'Moosewood' author polishes homespun vegetarian classic

[Guest guest]

By Laurel Shannon

CNN.com Senior Editor

 

" The New Moosewood Cookbook "

(Ten Speed Press)

By Mollie Katzen

 

April 10, 2000

Web posted at: 1:07 p.m. EDT (1707 GMT)

 

(CNN) -- When art student Mollie Katzen began filling a notebook with recipes

and doodles 30 years ago, she never expected her jottings would become a best

selling vegetarian cookbook.

 

" I started out by writing stuff down for friends and family, " says Katzen. " I

found myself writing down the same recipes over and over and thought I should

photocopy them, and that's how it began. "

 

Twenty-three years after its first publication, Katzen's " Moosewood Cookbook "

has been updated with streamlined recipes, au courant additions such as olive

focaccia, glossy color photographs, an extensive author Web site and a companion

TV series, to begin on PBS in late spring. Despite all the modern and multimedia

trappings, " Moosewood " remains written and illustrated in Katzen's own hand.

 

" That's the soul of the book, " Katzen says. " Sometimes something will come out

of my pen when I am hand lettering that is very friendly, very spontaneous. It's

really my voice. "

 

The result is an accessible and unpretentious cookbook that reads like recipes

from a friend. But don't mistake its homegrown simplicity for lack of

sophistication: " Moosewood " is listed by the New York Times as one of the

best-selling cookbooks -- vegetarian or otherwise -- of all time, and last year

Health Magazine selected Katzen as one of five " Women Who Changed the Way We

Eat " (in good company with Julia Child, Martha Stewart, Alice Waters of Chez

Panisse and Deborah Madison of Greens). The cookbook is named after a

still-existing Ithaca, New York, restaurant that Katzen helped her brother and

some friends start in 1973.

 

Katzen's culinary mainstream acceptance is no accident. Despite the vegetarian

foundation of her work, Katzen does not proselytize in the way that stigmatizes

some vegetarian cookbooks. In fact, the author is not a vegetarian.

 

" What's become more important to me than whether something has animal protein in

it is how clean the food is. Also, is it a balanced meal? " says Katzen. " I think

there are a lot of people who do call themselves vegetarians for whom nutrition

is not even a concern.

 

" They might go eat nachos -- because they are making a statement about what they

aren't eating, but they aren't embracing what they are eating. That worries me,

especially when I see young people doing that. "

 

For people who want to add more vegetables to their diet, " The New Moosewood

Cookbook " provides plenty of easy-to-make dishes in a broad range of ethnic

flavors. Selections such as Eggplant-Almond Enchiladas, Hot & Sour Soup,

Felafel, and Cauliflower Curry thwart the commonly held notion that vegetarian

food is boring or bland.

 

And the desserts aren't as ascetic as those in many vegetarian tomes. Blueberry

Pound Cake, Cardamom Coffee Cake and Ginger-Brandy Cheesecake may not be

fat-free -- but they're also not flavor-free.

 

New recipes include a series of brightly colored vegetable purees (red pepper,

beet, carrot and spinach), which Katzen calls " bright, delicious and exotic. "

Katzen has added several new blueberry-based recipes, as well.

 

" I put in a very intensive blueberry pie, " she says, " because I was really

excited about all the information coming out about the particular antioxidant

qualities of blueberries. "

 

The " Moosewood " companion television series on PBS covers new recipes, as well

Katzen's classics. The series, to be released in mid-May, is Katzen's third.

Scheduling will vary by local PBS market.

 

 

http://cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/04/10/moosewood/index.html

 

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