found this helpful)

Yummy! (1/1 people found this helpful)

How Veggie Food Should Be... (1/1 people found this helpful)

the best veggie cook book ever? (0/1 people found this helpful)

the best vegetarian food in the world (0/2 people found this helpful)

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