[.ca] Vegetarian Turkish Cooking: Over 100 of Turkey's Classic ... (ISBN 1583940383)

Good cook book:
We just got back from a wonderful trip to Istanbul and Greece and I must say upon returning I was looking for some more of those wonderful meze and the Turkish Delights (yum). So I took a chance on this cookbook since there aren't many (any others) out there that are vegetarian never mind vegan! I'm really enjoying this cookbook - the first 76 pages (out of 249 so that's not a big deal) are indeed history/travelogue but its kind of fun to flip through and the pictures were of some of the same places we visited so that was neat. Just before the recipes there's a section on subsitites and here the author gives you the info you need to find certain ingedients that might not be in the local supermarket - e.g. there's discussion of egg substitites and where to find them, non-dairy butter substitites and where to find them, meat/fish substitites and where to find them etc. In the recipes there are some ingredients like non-meat chicken broth that is called for. Why not just go with a vegetable broth? I did. Anyway, the recipes have all been great so far. I've tried mostly mezes so far - the fried carrots, the fried eggplant with two sauces, stuffed grapeleaves (mine never turn out looking like they should - need more practice...). There are wonderful soups in here - the only one I've made so far was the hot and spicy soup, but others like the lentil look good too. I definitely recommend this cookbook. I had a *really* hard time finding vegetarian dishes in restarants in Istanbul which is why I enjoyed a lot of mezes, so I can see why there are recipes in here (like Sultan's delight) that use meat substitutes. I think this is quite authentic and the author did a terrific job at trying to bring the Turkish flavors to the vegetarian table!

Disappointed:
I find this book disappointing. Firstly, one fourth of the book is taken up by the author's travel accounts. It's a different story when an author gives some background to each recipe. But it is not the case here and I find the result of those two books rolled into one very awkward. Second, and more annoyingly, many recipes rely on meat substitutes. I have always found it sad and the sign of a certain lack of imagination when vegetarian cooking tries to mimick meat-based dishes. It is particularly regrettable in a book on Turkish cooking which has a rich tradition of NATURALLY vegetarian dishes. Which is why I ordered the book in the first place !