From the Author

From the Author

Robin Robertson:

I’ve been working with food since 1980, when I worked my way up from line cook to chef in the restaurant business. Because I love animals, there was always a vegan inside me waiting to get out, so in 1988, I decided to follow my heart: I left the restaurant business and became a vegan. I wanted to apply my cooking experience to promote vegetarian cooking, and so I began teaching cooking classes in how to adapt classic cooking techniques to vegetarian ingredients. I also began to write articles and cookbooks at that time. I am now the author of ten vegan/vegetarian cookbooks—with more on the way. I’ve been married to my husband, Jon, for 32 years and we have a wonderful 16-year-old cat named Douglas Fur.

It is important to me that the recipes in my books be fun and easy to make, simple enough for beginners, yet challenging enough for seasoned cooks. I strive to make my recipes user-friendly, calling for ingredients that are readily available in supermarkets, natural food stores, and ethnic grocers, with alternatives given for any unusual ingredients.

Of all my cookbooks, I’d have to say Vegan Planet has been the most satisfying accomplishment. With 400 recipes, it’s the most comprehensive vegan cookbook to date — some people are calling it the "vegan ‘Joy of Cooking.’" With a foreword by Neal Barnard, M.D., of Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, the book also includes a complete rundown on the vegan pantry and the health benefits of eating vegan.

My other personal favorite is The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook, a collection of 275 hearty recipes for people who love comfort foods, but who don’t want meat or dairy. The inspiration for this book was my husband (a "meat & potatoes" kind of guy) who agreed to go veg in 1988 "as long as it tastes good." I met that challenge by making all his favorite dishes using vegan ingredients and many of his favorite recipes are in that book.

I currently write a food column for VegNews and have written articles for Vegetarian Times, Better Nutrition, Health Naturally, Restaurant Business Magazine, and The National Culinary Review. I also wrote the column "The Veg Edge" regularly for The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia), which also appeared in Albany, New York’s Times Union under the title "The Veg Connection." I was featured on the "Remembering Your Spirit" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show, June 30, 2000 and have been a guest on a number of radio talk shows including Gary Null. When I’m not home writing cookbooks, I like to travel to cooking schools and vegetarian festivals throughout the U.S. to teach cooking classes.

For recipes, links, information about my cookbooks and schedule, check out my website.