How to Start a Vegan Cookbook Club

Looking for a fun way to expand both your collection of recipes and your network of neighborhood friends? You should create or join a cookbook club!

A cookbook club is essentially a hybrid of a book club and a potluck. Periodically, the group chooses a cookbook and each member selects one recipe from the book to cook and share at the next meeting. During the meeting, members discuss their opinions and experiences using the cookbook over a potluck meal.

Last May, I was inspired by an article on thekitchn.com to start a vegan cookbook club here in Hastings on Hudson. In just a few months, the club has become quite popular. Over a dozen couples participated in our most recent meeting!

We are learning healthy, novel, and ethnically diverse ways of preparing food. We are making new friends with people who just moved to town, while also getting to know our long-time neighbors better. We are having long, interesting conversations and sharing resources about more than just food. We are talking about childcare, relationships, local politics, business openings, our new projects, local services, etc. All the kind of stuff you that makes it easier and more fun to live in a community.

I think every town could benefit from a cookbook club. If you can't find an existing club near you, here's how you can easily start one in your community.

Sweet Potato Carrot Apple Juice Recipe

Did you know that you can juice a sweet potato? You can! The terrific tubers make a juice that is both creamy and mildly sweet. Make the following recipe the next time you get a sugar craving or just want to try something new.

Best Vegan Cookbooks of 2016

Best Vegan Cookbooks of 2016*

Check out the 24 awesome vegan cookbooks that came out this year. Let this list inspire you to choose a book for your next local vegan cookbook club meeting or to explore new recipes on your own. There's a book in this 2016 bunch for every vegan and every vegan-curious person!

The 22-Day Revolution Cookbook
From the author of the massive bestseller The 22-Day Revolution comes a plant-based cookbook full of the tools you need to live a healthier, happier life, with more than 150 all-new, mouth-watering recipes and customizable meal plans to create your own 22-Day Revolution program.

Aquafaba: Sweet and Savory Vegan Recipes Made Egg-Free with the Magic of Bean Water
This groundbreaking cookbook is the first to explore the many uses for aquafaba – a miraculous plant-based egg replacer made from simple bean liquid. The bean liquid we used to throw away turns out to be one of the most astonishing culinary discoveries of the decade. With its amazing egg-replacement abilities, miraculous "aquafaba" can be used as an egg-replacer to make everything from French toast to lemon meringue pie. Aquafaba can be used as a binder in both sweet and savory recipes and is a boon to vegans, people with egg allergies, as well as anyone interested in innovative cooking with a magical new ingredient.

Baconish: Sultry and Smoky Plant-Based Recipes from BLTs to Bacon Mac & Cheese
Baconish is the only plant-based healthy bacon cookbook. With your plant-based bacons, you can make everything from Quiche Lorraine and a Bacon and Butternut Galette to BLTs, Bacon Cheeseburgers, and more.