Instagrammer Anna Pippus has taken her food following offline with the release of her first cookbook, The Vegan Family Cookbook.
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The Vegan Family Cookbook
By Anna Pippus
Appetite by Random House | 248 pages | $24.95
In 2016, Anna Pippus began casually sharing her daily meals on Instagram.
“I started an Instagram account just to share what I was eating every day,” the Vancouver-based blogger behind the site Easy Animal Free , says. “There wasn’t much to it, it was just a simple photo and an explanation of what I was eating.”
It didn’t take long before the following for her healthy, homemade food “grew and grew,” an interest the vegan food creative attributes to the approachable recipes that she was making every day for her family.
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“People were really responding well to it because these were really real meals. It was actually what we were eating,” Pippus says. “It wasn’t like the perfect project meal that somebody might cook on the weekend. This was really the day-to-day food.”
In addition to being ‘real,’ the dishes helped answer two questions Pippus says many people struggle with: “What’s for dinner?” and “How can I eat more plant-based meals?”
“I was encountering a lot of people who were really interested in vegan-eating, but just could not figure out what to eat. They didn’t know how to go vegan, they didn’t know what to cook, they didn’t know if it could fit into their busy lives,” Pippus says. “And, I could relate to that because I too once had a shelf full of cookbooks and I had browsers full of recipe tabs. And still, around 3 p.m., it was always the same dreadful, ‘What the heck am I going to make for dinner tonight?’ ”
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As her following grew, Pippus stepped up her sharing on social media by posting videos of the step-by-step processes she used to create her meals.
“People responded really well. They said, ‘This has finally unlocked for me the secret to vegan-eating. It has made it easier for me to eat more plant-based. Or, my daughter, or my parent, or my friend wants to go vegan and I had no idea where to start,’ ” Pippus says. “It’s really not just vegans or families that are interested in what I share. It’s people who are like, ‘You know, I like to cook, but it’s not the only interest that I have. I like to do other things.’ ”
This fall, Pippus took her food following offline with the release of her first cookbook titled The Vegan Family Cookbook. The “cookbook and culinary tool kit” sees the former animal welfare lawyer share more than 100 simple recipes including one-pot meals such as Chickpea Cauliflower Curry to Sweet and Sticky Tofu.
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“It’s a compendium of simple recipes and a strategy manual for how to get dinner on the table if you’re too busy to think about it all the time,” Pippus summarizes of the release.
Of course, there’s also an underlying urge for readers to eat more plants too.
“Exactly,” Pippus admits with a laugh. “With the Food Guide now being much more plant-forward and people being aware of the health, environmental and animal-welfare benefits of eating beans, lentils, tofu, hummus — this kind of thing — people are interested in eating this way, but they just don’t have a clue where to start.
“It’s not as simple as removing the chicken breast and replacing it with chick peas, because it won’t be as flavourful and it won’t be a complete meal. You need to learn a few new tips and tricks to make that a satisfying way to eat.”
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The cookbook has been in the works for several years, according to Pippus. Though, she admits the timing of its release amid COVID-19 has been somewhat fortuitous in that she feels people are more interested in eating at home — and eating more healthily overall.
“I think people are … becoming a little bit more interested in eating plant-based, recognizing that there are issues with animal farming,” Pippus says. “I think that, for me, I was seeing, over and over again, this enormous problem of animals suffering in farms. And that’s really what I was looking at day-to-day — footage of animals and farms. And it was very tragic and sad.”
The solution, Pippus stresses, is quite simple.
“It really is just eat more plant-based,” Pippus says. “We can all very simply and easily participate in the solution simply by putting more legumes on our plate more often.”
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The easiest first step to embrace a more plant-forward diet, according to Pippus, is to replace dairy.
“It’s a really simple way to have a big impact. You simply purchase oat milk or soy milk — there’s lots of non-dairy alternatives,” Pippus says. “From a cooking point of view, I would say that instead of the meat-potatoes-veg formula that so many of us grew up eating, the new formula for vegan cooking is bowls. The bowl formula is grain or starch, legume, veggie, sauce and topping.”
Pippus points to the miso ramen, which she refers to as a “family favourite,” as her go-to in the book, pointing to the Five-Minute Paprika-Spiked Chickpeas and Greens as a close second.
“It’s a complete meal and it truly takes no more than five minutes,” Pippus says.
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The author is confident these hand-picked recipes, along with the buffet of others offered within the pages of the book, will help shift the perspective of any holdouts who have been hesitant to adopt a more plant-based diet because of fear of food tasting too bland.
“People are starting to appreciate that it’s not just boring, bland, unfulfilling food. That, actually, vegan-eating can be decadent and exciting, colourful and vibrant,” Pippus says. “That it’s food that is beautiful to look at and exciting to eat — and also makes us feel really good.”
While she hopes readers find inspiration in her cookbook, Pippus encourages readers to go off-recipe, using her creations as a stepping stone versus a hard-and-fast road to supper.
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“Go for it,” Pippus urges. “I think it’s really important for people to develop that sense of confidence and empowerment to make cooking work for them. Cooking from recipes — because you’re getting out your measuring tools and reading the recipes — takes a mental bandwidth that sometimes, at the end of the day, we don’t have anymore brain power left.
“That really is one of the secrets — use recipes as guidelines and then feel free and creative in the kitchen to make it work for you.”
Soba noodles are quick to cook and they work well at room temperature, making them a natural choice for a quick or make-ahead lunch. You could even whip up this dish before leaving the house, as it comes together in one pot in under 10 minutes. Although it includes only a few ingredients, it’s very flavourful — soy sauce and sesame oil bring so much to the table. — Anna Pippus
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6 oz (180 g) soba noodles
1 cup (250 mL) frozen shelled edamame
1/4 cup (60 mL) soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp (22 mL) sesame oil
1 tsp (5 mL) Sriracha or other chili-garlic hot sauce (optional)
2 cups (500 mL) finely chopped kale
Boil the noodles and edamame together until both are tender, 3 to 4 minutes (double check your packages to make sure this is the correct cooking time, as there may be some variation). Drain and rinse under warm water to prevent clumping.
Toss the cooked noodles and edamame with soy sauce, sesame oil, hot sauce (if using), and kale. Taste and adjust the flavours.
Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 2 to 3 days.
Serves 2-3.
Excerpted from The Vegan Family Cookbook by Anna Pippus. Copyright © 2021 Anna Pippus. Photography ©2021 Anna Pippus. Published by Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Ltd. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
Source: vancouversun.com
