Natural Flava: Quick & Easy Plant-Based Caribbean Recipes

Product Information

I don't know a lot about Caribbean food, let alone vegan Caribbean recipes so I was excited to learn more. Packed with around 100 mouth-watering vegan recipes, Natural Flava will elevate your vegan cooking repertoire with finger-licking goodness. There are recipes that are a spin on popular dishes which will have the keen meat eater licking their lips.

One of my aids in fighting the grimness outside has been this persuasively upbeat book by Craig and Shaun McAnuff who are brothers from South London of Jamaican heritage. Now, in Natural Flava, they're spreading the love, offering Ital inspiration and punchy Caribbean flavors to the feel-good, plant-based diet taking the world by storm. I loved all the different curries, was delighted to find a Vegan Jamaican ginger cake recipe and the rum roasted potatoes were a wonder at Christmas. This delicious, vibrant Caribbean-influenced cookbook from the bestselling duo behind Original Flava includes over 100 easy recipes. As with their first book, Original Flava, it draws on the generous tradition of Caribbean food, though its focus — or perhaps it would be more accurate to say its inspiration — is Ital cooking; the “ital” derives from “vital” and denotes the Rastafarian approach to eating, with its emphasis on fresh, unprocessed food and and its celebration of the earth’s bounty.I don’t really understand why the ingredients are listed after the method, either, as it’s a bit weird tbh. With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing plc for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. This cookbook definitely delivers on what it promises in that every recipe is packed with spices, peppers, and other flavourful foods to guarantee meals that will leave your taste buds happy. By the way, I used vegetable shortening (in the form of Trex, which is much the same as Crisco) rather than the vegan butter stipulated in the recipe, as I always have it in the fridge for pastry.

Craig and Shaun charmed cooks everywhere with their essential introduction to home-cooked Caribbean food in Original Flava. I can’t wait to try making some of the recipes and see for myself what my students were talking about. It also features a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables like plantain, yams, jackfruit, guava, and plenty more, making it perfect for vegan recipes.Special thanks to netgalley and the publishers for a arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. This is an amazing introduction to plant- based Caribbean cooking and since I have never had authentic Caribbean food before - mainly because I have the chilli threshold of a toddler - I was SOOO excited to see this book. I don't normally review but seriously, the red pea stew is one of my all-time fav comfort foods and it's the best base recipe I've found and I'm so happy to have it in an actual book. Presented with mouthwatering pictures and engaging text that makes you want to cook, the recipes are easy to follow and written in an engaging way that isn't gimmicky. That one detail is what truly keeps this from being a favourite for me simply because I’m not sure how feasible some of these recipes would be.