The Adaptable Feast

November 1, 2009
Pity the well-meaning host who invites friends for an evening dinner only to find that some guests are vegetarian, some eat no seafood, some eat only red meat, and some are vegan. Too often the cook then must prepare three or four different meals to satisfy guests demands. Manning comes to the rescue with a clever cookbook. Each basic recipe has a stopping point in its process where a quantity of the dish is set aside to feed the vegetarians before any meat products go in. In some cases, the meat-free portion is then enriched with the addition of beans or tofu. For the vegan, Manning indicates which ingredients may simply be left out altogether. She turns to meat substitutes, such as seitan, as advice on ensuring that vegans get sufficient complete proteins for sound nutrition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)