With the holidays coming up, here’s our collection of great vegan gifts, including the very best cookbooks published in 2015.
Vegan Cookbooks
Here are our top picks of this year’s best titles:
- Thug Kitchen Party Grub: For Social Motherf*ckers. That’s right, the Thug Kitchen peeps have followed up their massively popular first book with an all-new expletive-laden title full of amazing party recipes. As with their first book, this is a hardcover offering that includes gorgeous full-color photography on nearly every page.
- Street Vegan: Recipes and Dispatches from The Cinnamon Snail Food Truck There’s probably no food truck in the universe that’s gotten more love than New York’s Cinnamon Snail. Chef Adam Sobel spills all his truck’s greatest recipes. This is a must-have book for every vegan who adores street food cooking.
- Mastering the Art of Vegan Cooking: Over 200 Delicious Recipes and Tips to Save You Money and Stock Your Pantry. Another large and exquisite reference book from Dan and Annie Shannon. The hardcover edition comes at a very good price, and could become the recipient’s go-to vegan cookbook for years to come.
- Crossroads: Extraordinary Recipes from the Restaurant That Is Reinventing Vegan Cuisine This is the book of the year for anyone serious about gourmet vegan cooking. Note that this is not a cookbook suitable for everyday cooking, but rather a collection of time-consuming recipes that serious chefs can break out in order to blow everyone’s socks off. If gourmet vegan food is what you’re seeking Crossroads delivers the goods in every single recipe.
- Cook the Pantry: Vegan Pantry-to-Plate Recipes in 20 Minutes (or Less!) Robin Robertson is the most prolific vegan cookbook author in the business, and this time around she offers up the world’s quickest and easiest vegan recipes. This is the ideal first cookbook for new vegans who don’t know where to begin in the kitchen.
- Vegan Richa’s Indian Kitchen: Traditional and Creative Recipes for the Home Cook. Probably 2015’s most successful vegan cookbook featuring regional cuisine. There’s no shortage of Indian recipes in mainstream vegan cookbooks, but it’s rare to find recipes that nail the experience of first-rate Indian food. If authenticity is what you want, this is the definitive cookbook for Indian food lovers!
- Laura Theodore’s Vegan-Ease: An Easy Guide to Enjoying a Plant-Based Diet. Another great cookbook full of easy recipes for new vegans (and busy people who don’t want to spend all afternoon in the kitchen.) Laura Theodore has a large following of fans through her Jazzy Vegetarian television show on PBS.
Want to see other cookbook ideas? Check out our page devoted to the finest recent vegan cookbooks.
Health & Animal Advocacy Books
- Bleating Hearts. Mark Hawthorne’s book documents the hidden world of animal exploitation in at farms, zoos, and laboratories. No other book has done such a comprehensive job of documenting the range of abuses inflicted onto animals. A must-read for every animal advocate.
- Vegan for Life. Probably the best and most authoritative text for people wanting to eat healthfully on a vegan diet.
- Vegan for Her. By the coauthor of Vegan For Life. The definitive book on vegan nutrition for women.
For more vegan book ideas, check out our books page.
Kitchen Appliances
Going vegan means increasing the diversity of plant-based foods you eat, and there are several appliances that will open the door to all sorts of new vegan food choices. Here are our top picks:
- Blendtec Designer Series Blender with WildSide Jar. A Blendtec might be the single most useful high-end kitchen appliance in existence. Blendtec enable you to make a variety of extraordinarily healthful foods that a regular blender wouldn’t have the power to properly process. This unit comes with a terrific book featuring 230 recipes that’ll have you making incredible food in no time.
- Juicers: Juice is one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, and a home juicer can dramatically improve your day-to-day diet. For a high-end gift, it’s hard to beat the Omega J8006 Juicer, with a powerful low-speed motor. It’s one of the few juicers that can process wheat grass. You also buy a budget juicer that works surprisingly well; consider this Black & Deckerunit that comes in at around $30 shipped.
- Aroma 8-Cup Digital Rice Cooker. Until recently, rice cookers were divided into two categories: barely adequate super cheap models, and overpriced but superb digital models. This $30 Aroma unit comes equipped with the fancy features of hundred dollar models, at a fraction of the price. Best of all, it lets you steam your veggies while simultaneously cooking your rice to perfection.
- Food Processors: Nothing can cut your food preparation time like a food processor, which can whiz through big chopping tasks in seconds. We recommend the Cuisinart DLC-10S, which is a high-end and universally acclaimed model. Minimalist low-cost food choppers are likewise incredibly useful. They’re perfect for small jobs since cleanup takes only seconds, and they take up practically no counter space. We think the best unit on the market is the Proctor Silex Food Chopper.
Don’t see what you’re looking for? Check out our kitchenware page for more great ideas.
Stocking Stuffers
Here’s a collection of ideas for small gifts that are certain to be appreciated.