Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen

This bizarrely titled volume is dedicated to simple, user-friendly vegetarian recipes. The author, an enthusiastic amateur in the kitchen, has not so much written a cookbook as compiled one, separating basic recipes into three or four steps apiece and then charting them out in neatly designed graphs. The section on pizza, for example, includes Feta and Mint Pizza; Fig, Arugula, and Goat Cheese Pizza; and Red Pepper and Olive Pizza. Each pizza is prepared the exact same way, and the same directions are listed over and over again (""Preheat oven... gently pat pizza dough,"" etc.) The only variations are in the toppings, but each recipe is presented as a different item on the pizza chart, giving the illusion that the author is presenting several different recipes. This misleading representation occurs throughout. In addition, many of the recipes are for desserts, drinks and breakfast dishes--that is, foods that are almost always vegetarian and therefore frustratingly redundant in a vegetarian cookbook. The author's style is chatty and warm, however, and some of her ideas are inventive; Smoky Corn Kabobs are especially tasty, as is the Spring Vegetable Pot Pie. Nevertheless, the book suffers from overdesign. The charts are counterintuitive and difficult to read, and the overall feel of the book is gimmicky. While a good vegetarian cookbook is a wonderful resource, a more traditional format would have served this one better. 40 full-color photos.