Winner: The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen Vegan Cookbook Giveaway!
Thanks a bunch to all those of you who shared your favorite ethnic dishes and vegan foodie destinations for this week’s vegan cookbook giveaway! Some of your mouth-watering recommendations included Vietnamese Pho soup, Indian curry, dal and naan, and pupusas (Salvadorian stuffed masa flatbread).
We’re very please to announce that this week’s giveaway winner is Jenna Z, who told us that she LOVES Thai food, especially spicy noodle dishes. We couldn’t agree more! Jenna will receive a copy of Carolyn Scott-Hamilton’s new vegan cookbook The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen. For more of The Healthy Voyager, check out Carolyn’s blog and travel show, too.
Stay tuned in a couple of weeks for another Giveaway!!
Fridays with Friends: Carolyn Scott-Hamilton and The Vegan Voyager’s Cookbook Giveaway!
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton is the brains and beauty of The Healthy Voyager travel blog and cooking show. 
Making the world easier to navigate as a traveling vegan is what Carolyn does best. When we met a few years ago, we discovered that we grew up a few blocks from one another in South Florida. We even went to the same high school, though not at the same time. What are the chances?! (Not to be outdone by our previous several Fridays with Friends interviewees, Carolyn is giving away a copy of her amazing-sounding new book, The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen! See detail below.)
Allison Rivers Samson: You adopted a vegan diet after moving to Los Angeles; was it something in SoCal that prompted the change? How did you make the decision?
Carolyn Scott-Hamilton: Well, it was inadvertently Los Angeles’s fault. 
As an impressionable 22 year old in a city where image is everything, I wanted to lose a few pounds. I stumbled upon a book written in the 70′s called Fit For Life and the light bulb went off in my head. It wasn’t so much a book about veganism as it was more about food combining and overall health. Knowing no vegans or anything about it, I decided to leave my meat and dairy eating days behind for healthier pastures! Since I went vegan for health, I got my masters in holistic nutrition and went to culinary school to make sure I did it right and could help those around me understand not only why I did it but that I could thrive! It was the best decision of my life, 14 years ago!
ARS: Fit for Life was my first healthy eating book too! Healthy vegan eating is a big part of your message, what are some of the biggest health mistakes vegan makes?
CS-H: Well, I think the biggest myth is that if you go vegan, you will lose weight. That’s not necessarily true. These days especially, there are so many vegan options as far as convenience foods, junk foods and junk food vegan options at restaurants. If you’re just swapping out a carnivorous junky diet for a vegan one, you are more than likely eating a ton of processed foods and not consuming healthy, whole, plant based foods. Sure, an occasional slice of pizza or cupcake is fine, but meal after meal of mock meats and fried carbs isn’t a healthy way of life, vegan or not. I think that no matter the reason for going vegan, the most important thing is to focus on nutrition. Making sure that you are getting the vitamins and nutrients you need in order to sustain a healthy life is most important, and will, in turn, prove the naysayers wrong and add yet another reason to the checklist of why going veg is ideal. 
ARS: Your new cookbook, The Healthy Voyager’s Global Kitchen, is available in stores now. Congratulations! How was the writing process for you? Did you enjoy it? How does it compare with making videos?
CS-H: Thanks!! It was a great learning experience along with being quite exhilarating and stressful all at the same time! I’ve always loved experimenting in my kitchen and since this book is part history and cultural lesson, I really enjoyed the research that went into exploring the folklore behind each dish. It’s super different than shooting my show since on the show I’m out and about discovering new places whereas writing the book locked me in my kitchen and office for just under 4 months. Which was fine because both involved food!
ARS: You often report on eating healthy/vegan while traveling (thank you!). What are a few key tips you can recommend for the healthy vegan traveler? Some easy mistakes to avoid?
CS-H: My biggest tip is to always be prepared. From packing snacks for small trips to planning where you will be dining at the airport as well as when you arrive at your destination and finding local markets where you can stock up on basics like fruit, veggies, beans, bread and other accoutrements for in-room cooking and prep. An easy mistake to avoid is loading up on junk foods out of convenience. Be sure to pack protein powders, nuts and healthy foods to keep you sustained as well as a green veggie powder to ensure that you are getting vital nutrients if and when you can’t locate a good salad on the go!
