Raw Vegan Not Gross (RVNG) tells Laura Miller’s story, gives tips on raw vegan cooking, and goes through the basic sections of everyday cooking - breakfast, to go foods, salads, weeknight dinners, party food, sweets, and a special “die alone” chapter all about indulgent, melodramatic foods. (My personal fave.)
If you’ve ever watched Laura’s YouTube videos or followed her on Instagram or Snapchat, you’ll know that she has a fun, infectious, chill personality. After watching her videos I was worried her sort of dry, sarcastic tone of voice wouldn’t translate to writing, but it does shine throughout - from the banana ice cream that’ll serve 1-100 people (ingredients list: 1-100 bananas) to the endless anecdotes or the cauliflower pizza that serves 2 people (or 1 hungry/emotional person.)
And this is the kind of cookbook you want to read from cover to cover because of her stories - they really show her emphasis on outreach/accessibility to many types of people and the long-term sustainability of healthy eating. These aren’t supposed to be super complicated, showy meals. They’re easy and simple on purpose; unfussy, but really fresh and nutritious and of course, tasty as well. The ingredients lists are short and the entire book is truly whole foods, so it’s pretty easy to find anything in it at the grocery store or farmer’s market. It’s just an effortless read, easy to cook through, and a great addition to your warmer-weather kitchen.
This book is perfect for summer because all of the recipes are super fresh, use up the best quality ingredients from the market, and don’t require lots of oven time (if at all.) While all of this book is vegan, it’s not exclusively raw. Each recipe is marked as “raw”, “mostly raw”, or “cooked”. It has a good balance, though, similar to what we’d think most people would like if they’re playing around with raw food but don’t necessarily want to go all-in.
And that realistic, "common sense” kind of point of view she brings to each inch of her book is really refreshing to read, in the sea of books touting specific kinds of diets that just make you feel pressured and stressed and not "enough." That’s really not the vibe you get from RVNG - it’s very open and inviting, and makes us really excited to cook fresher, easier, and more raw this spring & summer.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
those looking for easy, creative recipes for warm weather, or fans of Laura or the RVNG series
THE BEST PART
her honest stories and point of view on whole-foods cooking and dessert-making
STANDOUT RECIPES
- cocoa buckwheat crispies
- sweet potato enchiladas
- spaghetti squash mac n cheese
- lavender cheesecake
- banana cream pie
Raw Vegan Not Gross just came out, and you can find it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, or at Laura Miller’s website. Hope you enjoy it just as much as we did!
