The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook

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The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook
Book cover for The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook.jpg
First edition
AuthorLouise Hagler
Publisher Book Publishing Company
Publication date
1975
ISBN 0913990604 current edition
Followed byThe New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook 

The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (later The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook) is a vegan cookbook by Louise Hagler, first published in 1975. It was influential in introducing Americans to tofu, included recipes for making and using tempeh and other soy foods, and became a staple in vegetarian kitchens.

Contents

History

The Farm is an intentional community founded in 1971 in Lewis County, Tennessee. Their diet is vegan, which at the time was uncommon in the United States. UNICEF, seeing an opportunity to examine a large group all eating the same diet, sent nutritionists to the community. When the UNICEF experts checked the members' nutritional intake, they found it provided adequate protein but fell short in providing carbohydrates, fats, and calories. Recipes were developed to provide community members with guidance in following the experts' advice, and then collected to become the cookbook. [1] :92–93

The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook was first published in 1975 by Book Publishing Company, the publishing arm of The Farm, and was a commercial success for the community. [1] In 1978 a revised edition titled The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook was published. In 1982 it was translated into German and published under the title Soja Total. [2] According to its publisher it was the first completely vegan cookbook published in the United States. [3]

Louise Hagler wrote several books on soy foods. [4] :403 She became a vegetarian in 1969. [4] :650

Contents

The book emphasizes soy products such as soymilk, tofu, and tempeh, and gives guidelines for making them from scratch. [5] Douglas Stevenson in The Farm Then and Now said it was one of the first cookbooks to provide "easy-to-follow, good-tasting" vegan recipes. [1] The Farm leader Stephen Gaskin wrote in the introduction that the cookbook was not intended to be "cultish, faddish, or scare people off" but instead to educate readers and inform them that a vegetarian diet is based heavily on beans. [6]

Impact

Cooked tofu Tofu-beijingchina.jpg
Cooked tofu

Academic Matthew Roth in Magic Bean:The Rise of Soy in America called it a staple in vegetarian kitchens. [6] William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi said the book played an important role in introducing soy foods and a vegan diet to Americans, made a major contribution to "westernizing recipes previously Oriental in origin", and encouraged vegetarianism not only as a diet but as a lifestyle. [4] Vegetarian Times said it pioneered vegan nutrition [7] and introduced America to cooking with tofu. [8] :33 Vegetarian historians Karen and Michael Iacobbo said it was instrumental in introducing Americans to tofu, tempeh, and textured vegetable protein in the 1970s. [9]

Reputation

In 1990 Vegetarian Times called it a staple in vegetarian kitchens [8] and in 1994 named it one of the five best vegan cookbooks. [7]

Food historians William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi called it pioneering and influential. [4]

The Vegetarian Journal called it a "famous" cheese-alternative cookbook, noting its recipe for Macaroni and "Cheese" Casserole, which uses nutritional yeast as a cheese substitute. [10]

The Fellowship for Intentional Community called it a classic. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vegetarian cuisine</span> Food not including meat

Vegetarian cuisine is based on food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soybean</span> Legume grown for its edible bean

The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tempeh</span> Soy product from Indonesia, used as protein source

Tempeh or tempe is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form. A fungus, Rhizopus oligosporus or Rhizopus oryzae, is used in the fermentation process and is also known as tempeh starter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat alternative</span> Plant-based food made to resemble meat

A meat alternative or meat substitute, is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qualities of specific types of meat, such as mouthfeel, flavor, appearance, or chemical characteristics. Plant- and fungus-based substitutes are frequently made with soy, but may also be made from wheat gluten as in seitan, pea protein as in the Beyond Burger, or mycoprotein as in Quorn. Alternative protein foods can also be made by precision fermentation, where single cell organisms such as yeast produce specific proteins using a carbon source; as well as cultivated or laboratory grown, based on tissue engineering techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soy milk</span> Beverage made from soyabeans

Soy milk, also known as soya milk or soymilk, is a plant-based drink produced by soaking and grinding soybeans, boiling the mixture, and filtering out remaining particulates. It is a stable emulsion of oil, water, and protein. Its original form is an intermediate product of the manufacture of tofu. Originating in China, it became a common beverage in Europe and North America in the latter half of the 20th century, especially as production techniques were developed to give it a taste and consistency more closely resembling that of dairy milk. Soy milk may be used as a substitute for dairy milk by individuals who are vegan or lactose intolerant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tofu skin</span> Chinese and Japanese food made from soybeans

Tofu skin, yuba, beancurd skin, beancurd sheet, or beancurd robes is a food product made from soybeans. During the boiling of soy milk, in an open shallow pan, a film or skin composed primarily of a soy protein-lipid complex forms on the liquid surface. The films are collected and dried into yellowish sheets known as tofu skin. Since tofu skin is not produced using a coagulant, it is not technically a proper tofu; however, it does have similar texture and flavor to some tofu products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fermented bean curd</span> Chinese condiment

Fermented tofu is a Chinese condiment consisting of a form of processed, preserved tofu used in East Asian cuisine. The ingredients typically are soybeans, salt, rice wine and sesame oil or vinegar. In mainland China the product is often freshly distributed. In overseas Chinese communities living in Southeast Asia, commercially packaged versions are often sold in jars containing blocks 2- to 4-cm square by 1 to 2 cm thick soaked in brine with select flavorings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morningstar Farms</span> Division of the Kellogg Company

