Great Chefs Cook Vegan Cookbook

The name Carper has inspired both derision and doubts about my authenticity - I was a critic and book reviewer for years - but at least it's fairly rare. Try searching for Linda Long and see how many irrelevant hits you get.

I just wanted to be sure that I hadn't already mentioned her new cookbook here. I haven't, though I'm not sure how I missed it. I found it just in time to include in with other cookbooks released in 2008 because of a press release that announced an award it won:

For her cookbook Great Chefs Cook Vegan, a compilation of high-end vegan-cuisine recipes from an elite array of renowned chefs, New York resident Linda Long has won the Best Vegan Cookbook category in PETA's Sixth Annual Proggy Awards. Long will receive a framed certificate and will be featured on PETA's award-winning Web site PETA.org. PETA's Proggy Awards ("Proggy" is for "progress") recognize animal-friendly achievements in commerce and culture. Long shares the honors with Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman, authors of the best-selling vegan cookbook Skinny Bitch in the Kitch.

Long has put together the finest creations by the finest chefs, including Charlie Trotter, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Suzanne Goin. Great Chefs Cook Vegan is filled with recipes for three- to four-course meals from culinary A-listers who have omitted the animal products that they usually work with in order to create 100 percent vegan menus. The book's high-end cuisine - including zucchini boxes provençal, grilled king oyster mushrooms, and avocado carpaccio with charred jalapeño oil and caramelized silken tofu brûlée - will have vegetarians and nonvegetarians alike asking for seconds.

You can find it on the Vegan Cookbooks page in my Milk-Free Bookstore.