The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living (The Complete Idiot's Guide) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Beverly Lynn Bennett, Ray Sammartano
Publisher: Alpha
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 138695
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.3 x 1
ISBN: 1592574173
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5636
EAN: 9781592574179
ASIN: 1592574173
Publication Date: December 6, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: `New, Softcover. Remainder mark, bottom end edge. Minor shelf wear. Ships with USPS tracking number and confirmation e-mail. Compare our feedback and see why more and more people are choosing ufjoebooks! Accurate Grading, Detailed Descriptions, Fast Shipping, Low Prices, and Responsive Customer Service :-)
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Product Description
The definitive book on becoming a vegan with recipes included. Becoming a vegan isn t just about giving up animal products. It s about making a lifestyle change. In The Complete Idiot s Guide to Vegan Living, authors Beverly Lynn Bennett (known as the Vegan Chef) and Ray Sammartano provide a complete guide to living vegan-style, focusing on compassion for all, good health, and great eating. Inside, readers will find 50 sensational recipes, tips for everyday vegan living, the lowdown on vegan myths, and much more. -One of the few titles that combines information on the vegan lifestyle with recipes -Being a vegan isn t only about what you eat; this book also discusses clothing, cosmetics, etc. -Author is a renowned vegan chef
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Excellent beginner vegan book! November 8, 2008
Laura (Madison Heights, VA)
This book is an excellent guide for beginners of veganism. I got it after I had read a couple of other books related to veganism. I thought it would be very informative and supportive to the change I made, and it has truly lived up to my expectation. It covers a wide variety of topics related to veganism, but I have especially enjoyed the information it gives on choosing a plant-based diet. It also provides many websites that are useful, especially if you are interested in ordering products that are vegan and often hard to come by in smaller communities. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has recently become vegan or is considering becoming a vegan...it is more infomative than persuasive, and it gives you lots of ideas and recipes in an enjoyable and easy to read format. Love it, love it, love it!
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living May 4, 2008
Nora Roberts (USA)
This is a comprehensive overview of the issues that a person who is considering living a Vegan lifestyle must think about. The information is not presented through the use of scare tactics but with facts and philosophical debates and queries.The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living (The Complete Idiot's Guide)
 May not be the best, but it is sound but not stridant April 8, 2008
B. Marold (Bethlehem, PA United States)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
`The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living' by Beverly Lynn Bennett and Ray Sammartano, `Vegan Freak' by Bob Torres and Jenna Torres, and `Vegan Planet' by Robin Robertson are three books my godson purchases, believing they were oriented primarily toward what most of us would consider a vegetarian diet adopted for simple health reasons. The primary objective of this review is to warn those who may be interested in these books for the same purpose. And, to make a strong distinction between the first two and the third.
The vegan lifestyle, at its heart, is far more than a dietary regimen. It is a combination of a system of spiritual values, culinary choices for health, and economic values allied with `green' doctrines of helping to preserve resources. Surprisingly, the first is by far the most important of these three, especially to those like the authors of the `Vegan Freak' book. One need read only a few pages of this book to realize veganism may in some senses be considered a Hindu sect, as it shares many of the same values of this religion, including many approaches to animal products which are as extremely anti-scientific as the rejection of some scientific theories by those who espouse creationism. As someone who has some reasonably sound background in Christian and Jewish doctrines, I can say with some certainty that vegan values are NOT shared by either Christian, Jewish, or Muslim value systems. In fact, the Judeo-Christian scriptures are often cited as justifications for using animal products. I will also venture the thought that the vegan doctrines are not consistent with secular ethical theory. By the definition assumed by every ethical value system, including those based on Judaism and Christianity, moral principles are those principals related specifically to behavior toward other humans. Thus, the vegan apologists are truly stretching the meaning of `ethical' or `moral' in order to add cachet to their preaching, which it does not deserve. That doesn't mean these values are baseless. It just means they need some justification which is independent of moral theories.
Now that is not to say many vegan values are not shared by the non-vegan population at large. Most civilized people, and even cultures which may be considered pre-civilized savages, place a value on `humane' treatment of animals. Thus, we have dedicated a fair amount of resources to SPCA organizations and other animal rescue organizations. It is also due more to ignorance than to inhumanity that we indulge in animal products which are raised in an inhumane manner. And, the rationale that these animals would never have lived if it were not for our raising them specifically for food is scant excuse.
As sound as the basic vegan value system is, to some peoples' minds, it seems to cross some line from humane principles to surprising extremes when it raises its ban against literally every animal product, no matter how remotely removed from cruel commercial animal husbandry. Two of the most extreme examples are bans against vaccines because they are incubated in eggs and many beers and wines, because they are clarified using animal products. Less extreme, but similarly questionable are the prohibitions against milk and eggs, especially if one makes the effort to purchase products raised according to humane husbandry techniques. Here, one encounters many of the health concerns of vegans, and for many people, milk and eggs have health problems. But not for everyone. And, eggs and milk products are the basis of some of the most nutritious and delicious food products.
`Vegan Freaks', as one may assume from the title, is the most extremely doctrinaire of the three books. As with the `freaks' of the 60's and later, they revel in their differentness, making that a fourth leg of their vegan lifestyle. `...Vegan Living' is less strident, but, it is no less doctrinally `pure'. It is somewhat easier to read, as it does not have the attitude of poking a stick in the eyes of non-vegans. Both are excellent starting points and both have very good bibliographies for obtaining additional information. But, neither contains any major sections on recipes! And this is where a purchaser may be most surprised, believing that these are `cookbooks'.