ARS: Be prepared, indeed! What’s one of the most surprisingly healthy places you’ve visited?
CS-H: Kenya stands out because I thought I’d only be served zebra and giraffe. I was totally wrong! They had wide varieties of fresh fruit, veggies and delicious vegan dishes, some of which made it into the cookbook! Stateside I’d have to say Memphis Tennessee! I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of healthy and vegan options I found in the BBQ kingdom!
ARS: Definitely not places I would have suspected. If you could recommend 2 or 3 tips to healthy eating anywhere, what would those be?
CS-H: 1) Don’t be shy to ask for what you want. ALWAYS tell your server right away that you are vegan and have them recommend some items. If they aren’t knowledgeable, have them modify a dish per your specifications and double check with the manager or chef.
2) When in doubt, go ethnic. Ethnic food like Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and even Latin American can be easily veganized as there are tons of plant based dishes in international cuisine.
3) Snack. Always be prepared and don’t leave home or hotel without some kind of snack. You don’t want to be caught somewhere where nothing is available for you and you’re left to starve.
ARS: If you and I were playing in the kitchen together, what would you want to create?
CS-H: Mmmmm, some kind of savory and sweet concoction! Maybe some pain au chocolat, chocolate covered chipotle pretzels, cocoa mole drenched enchiladas….
ARS: Mmmm… sounds good to me! Do you have a favorite Allison’s Gourmet sweet?
CS-H: YES! Your vegan toffee, vegan peanut butter cups and artisan truffles!
Thanks Carolyn, it’s always great to catch up with you! If you’re feeling adventurous, or even if you’re not, Carolyn’s new book will fill your kitchen with delicious vegan dishes from near and far, and it can be yours! 
To enter, just reply to this post telling us your favorite foodie destination or international dish. Easy as that! You must be a resident of the US or Canada to win. We’ll pick a winner on Thursday, April 12th.
Happy travels!
This giveaway is now closed. See who won and stay tuned for more giveaways coming soon!
World Vegan Feast Cookbook Winner, and Vegan Recipes!
For the third week in a row we’re announcing the winner of a vegan cookbook giveaway! A signed copy of Bryanna Clark Grogan’s latest book World Vegan Feast is going to Aimee, who requested veganized versions of scalloped potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. 
Congratulations, Aimee! As for her requests, Bryanna recommended these scalloped potato recipes: Susan Voisin‘s of fatfreevegan.com, and this Gluten-Free Goddess version. Bryanna also has a vegan hollandaise sauce recipe in World Vegan Feast that she says is pretty low fat, too! If you love comfort recipes, I recommend keeping an eye on Allison’s “Veganize It!” column in VegNews. Pssst… her scalloped potato recipe just might be coming in the fall!
In case you missed Bryanna’s other answers to some of the veganized Springtime tradition requests on Facebook here’s a recipe for broccoli cheese rice casserole, too.
Fridays with Friends: Bryanna Clark Grogan and Vegan Cookbook Giveaway Number Three!
Yep, you read that right, this is our third vegan cookbook giveaway in 3 weeks folks, and this time it’s thanks to the generous spirit of Bryanna Clark Grogan. She’s a long-time vegan chef and educator with a strong sense for eating healthfully as a vegan. We hope you’ll enjoy her insightful comments on recipe creation, balanced nutrition and the complicated logistics of family holidays. Read to the bottom for a chance to win a signed copy of her latest book World Vegan Feast.
Allison Rivers Samson: You have devoted 22 years to vegan cooking and your ninth sure-to-be-popular vegan cookbook was recently released. Was your experience different with World Vegan Feast as compared with your eight previous books?
Bryanna Clark Grogan: Yes it was. 
For one thing, this was my first time publishing with Vegan Heritage Press, my previous 8 books were with The Book Publishing Company. Also, I was working with recipes that I had developed for my now-defunct subscription newsletter, The Vegan Feast Kitchen, over a five year period. So this time it was primarily the tasks of organizing, re-testing and re-writing recipes, researching resources, and photographing for the book. However, the editing process goes on for quite a long time whoever you’re publishing with!
