The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook

FOREWORD

Vegetarian fare is no longer a poor relation on the

restaurant menu, no more regarded as the province of the brown-rice-and-lentils brigade. Our eating habits have evolved to such a point that, in fact, very many of us live on a virtually meat-free diet without considering ourselves strict vegetarians—and not because of a particular philosophy, nor for reasons of health or economy. Today's widespread interest in food and cooking, our discovery of the infinite range of non-meat dishes from other lands, and the seemingly daily increase in the variety of vegetables, grains, nuts and pulses now available, have combined to make vegetarian cooking exciting and innovative and, simultaneously, extended our appreciation of good food.