Vegetarian Cookbooks Are Becoming More Popular

Cookbooks cronicle political, cultural, social and health worldwide health trends. Fruits and vegetables are no longer an accessory to meat. That notion is clear in a growing number of vegetarian and non-vegetarian cookbooks. Concerns about health and the environment drive this trend. The tremendous growth of stores such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace is part of their attempt to see if there is a better answer than a pill.

The focus on health pused vegetarian cookbooks from a fringe market into the mainstream, that has increased potential customers. Some Carribbean cruises combine vegetarian cuisine (along with other cuisines) with yoga and seminars on alternative healing, shows how the demand for produce-based cookbooks has increased. Voyagers whom sign up for these cruises increase by 20 percent per year. Those customers, who averaged in at about 725 per week during February and March, include people from Croatia, Japan, France and England.

London-based publisher Kyle Cathie confirms international demand for fruit and vegatable cookbooks. Her latest U.S. release is India's Vegetarian Cooking: A Regional Guide. In England, local and seasonal produce is popular. Fruits and vegetables that are shipped from overseas are not because of the excessive fossil fuels used to ship them to the market. The same goes for the United States.

Cows and other rumainants, when allowed to graze, help build topsoil. But the large cattle feedlots common today causes pollution and loss of topsoil. Eating animals is what preserves the species, pointing out the loss in diverse turkey varieties as the industry centered on a few commercial breeds. Likewise, if we were to stop caring for sheep the species would certainly die out.

The popularity of produce has not changed, only the number of plant-based cookbooks; it also has changed their content. People are different, some really do better on a vegetarian diet. And others do better on a meat-based diet.

You are probably wondering how can cooks be creative in terms of people's different dietary concerns. It is fairly simple, cooks get two meals out of one using seasonings and sides that work well with meat and plant-based protein. For example: bean ratatouille pairs with steak or grilled portobello mushrooms. The finishing touch for both dishes is a bread-crumb salsa.

The popularity of vegetarianism signals a growing acceptance of veganism, the diet based entirely on plants. (By contrast, many vegetarians eat some animal products, such as butter, cheese and eggs.)

Veganism is the fastest growing segement of vegetarianism. It has permeated the very fabric of our society.