VegWeb

Gone are the sad dining-out days when the only option was an iceberg lettuce salad with low-cal dressing.

They're lurking out there—but with a little knowledge, it's easy to identify the things you want to steer clear of. Besides, you want to save room for all the delicious vegan food!

Lucky for us, there are more vegan cookbooks to choose from than ever before. The quality and quantity of available vegan recipe reads makes narrowing it down pretty much impossible, but we tried! Here are a few of our favorites.

Shopping for your veg staples should be a fun adventure. Take the time to enjoy the color and aroma of your purchases, and relish the opportunity to broaden your culinary repertoire. Next time you head to your local farmers’ market, natural-foods store, or neighborhood grocery chain, take this handy list and rest assured you’ll always have something on hand to whip up a tasty plant-based meal.

Without oil, there’d be so much missing in a vegan’s diet—the perfect vegetable sauté, marinated kale salad, fried mozzarella sticks … OK, so the last one isn’t a health monger’s number one choice, but it’s a delicious, occasional indulgence. Choices of oils are plentiful, so knowing which is healthiest, best for savory foods, or great in a vegan cupcake can be pretty tricky.

Vegan cakes, cookies, and pies have been never more delicious, and we want to share with you how it’s done. To take the mystery out of baking without eggs and dairy, we went straight to one of the sweetest sweets experts around—Fran Costigan, a renowned vegan pastry chef in New York City. Here are Fran’s tips for baking up extraordinary vegan desserts.

Massive egg recalls due to salmonella contamination? Disgusting. Rising egg prices and industry scrutiny? Deserved. Supporting the egg industry isn’t worth your money or morals, especially when alternative options abound. If the risk of salmonella poisoning isn’t a convincing enough reason to swear off eggs, consider the inhumane treatment of hens on factory farms. While going cage-free is a step in the right direction, cutting out eggs completely is the best decision for both your health and the environment.

Milk might be a dish best served cold, but that isn’t stopping non-dairy milk’s popularity from being white hot. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that sales of non-dairy milks have exploded in recent years, and are expected to keep growing. Made from nuts, grains, beans, and seeds, there are options for every palate and price point. Below is a handy guide for those looking for a sauce thickener, the best coffee creamer, or just wanting to kick the dairy habit.

Protein and calcium come from hundreds of plant-based sources. Following are some facts to combat the fiction.