The Cajun Vegan: A Cookbook Review
Welcome, Lords and Ladies! Today, we are going to talk about Louisiana. Everyone who knows me knows I like some good spice, and I am a sucker for Caribbean or Cajun cuisine. Unfortunately, I get a lot less of the Cajun one because, unless you want gumbo, there are very few vegan options and even fewer gluten-free options. So, most of the time, I end up sticking with my Caribbean delicacies—until the other day.
When I was in the library sorting through romance books and medieval fantasy, and I decided to try something new and look at their cookbooks. This started with me chatting with the librarian and asking him where they were. I know, horrible me—a culinary major and food enthusiast—not knowing where the cookbooks are. Well, don’t worry, now I do.
Now as you all know, I am a big fan of anything fancy and tend to lean more towards cookbooks with a sleek look. And let me tell you, the first thing that caught my eye was the absolutely gorgeous outside of the book "The Cajun Vegan" by Krimsey Lilleth. It looks truly fit for royalty with its velvet black cover and shiny purple pages. Of course, that drew me in like a moth to a flame or a queen to a crown. Although, as we all know, we can’t judge a book by its cover. So, for the benefit of all of you and my own curiosity, I had to read it. Without further ado, these are my raw and only slightly filtered thoughts on it.
The first thing that struck me, and that I always love to see in cookbooks, is a good starting chapter that tells you things you might need but don’t have. She beautifully laid out the equipment you need, explained the ingredients and what they replaced, and introduced weird new ingredients using their place of origin and some taste profiles of the lesser-known so you know what you’re getting into. I love going into a recipe already knowing I am prepared with the base and hard-to-find ingredients. Each page of the book is pleasing to the eyes and well-organized without a ton of contrasting colors or a lack of interesting things to look at. I especially appreciate the fact that the black background and theme for pictures were consistent throughout the entire book.
As for her recipes, I find them extremely well-written and easy to understand. Of course, as with all recipes, I will say that it is important to list what kind of salt you are using, as salts are only equal in weight, not in measurement. Sadly, she does not specify the kind of salt, so depending on the kind of salt you use, you could end up with something too salty or not salty enough. Something quite nice is the lovely organization she maintained throughout the book, making everything easy to find, including the little circles at the top that let you know quickly and easily whether or not something is gluten-friendly or can be easily adapted into a gluten-free version, which is incredibly useful.
I also have to praise the choice of fish and seafood replacements for common seafood-heavy dishes, as Cajun cuisine loves its shrimp. Hearts of palm is an inspired choice; I have had amazing fish sandwiches made from it and some seaweed, which I thoroughly enjoyed. She also has cute, helpful little tips scattered throughout the entire book for helpful tricks you might not think of or ways to store or fix one of the dishes to allow for maximum freshness and texture correction.
In conclusion, I find this book well worth the buy, both for its aesthetic and amazing Cajun meals for the new vegan who’s missing their seafood, a lifelong vegan who has been craving Cajun dishes but couldn’t try most of them before now, and the vegan-curious who want a taste of the meat-free life to see if they are actually willing to try it for an extended period. It is well-structured and written, the food is amazing, the directions are easy to follow, and I appreciate the amount of work that was put into this. Not every single recipe is just some version of tofu labeled as a different seafood; she actually went to the trouble to use plants that tasted and looked a bit more like seafood. Her purpose was to bring amazing Cajun inspired food to the vegan community, and I think she did a royally good job. Now if you want to know more and try some recipes for yourself, I highly recommend buying her book linked below.
