Plant Based Planet, curated by vegan chef and writer Sareta Puri and content creator and blogger The Vegan Food Fiend, is being released in the next couple of weeks (date to be announced soon).
The book features 150 plant-based recipes from contributors representing over 100 countries.
But Plant Based Planet is more than just a collection of recipes. It is a social action project with two core aims:
- To highlight the diversity in plant-based cuisine and the importance of honouring those from other nations, cultures and diaspora who share their heritage through food.
- To support Food Empowerment Project, a food justice charity working to build a fairer and more equal food system for all.
Curators and editors, Sareta and Kym (The Vegan Food Fiend), came up with the idea after becoming frustrated at the lack of diverse stories and voices in plant-based cooking. The book showcases and amplifies the breadth of plant-based cuisine around the world, with recipes and food stories from a range of contributors from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
Belgian co-curator Kym said “Food is such a unique and meaningful form of communication and sharing. It’s important for us to celebrate and amplify a diversity of voices and stories, especially when it comes to plant-based eating, which has been practiced by cultures and religions around the world for centuries.”
Scottish-Indian co-curator Sareta said “The foods we make, share and eat represent us and our food histories. However, the most visible people sharing foods from across the world are often not from the communities or cultures which they are cooking the food of. We want this book tochange that and for people to become more aware of the political nature of food.”
Recipes include Filipino kare kare, Palestinian maqlouba, South African chakalaka and Swedish ‘meatballs’. The book features contributions from well-known chefs such as Tomi Makanjuola (Nigeria), WoonHeng Chia (Malaysia) and Liz and Joe from Eat Chay (Vietnam and Hong Kong), as well as other chefs, cookbook authors, bloggers and home cooks.
Each contribution includes a guided recipe, an introduction to the creator and a personal story about their dish and/or food heritage.
The book has also been created to raise awareness of and raise funds for Food Empowerment Project (www.foodispower.org), a food justice organisation that aligns with both editors’ values. Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) seeks to create a more just and sustainable world by recognising the power of the food choices we make. Their work includes vegan outreach and education, tackling unfair working conditions and addressing lack of access to healthy foods in communities of colour and low income areas.
All profits from the book will go to F.E.P. and the curators hope to raise at least £5,000 for the cause.
All contributors to the book – including the editors – have participated on a voluntary basis, and the only costs incurred are for the digital hosting/sales platform and a limited print run. All profits after these minimal costs will go directly to the charity.
The book will be available to order from plantbasedplanetcookbook.com. To make it affordable for everyone, the e-book is priced at a sliding scale, from £5-15, and there is also a limited edition print run of just 200 copies available for £25 each.
To find out more about the project and all contributors, visit plantbasedplanetcookbook.com or instagram.com/plantbasedplanetcookbook.
