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It's
unfortunate there just aren't many good regional classes out there for
people who are interested in exploring a Vegetarian Diet. Most people turn
to books like How It All Vegan or Becoming Vegan as their key
source for tips, recipes, information and guidance. As good as these books
are, they can never quite replicate the experience of taking a cooking
class. To address that very problem the Vegetarian Cooking with
Compassionate Cooks DVD brings the cooking class experience home with a
great resource for people looking to explore and experimenting with a meat
free diet.
Vegetarian
Cooking with Compassionate Cooks runs just over an hour and it includes
instruction for six dishes: Eggless Egg Salad, Mouthwatering Chocolate Chip
Cookies, Hearty Three Bean Chili, Tofu and Vegetable Stir-Fry with Peanut
Sauce, Harvest-Stuffed Acorn Squash and Magic Chocolate Cake. All the
recipes on the DVD are pretty quick and easy to prepare, so the odds of
success when trying these out for the first time is pretty high.
The DVD is
hosted by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Alka Chandna, both of which seem
comfortable in front of the camera. The two hosts banter back and forth
varying from what seems like scripted material to more personal and
anecdotal stuff. One of the nice things about this DVD is just how 'real'
it feels. Unlike a show on the TV Food Network where everything is mega
polished, Vegetarian Cooking feels a lot more like a cooking class, where
the two hosts interrupt each other, have fun with cooking and generally let
the genuine experience of cooking shine through.
The overall
tone of Vegetarian Cooking with Compassionate Cooks is an introductory one,
so in addition to preparing each dish, the hosts talk a lot about the use
and preparation of various vegetarian ingredients. In the first section
while they prepare the Eggless Egg Salad, they go into some good depth
about the various varieties of Tofu, how to select the best one for what
you are doing and how to handle and prepare it. This is really helpful
information, especially for people less familiar with the ingredients, or
for those just beginning to venture into a vegetarian diet. During many of
the segments, factoids and information pop-up on to the screen. This is
especially helpful during the baking segments like Mouthwatering Chocolate
Chip Cookies, where you can read the exact measurements for the ingredients
used.
Through out
the six recipe segments, such vegetarian fundamentals as Tofu, Tempeh,
Trans-Fat Free Margarine, Flax Seeds, Nuts, and other Soy products are thoroughly
covered. A special segment on the DVD 'Vegetarian Products in Your
Supermarket' gives a complete tour of many of the key vegetarian items
you'll find at the store and gives very specific recommendations on brands
and types of products.
In addition
to talking about specific ingredients Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Alka
Chandna both spend a good amount of time talking about the health effects
of a vegetarian diet as well as spend time debunking many common
misconceptions about being vegetarian. You might expect a DVD entitled
'Compassionate Cooks' to be much more heavy handed when talking about meat
and vegetarianism, but the two hosts strike a really great balance between
advocacy and education, and so you never feel like you're being 'preached
to'. The approach is more to inspire with good vegetarian cooking rather
than demonize eating meat.
One of the
great segments on the DVD is the preparation of the Harvest-Stuffed Acorn
Squash. The segment ends with a look at a vegetarian Thanksgiving plate, a good
illustration for people who might think that Tofurky is the only veggie
Thanksgiving option.
Final
Thoughts
Vegetarian Cooking with Compassionate Cooks successfully captures a fun and
informative cooking class onto a real solid DVD. It's a great introduction
to vegetarian cooking and is jam packed with good information. The best
part of this DVD though is the food itself. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and
Alka Chandna have succeeded here by picking tasty dishes which are both
quick and easy to prepare. Ultimately the best cooking programs come down
to what ends up on your plate, and here, what ends up is simply divine. Highly
Recommended.
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