Rating: 
Summary: Truly accessible, vegetarian haute cuisine for everyday
Review: If I knew I was going to be washed ashore a temperate island with a good organic farm, I'd bring this cookbook. The best part about it is Madison's "goes well with" pairings that teach you which foods taste good with which seasonings. I've finally absorbed enough of the logic to create dishes that guests request the recipe and I can say, "it's my own" (although I always recommend this book). I finally have found recipes that I can use as a jumping-off point from my own creativity. The recipes are also simple, rarely requiring something not already in my cabinets, but elegant.One caveat: start to cook like this and you'll get very short-tempered at the quality of most restaurants--prepare to eat at home more often!
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: I have never been much of a vegetable fan, having a mother who grew up in the era where every vegetable is boiled to the point of being grey. So when I became more interested in vegetables, fruits, and grains, I looked and looked. This cookbook is the best. It's a great general resource on how to pick out and cook fruits and vegs. Most recipes have less then 7-8 ingredients and are deciptively tasty. My favorites are the gratins - cauliflower with tomatoes, onions, and feta or new potatoes with tomatoes and olives. Just yummy stuff. Add some bread and salad and you'll never know you didn't have meat. Give it a shot. It's worth it.
Rating:
Summary: joy of vegetarian cooking
Review: This has become my culinary encyclopedia. I find myself referencing the text daily when preparing a meal. The vegetable/fruit information is very thorough - providing herbs & spices that combine well. It's also a dictionary of procedures & techniques, giving valuable information on anything from cooking rice to making crepes. Many of the recipes are fairly simple to prepare but surprisingly delicious. Recipes start from the very rudimentary, which makes it a primer for people who don't know much about cooking or food; but the information remains timeless and valuable to cooks of all levels. As a vegetarian, it has displaced Joy of Cooking as the number one guide in the kitchen.
Rating:
Summary: A great cookbook for EVERYONE!!
Review: This is a great book. Being a vegetarian there aren't many cook books that cater to my eating needs. This book is great, there are 1,400 recipies and I can't wait to cook them all.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for easy gourmet like meals
Review: I am excited to have the opportunity to rave about this cookbook. I have always wanted to cook meals good enough to taste gourmet, but before finding this book, I struggled. The basics she covers in this book have helped me make the leap. I appreciate that she starts with the most basic of treatments for each vegetable or topic before venturing into fancier applications. Sometimes a vegetable, etc. can be exquisite on its own with only a few tips on its nature. Her soup chapter has been one of my favorites. Suddenly, I am making soups that my guests exclaim over. As a gourmet wanna be, this is a thrill. In short, this encyclopedia of sorts on all kinds of vegetarian cooking is my ultimate cooking class. I have even wanted to find a chatroom that shares feedback on all her recipes as we make them. Thank you Debra.
Rating:
Summary: This book is informative, comprehensive and fun to read.
Review: As an avid vegetarian home cook this book is the one I turn to again and again. Deborah Madison has a gift not only for presenting recipies with well balanced flavors and textures but for clearly explaining the fundamental building-blocks of cooking which enable to home chef to create culinary delights of his/her own. I was especially fond of the notes found in the margins throughout the book which describe presentation and menue guides. My only dissappointment in Madison was the dessert section which, apon reading, didn't make my mouth water. However, I must confess that I have yet to make even one of her desserts and the literature might not do the final product justice. If for some strange and unimaginable reason I had to toss all of my cookbooks but one, it would be a toss up between Vegitarian Cooking For Everyone and the Escoffier cook book both of which I find indespensible. I highly reccomend this book to herbavores and carnivores alike.
Rating:
Summary: YES!!!
Review: Buy this book!! As a fan of vegetarian cookbooks, (Laurel's Kitchen, Mooswood, and the like) this one ranks way up there. Great selection of recipies both complex and simple. I also refer to it all the time for general info. Love it!
Rating:
Summary: Extensive and complete...finally some emphasis on veggies!
Review: I'm carnivorous, but I enjoy this book because it raises the role of the vegetable to a higher ground. Frankly, I love fruits, vegetables and legumes, yet too many cookbooks push these aside as just some side-dish. This book gives me inspiration to juxtapose traditional meat and vegetable roles. VCFE is a major work - the book is unwaveringly devoted to its subject and the variety and depth of coverage is very impressive. I can somewhat understand the complaint that a handful recipes are simply <vegetable>, olive oil and lemon, but I think the intent was to highlight a particular subject and not drown it out with other flavors. I disagree with the complaint about the lack of nutritional information. Few cookbooks bother and often it isn't difficult to figure it out yourself. It's engraved in my brain that a tablespoon of a fat, be it butter, lard or oil is about 14g of fat and 130 calories. Buy a nutritional guide and truly learn the nutritional value of foods. You rarely can go wrong with eating in moderation the widest variety of whole foods possible (and if you abstain from meat, this is even more important). I am not fond of a diet laden with hard-to-digest cheeses and creams, so I appreciate Deborah's coverage of unprocessed whole foods. She carries no pretention: whether you are the strictest vegan or the most ravenous carnivore, here is a modern presentation of the most plentiful food group on Earth.
Rating: 
Summary: No Nutritional Information!!!
Review: Having read numerous glowing reviews of this cookbook, I bought it through the mail. However, if I had first looked at it in a bookstore, I probably would have passed it over. I am extremely disappointed that no nutritional information of any kind has been included. Particularly beacuse one of my biggest reasons for eating a mainly vegetarian diet is for the health benefits. It is truly disappointing in this day and age, when nutritional info is becoming a must and given that this cookbook is termed a modern classic. People are becoming more educated! Give us the information to make better choices.
Rating: 
Summary: A thorough cookbook for all levels of experience & interest
Review: This is an excellent cookbook geared for the openminded interested cook who takes pleasure in cooking with good whole local ingredients. It spans all levels of complexity and a wide range of foods and cuisine. My wife and I have found it most useful in learning how to make a lot out of very few simple ingredients we always have in our kitchen. We are meat eaters and wine drinkers. There is nothing "new age" or pretentious about this book. If you love food you'll love this book.
| 
