Veg Everyday!

Finding a brilliant vegetarian recipe book can be difficult. Ironically, my first and firm favourite comes from a meat-eater: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg Everyday. My wonderful friend Caroline gave me the cookbook in September as a thank-you for working for her; it’s become my bible.

When I moved out, this was the one recipe book I brought with me. Being a huge foodie, I have owned, loved and drooled over cookbooks before but I had never truly used one before Veg Everyday came into my life. Sure, I've flicked through some and tried a recipe or two, but I've never before had a recipe book that felt like mine; one that I'd turn to when stuck for inspiration, one to plan the week's meals around, one where I'd go back to a beloved recipe time and time again. That's what Veg Everyday has become for me: mine. As I wrote in the copy I bought Mum for Christmas, 'You taught me to cook, this book has expanded my skills'.

I just want everyone, especially those who nay-say vegetarianism, to read the introduction to Whittingstall's book. I won't go on about this too much but, as a vegetarian, I don't have a problem with people eating meat. What I believe though is that there's a problem with the rate of consumption of meat; HFW understands this completely and with Veg Everyday he intends to show his reader that meat isn't essential to every single meal. We should all be able to cook gorgeous, moreish, vegetable-based dishes and that is exactly what this book delivers on.

Plus! Any cookbook that starts with a chapter on comfort food and feasts is a sure winner in my eyes.

I am no stranger to curling up with a cookbook in bed and that’s exactly what I settled down to do on my first evening as a volunteer, post-it notes to hand. Since that first evening of lusting over photos of salad, I've made nearly twenty of the recipes on offer. My intention is that that number keeps expanding until I've cooked up the whole book.

My skills have expanded greatly with the help of this book and I'm incredibly proud of where my cooking abilities now stand. I look forward to learning more, cooking more and getting in a mess along the way! Look out for more foodie blogs from here on out and many, many mentions of this glorious cookbook.