`Vegan Planet' is substantially different, as it is a cookbook from start to finish. In fact, it is not even doctrinally pure vegan, as it joyfully includes bread recipes which use yeast! As I write this, I realize that it has been a very long time since I took high school biology, and I'm no longer sure whether yeasts are related to the animal protozoans or the `vegetable' fungi. Except for this somewhat gray area, the book is otherwise true vegan, except that it never leaves the kitchen in order to climb on its soapbox and preach its gospel of avoiding animal products in every form.
In the end, if you have health concerns which bring you to the vegan diet, `Vegan Planet' is certainly the book you want. It will give you hundreds of recipes which simulate dishes traditionally cooked with milk, plus lots of great recipes for the staple vegan protein replacements such as beans, pulses, and grains. The other two books may only be of value if you are interested in the vegan value system. And, although these books mention the raw `cooking' style, neither deals with it in any depth. For that, I suggest `RAW, The UnCook Book' by Juliano.
Gateway book February 11, 2008
Vegan Nerd 5000 (south teXas, usa)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was vegetarian for 3 months and woke one morning with an epiphany- I should go vegan. I researched many issues online, such as the AR reasons to go completely vegan and dietary needs. This book filled in the gaps.
I disagree with the reviewer who mentioned that this book should list specific ethical reasons for veganism. Most people transitioning, aside from the "Skinny Bitch" phenomenon, are doing so because they know the horrors of factory farms. There is a small discussion on wool, but I felt even that was superfluous. I also disagree with the notion of the tone being haughty. This book is not about persuasion, but simply an instruction manual of sorts. There is nothing wrong with it seeming authoritarian when the "complete idiot" is looking for a firm resource.
There are some questionable chapters, as previously mentioned, but the value of the other sections out weighs the misinformation. The authors probably believe these things in their hearts, and it is up to the reader to decide whether or not to vaccinate or eat raw or what have you. I have found many vegan and vegetarian books to have strange ideas or "facts" that weren't cited, which is one reason why I went vege only 2 years ago. The authors have listed other sources, so the reader can research and get straight facts or make up their minds.
I found this book to be excellent. I've cooked several of the recipes, which were delicious and easy enough for a so-so cook to create. I often refer back to the guide, even a year later. If you're even considering living vegan this book is invaluable.
A pretty good resource January 5, 2008
Anyechka (Rensselaer, NY United States)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Overall, this book is a pretty good beginning resource for the new vegan, or for those like I am, in the process of experimenting with and transitioning to veganism. It covers common types of vegan staples (such as tofu, tempeh, soy cheeses, milk substitutes, and legumes), hidden animal ingredients to look for (such as carmine red and "natural flavorings"), good ideas for all of the daily meals, non-food-related vegan issues (such as wardrobe, household cleaners, and candles), rebuttals of common myths about veganism, the myriad of health benefits associated with a vegan diet, how to handle eating out, and how to cope with the non-vegans in one's midst. And the book doesn't seem really preachy, holier than thou, or guilt-tripping. The authors stress that such a big sea change in both diet and lifestyle can't happen overnight, and should take place at one's own pace. It's also great how they acknowledge that it's probably impossible to be 100% vegan, no matter how seriously one takes the commitment. There will probably still be some foods, clothing, and household products with unknown non-vegan ingredients that slip through the cracks. The most important thing is to do the best one can.
As wonderful of a resource as the book otherwise is, though, I wished there had been a chapter covering the ethical reasons behind going vegan, not just the health benefits. Granted, the issue of factory farming was covered in depth in 'The Idiot's Guide to Vegetarianism' and they might not wanted to have significant overlap between these two similar books in the series, but it can never hurt to repeat and reword such important information, particularly since it seems to be the main reason most people go vegan. And while they did say that higher prices mean the food is higher quality (one always does get what one pays for), buying only or mostly organic isn't always an automatic guarantor of getting the best food available. Not everyone can afford the grocery bills that go along with buying the more expensive organic versions of normal foods, and there isn't always a huge difference between organic and regular. A number of the recipes (and they are great recipes) thus call for ingredients that are going to be rather expensive and/or hard (if not downright impossible, depending upon where one lives) to find. In spite of what the ultra-health-conscious crowd might say, I really don't think it's going to be jeopardizing my health if I use white flour and wheat grains instead of making a total switch to whole grains only. One can easily be a successful vegan without having a pantry and fridge stocked full of organic foods and hard-to-find products like oat flour and amaranth.
My other major issue with the book was the anti-vaccination section in the chapter on raising vegan kids and having a healthy vegan pregnancy. I kind of think that saving a life takes precedence over all else, even if it means having to violate one's ordinary beliefs and lifestyle. Better a baby get non-vegan vaccines and thus be able to live a full healthy life as a vegan than be at risk for being killed, maimed, or disabled by a scary disease like measles, polio, rubella, whooping cough, or diphtheria. A lot of the "information" in this section was just plain false, like claiming that vaccines cause autism (that ridiculous claim has been debunked by all of the reputable medical and scientific sources), that vaccines cause more harm than good and aren't usually effective (was this section written by the anti-vaccine radicals at Mothering magazine or something?!), that there are a lot of bad side effects (not mentioning that that's only true in a small minority of cases!), and that some vaccines contain mercury (only the flu vaccine still contains mercury, and only trace amounts). Reading blatantly false propaganda like this really raises my blood pressure, and it had no place in an otherwise very sound and researched book!
In spite of some questionable portions, I would recommend the book to someone who's just become a vegan or who is interested in becoming one, but only to be used as a supplement with other vegan-related books that cover some of these issues in more depth.
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