Cooking Made Easy: Review of Vegetarian Cooking with Compassionate Cooks DVD
E/Environmental Magazine
Fall 2005

Compassionate Cooks’ new 69-minute DVD treats audiences to a variety of vegan dishes from egg-free “egg salad” to chocolate chip cookies, from vegetable stir-fry with peanut sauce to harvest-stuffed acorn squash. Compassionate Cooks is a California-based organization aimed at providing information about vegetarianism through its cooking classes, humane education workshops and supermarket tours.

Founder Colleen Patrick-Goudreau says she wants to give people the tools and resources required to prevent disease and optimize health. The video, hosted by Patrick-Goudreau and Alka Chandna, is full of tidbits of practical information that will enhance anyone’s cooking career. The video’s focus is not only on learning vegetarian recipes and cooking methods, but also providing basic nutritional information.

Additional features include frequently asked questions about vegetarian dining and “Thinking Outside the Crate: Farm Sanctuary’s First 15 Years,” a short piece narrated by Six Feet Under actor James Cromwell. The DVD ($20) also provides a helpful introduction to meat analogs, dairy substitutes and other vegan products available in grocery stores. —D.A.