This is #TheYearOfVegan and the proof is in the vegan pudding. Vegan food blogs are everything, new restaurants are opening left and right, and chain restaurants are offering more vegan options. Equally important is the fact that more and more people are enthusiastically partaking of this vegan explosion.
Recently, we've seen the release of many vegan cookbooks. This is super-exciting, because sometimes it's nice to peruse an actual book (not the Internet) while looking for a recipe and be untethered from the computer while preparing a scrumptious meal.
Here are our favorite cookbooks from this year so far:
1. Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking
This book by the Minimalist Baker blog stands out from the crowd by offering simple and mostly gluten-free vegan recipes. You're in for a real treat.
2. PETA’s Vegan College Cookbook
This book is chock-full of simple vegan recipes for the student on a budget (or anyone else interested in affordable vegan meals!)
3. Oh She Glows Every Day
This collection of quick and easy plant-based recipes is a follow-up to The Oh She Glows Cookbook, which was a New York Times bestseller.
4. Vegan Bowl Attack!
Vegan Yack Attack has unleashed a vegan bowl cookbook on us, featuring more than 100 recipes and we couldn't be happier.
5. Aquafaba
We just love the subtitle of this recipe book, Sweet and Savory Vegan Recipes Made Egg-Free With the Magic of Bean Water. You have to try aquafaba to know how magical it is!
6. Thug Kitchen 101
These hilarious masterminds can't stop publishing bestselling cookbooks and they're back with this guide to quick, vegan meals.
7. The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur
The blogger behind Seitan Beats Your Meat presents a fabulous collection of 120 vegan cookie recipes, now available in paperback.
9. The Friendly Vegan Cookbook
Vegan photographer extraordinaire Michelle Cehn teamed up with Plant Based on a Budget's Toni Okamoto to bring us their favorite vegan recipes. When you buy the cookbook through this link, 40 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
10. Forks Over Knives Family
This follow-up to the bestselling Forks Over Knives Plan features 100 quick and easy kid-friendly recipes to keep the whole family healthy and excited about plant-based eating.
11. Vegan Mexico
Vegan chef Jason Wyrick, author of 2014's Vegan Tacos, offers up a more comprehensive collection of Mexican recipes in his new book.
12. The Little Vegan Cookbook
Don't be fooled by the name—this pocket-sized cookbook is a compilation of more than 500 recipes from multiple vegan cookbooks and authors and covers everything from appetizers to desserts.
13. The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids
This irresistible cookbook presents 60 appealing recipes kids will beg to make themselves, in fun and charming illustrations they will love.
14. Eaternity
Vegan chef Jason Wrobel explains the health and longevity benefits of the 150 recipes that he presents here.
15. The Make Ahead Vegan Cookbook
Ginny Kay McMeans, the woman behind the Vegan in the Freezer blog, offers recipes that can be enjoyed on the spot or frozen for later. It's the perfect book to help you meal-prep a busy week.
16. Baconish
With Leinana's basic plant-based bacon recipes, you can whip up Bacon Apple Fritters, Bacon-Stuffed French Toast, Risotto with Peas and Mushroom Bacon, and so much more.
17. Easy Vegan Breakfasts & Lunches
So many delicious vegan recipes, so little time. This book, courtesy of Maya Sozer of Dreamy Leaf, offers energizing, easily prepared meals to power you through your day.
18. N’ice Cream
Vanelja gives us 80 homemade vegan ice-cream recipes and we all scream with delight.
19. The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook
Isa Chandra Moskowitz of the Post Punk Kitchen does it again with this festive follow-up to Isa Does It, offering everything from appetizers and casseroles to cakes and pies.
20. The Love & Lemons Cookbook
Turn your farmer's market finds into lovely meals with this collection of simple and healthy recipes from Jeanine Donofrio.
21. Dining at The Ravens
You can't go wrong with a cookbook by The Ravens Restaurant at The Stanford Inn by the Sea—one of the most delicious vegan restaurants in California.
Here are three new films to watch this Earth Week that will transport you from pole to pole and introduce you to the scientists and activists working to save our shared home.
1. The Year Earth Changed
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
When to Watch: From April 16
The coronavirus pandemic has brought home the stakes of humanity's impact on the environment. But the lockdowns also proved how quickly nature can recover when humans give it the space. Birds sang in empty cities, whales surfaced in Glacier Bay and capybara roamed the South American suburbs.
The Year Earth Changed captures this unique year with footage from more than 30 lockdowned cities between May 2020 to January 2021. Narrated by renowned wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough, the film explores what positive lessons we can take from the experience of a quieter, less trafficked world.
"What the film shows is that the natural world can bounce back remarkably quickly when we take a step back and reduce our impact as we did during lockdown," executive producer Alice Keens-Soper of BBC Studios Natural History Unit told EcoWatch. "If we are willing to make even small changes to our habits, the natural world can flourish. We need to learn how to co-exist with nature and understand that we are not separate from it- for example if we closed some of our beaches at for a few weeks during the turtle breeding we see that it can make a huge difference to their success. There are many ways that we can adapt our behavior to allow the natural world to thrive as it did in lockdown."
2. After Antarctica
Where to Watch: San Francisco International Film Festival
When to Watch: 12 a.m. PST April 9 to 11:59 p.m. April 18
In 1989, Will Steger led an international team of six scientists and explorers to be the first humans to cross Antarctica by dogsled. Steger and his team weren't just in it for the adventure. They also wanted to draw attention to the ways in which the climate crisis was already transforming the icy continent and to rally support for the renewal of the Antarctic Treaty, which would keep the continent safe from extractive industries.
In After Antarctica, award-winning filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt follows Steger 30 years later as he travels the Arctic this time, reflecting on his original journey and once again bringing awareness to changes in a polar landscape. The film intersperses this contemporary journey with footage from the original expedition, some of which has never been seen before.
"Will's life journey as an explorer and climate activist has led him not only to see more of the polar world than anyone else alive today, but to being an eyewitness to the changes occurring across both poles," Van Zandt told EcoWatch. "But now, these changes are happening in all of our own backyards and we have all become eyewitnesses. Through my journey with Will, I have learned that although we cannot always control change, we can change our response. I feel strongly that this is a message that resonates when we look at the current state of the world, as we each have power and control over how we choose to respond to hardships, and we all have the power to unite with others through collective action around a common goal."
After Antarctica is available to stream once you purchase a ticket to the San Francisco International Film Festival. If you miss it this weekend, it will screen again at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival from May 13 to May 23.
Tasha Van Zandt
3. The Race to Save the World
Where to Watch: Virtual Cinema
When to Watch: From Earth Day, April 22
While many films about the climate crisis seek to raise awareness about the extent of the problem, The Race to Save the World focuses on the people who are trying to stop it. The film tells the story of climate activists ranging from 15-year-old Aji to 72-year-old Miriam who are working to create a sustainable future. It follows them from the streets to the courtroom to their homes, and explores the impact of their advocacy on their personal lives and relationships.
Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Gantz told EcoWatch that he wanted to make a film about climate change, but did not want to depress viewers with overwhelming statistics. Instead, he chose to inspire them by sharing the stories of people trying to make a difference.
"Unless millions of people take to the streets and make their voices heard for a livable future, the politicians are not going to get on board to help make the changes needed for a sustainable future," Gantz told Ecowatch. "I think that The Race To Save The World will energize and inspire people to take action so that future generations, as well as the plants, animals and ecosystems, can survive and thrive on this planet."
Check back with EcoWatch on the morning of Earth Day for a special preview of this inspiring film!
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