ARS: Much of your work has been with health gurus like Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Neal Barnard. Are there common themes for improving vegan diets?
BCG: I did get some advice from Dr. Weil when I did my early books (for which I was very grateful), and he used some of my recipes on his website, but he seems to be moving further away from a vegetarian diet and is so heavily into supplements now.
I developed the recipes for Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes and he was great to work with. The recipes had to be fat-free, fiber-rich (virtually all whole grain), low on the Glycemic Index, very little sugar of any kind, etc. It was a challenge to create easy, tasty recipes. But I don’t follow that type of diet daily. I lean more toward a vegan (and usually lower fat) version of the “MediterrAsian” diet—
lots of grains, pasta, legumes, vegetables, a little oil, the occasional sweet (vegan chocolates, of course!). There are many themes for improving vegan diets, some contradicting others—it can be confusing. But all of them agree on one thing—eat more vegetables! I think we should all agree on that point and not squabble over issues like fat, gluten, soy…
ARS: I couldn’t agree more. I think more people are in danger of getting too few vegetables than anything else, even protein. Many of your recipes are based on flavors found in ethnic foods. There often seem to be more vegan options at ethnic restaurants than at standard American eateries. Do you have a theory about that?
BCG: I think it is because many of these incredible cuisines originate in what we might refer to as “Third World” countries, where meat is a luxury.
In addition, many countries with strong religious affiliations have a large number of fast days (Ethiopia, for instance) when they refrain from animal-based foods. So these cuisines just naturally have many vegetarian and vegan dishes. We love to go to Lebanese restaurants, for instance, because they have so many dishes that are vegan without any changes. It is the feast dishes of many countries that are often heavily laden with meat, eggs and dairy products, and those are the recipes that need veganizing!
ARS: What are some of your favorite ethnic ingredients and how do you like to use them?
BCG: I’m in love with pomegranate molasses! It’s used in Middle Eastern and Persian cuisine, and also Georgian cuisine (the republic of Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union). It is tart and sweet at the same time. I use it in gelled desserts, salad dressings, drinks, and savory glazes or barbecue sauces, as well as in traditional recipes. In my latest book, World Vegan Feast, I used it in Iraqi Sweet and Sour Pomegranate Soup (Shorbat Rumman), and Pomegranate and Walnut Turkish Delight candy.
I also love Spanish smoked paprika, or smoked pimentón. It adds a layer of smoky goodness to soups, spreads and dips, bean dishes and stews. 
(I also used it in my homemade vegan “Bacon Salt,” which is on my blog.) It can be a sweet variety or a hot one. I wouldn’t be without it. Similarly, I always have Asian roasted sesame oil in the house. I often use it in the way omnivore cooks use bacon fat or duck fat—you don’t need much to add richness and smoky flavor to a dish. In Latin American dishes that normally require lard, I use olive oil with a touch of roasted sesame oil.
ARS: I’ve never heard of pomegranate molasses. Sounds like a must-try! Smoked paprika is my latest favorite ingredient, too. I used it with exciting results in my ‘Veganize It!’ recipe for Twice-Baked Potatoes (VegNews March+April 2012). You cooked professionally as a non-vegan for some time. Have some of your fans followed you into the world of vegan recipes? What’s their feedback been like?
BCG: Oh, yes. Many of the folks in the area where I live who read my cooking column for years before I became a vegan still read my new vegan columns in a couple of other local publications, and buy my books. Many eventually contacted me for advice on how to cut back on animal-based foods as they aged and found it necessary for their health!
ARS: Your innovative recipes have graced many tables. Were there any moments you had playing in the kitchen when you experienced a synergistic “aha!” that led to a new creation?
BCG: A few, but most recipes are either the result of just playing around with a recipe and somehow doing it right (and you’d better write down what you did!), or the result of a great deal of research, experimentation and even failure. 
Sometimes I get an idea and I know where I want to end up, but getting there is not that easy. Some I work on for years, off and on. Sometimes a favorite recipe may be the result of a desire to make a certain dish, but not having all of the required ingredients. So you substitute. “Fruity Tabouli,” from World Vegan Feast, is one. Lack of fresh tomatoes led to the idea of adding fresh mango and oranges instead, and now it is a perennial summer favorite. 