Morningstar Farms is a division of the Kellogg Company that produces vegan and vegetarian food. Many of their offerings are plant-based variations of traditionally meat products. Their products include meatless chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken, corn dogs, breakfast sausage, burgers, hot dogs, bacon, and pizza snack rolls with vegan cheese. Originally, Morningstar offered some, but not all vegan products. In 2019, Morningstar Farms announced all products would be vegan by 2021, but had not yet done so as of December 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okara (food)</span> Byproduct of tofu production

Okara, soy pulp, or tofu dregs is a pulp consisting of insoluble parts of the soybean that remain after pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk and tofu. It is generally white or yellowish in color. It is part of the traditional cuisines of Japan, Korea, and China. Since the 20th century, it has been used in the vegetarian cuisines of Western nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oncom</span> Indonesian traditional fermented dish

Oncom is one of the traditional staple foods of the Sundanese cuisine of Indonesia. There are two kinds of oncom: red oncom and black oncom. Oncom is closely related to tempeh; both are foods fermented using mold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turtle Island Foods</span>

Turtle Island Foods is an American company founded in 1980 in Forest Grove, Oregon and headquartered in Hood River, which produces Tofurky, a popular vegetarian and vegan alternative to turkey, as well other meatless products. All of the company's products are vegan, and most are kosher-certified by the Kosher Services of America. Turtle Island Foods is also the first company in the United States to have their products approved by The Vegan Society in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tofu</span> Soy-based food used as a protein source

Tofu is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness: silken, soft, firm, extra firm. Tofu is also known as bean curd in English. It is a traditional component of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines that has also been consumed in China for over 2,000 years. In modern Western cooking, it is most often treated as a meat substitute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet soy sauce</span> Sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating from Java, Indonesia

Sweet soy sauce is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency, and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar or jaggery. Kecap manis is widely used with satay. It is similar to, though finer in flavor than, Chinese Tianmian sauce (tianmianjiang). It is by far the most popular type of soy sauce employed in Indonesian cuisine and accounts for an estimated 90 percent of the nation's total soy sauce production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vegetable soup</span> Type of soup containing vegetables

Vegetable soup is a common soup prepared using vegetables and leaf vegetables as primary ingredients. It dates to ancient history, and is a mass-produced food product in contemporary times.

<i>Ten Talents</i> (cookbook) Vegan cookbook, first published 1968

Ten Talents is a vegetarian and vegan cookbook originally published in 1968 by Rosalie Hurd and Frank J. Hurd. At the time, it was one of the few resources for vegetarian and vegan cooks. The cookbook promotes Christian vegetarianism and a Bible-based diet, in keeping with teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. By 1991, the 750-recipe cookbook was entering its 44th printing and had sold more than 250,000 copies. An expanded edition with more than 1,000 recipes was issued in 2012.

William Roy Shurtleff also known as Bill Shurtleff is an American researcher and writer about soy foods. Shurtleff and his former wife Akiko Aoyagi have written and published consumer-oriented cookbooks, handbooks for small- and large-scale commercial production, histories, and bibliographies of various soy foods. These books introduced soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and miso on a wide scale to non-Asian Westerners, and are largely responsible for the establishment of non-Asian soy food manufacturers in the West beginning in the late 1970s. In 1980, Lorna Sass wrote in The New York Times, "The two people most responsible for catapulting tofu from the wok into the frying pan are William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi.” In 1995, Suzanne Hamlin wrote in The New York Times, “At the turn of the century there were two tofu suppliers in the United States. Today there are more than 200 tofu manufacturers...and tofu can be found in nearly every supermarket."

Akiko Aoyagi is an American cookbook author and artist. She is best known as the recipe developer, illustrator, and co-author of the soy-based cookbook series The Book of Tofu (1975), The Book of Miso (1976), and The Book of Tempeh (1979), that had a strong impact on the natural foods movement within the American counterculture.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stevenson, Douglas. (2014). The Farm Then and Now: A Model for Sustainable Living. New Society Publishers. p. 92. ISBN   978-1-55092-565-4. Archived from the original on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  2. "History of Tempeh". Soy Information Center. Archived from the original on 17 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  3. "The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook". Book Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Shurtleff, William; Akiko Aoyagi (2017). History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in Tennessee (1854–2017): Extensively annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. pp. 583, 589, 634. ISBN   978-1-928914-92-1. Archived from the original on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  5. Mangels, Reed; Virginia Messina; Mark Messina (2004). The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets: Issues and Applications. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 453. ISBN   978-0-7637-3241-7. Archived from the original on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  6. 1 2 Roth, Matthew. (2018). Magic Bean: The Rise of Soy in America. University Press of Kansas. ISBN   978-0-7006-2634-2. Archived from the original on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  7. 1 2 Bloyd-Peshkin, Sharon (November 1994). "Cookbooks You Can't Live Without". Vegetarian Times. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Down On The Farm". Vegetarian Times. December 1990. Archived from the original on 27 April 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  9. Iacobbo, Karen; Michael Iacobbo (2004). Vegetarian America: A History. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 175. ISBN   978-0-275-97519-7. Archived from the original on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
  10. Keevican, Michael. "What's in your cheese?". Vegetarian Resource Group. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  11. Kanney, Kim. "6 ways to relate to your food". Fellowship for Intentional Community. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2019.