Other times you may just get a hankering for certain flavors and decide to combine them into one dish. Such was the case with another World Vegan Feast recipe, “Triple-Ginger Cake with Espresso Icing,” which has also become a family favorite.
ARS: I can see why that would be a favorite; I could go for a slice right about now! Is your family supportive of your vegan lifestyle? How do you deal with the dietary differences in your family? Is it hard for you that your children and grandchildren aren’t all vegan? If so, how do you handle that?
BCG: My family is a large one and, though most are not vegan, they are very supportive and proud of me, and like my food. I do not proselytize to my family. I answer any questions asked truthfully and briefly, give more information when called upon, and serve them delicious vegan food. We were all there once, after all. My husband is a vegan, voluntarily, not because I demanded it of him.
One of my daughters recently became a vegan, and two of her daughters are almost-vegan vegetarians. My oldest granddaughter has been a vegetarian for about 6 years. Of course I wish that they would all become vegans overnight, but your children seldom do exactly what you want them to! Sometimes they prefer to do the opposite, as any parent knows.
To manage family holiday meals, I tell my kids to have their holiday meal with their in-laws whenever that is convenient for them (even if it is on the exact day) and then we plan a family gathering on another day. The meal at my house is a vegetarian buffet. I make all vegan items, of course, but my only rule is no meat. My husband and I, and any guests we may have staying with us, have a totally vegan meal on another day, sometimes with a few family members and/or vegan friends. This is the compromise I have worked out over the years that works for us. Some vegans have criticized me for this, but family is very important to me.
ARS: I think it’s wonderful to find what works best for everyone involved. Sometimes being an example of compassion (for all beings, including humans) is the most powerful form of modeling. 
Do you have a favorite AG product?
BCG: I think it would have to be the Chocolate Lover’s Gift Set because it contains three of my favorite chocolate indulgences—assorted Artisan Chocolates, Chocolate Bark, and Chocolate Almond Toffee.
Thanks again, Bryanna, for your interview and also for letting us give away a signed copy of your new book World Vegan Feast! To enter your name in the drawing for this book leave us a comment answering this question: What favorite springtime holiday food from your past would you like veganized, or have you already veganized to your satisfaction? You must be a resident of the US or Canada to win. Good luck!
Thank you for your entries, this Giveaway is now closed. See the Winner here!
Quick-Fix Vegan Cookbook Giveaway Winner!
Robin Robertson and her cookbooks are obviously well-loved. Our giveaway of her book Quick-Fix Vegan gathered a record 113 responses filled with great ideas for her next cookbook including vegan sandwiches, pressure cooker cooking, and freezable meals for on-the-go people.
Many of you also made requests for cookbooks that Robin has already written (that’ll happen when you’ve written 19 of them!) including holiday and hors d’oeuvre recipes, see Party Vegan, and Vegan Unplugged aimed at RVers and people cooking with limited space. For those wanting vegan cooking on a budget and cost-effective meals, check out Vegan on the Cheap. Robin has just finished “another crock pot cookbook” coming out in October, Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker, and she’s now in the process of working on another book, “One-Dish Vegan Recipes,” another request we saw more than once during this giveaway.
We also saw several of you ask for a book on cooking with or for children, including our winner, Bekki, who said this:
“I would love to see a kid-focused cookbook. My daughter is adventurous with food and can be bribed with salad and brussels sprouts, but vegan cookbooks aren’t usually that much fun for kids. I think a cookbook aimed at helping kids learn to help cook would be amazing and good for helping both transitioning families and lifelong vegan kids to try new things.”
We think that’s a great idea, Bekki, thanks for sharing! You’ve won a copy of Quick-Fix Vegan from Robin. Congratulations, and although it’s not specifically geared towards kids, we hope your daughter will enjoy helping you with these quick-and-easy recipes!
P.S. We also got a few requests for a cookbook on cooking by the seasons which also already exists, although not written by Robin: The Blooming Platter Cookbook by Betsy DiJulio.
