Recommended books

Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet, by Vesanto Melina, MSc, RD and Brenda Davis, RD – Amazon

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting A Healthy Plant-Based Diet, by Brenda Davis, RD and Vesanto Melina, MSc, RD – Amazon

Forks over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health – Amazon

Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings and 7 Steps to End Them, by Neal Barnard, MD – Amazon

The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Heal the World, by John Robbins – Amazon

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II – Amazon

Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer – Amazon

Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet – Amazon

The Thrive Diet: The Whole Food Way to Losing Weight, Reducing Stress, and Staying Healthy for Life – Amazon

Cookbooks

The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet: 250 Simple Recipes and Dozens of Healthy Menus for Eating Well Every Day, by Nava Atlas – Amazon

Vegan Cooking for One: Over 150 Simple and Appetizing Meals, by Leah Leneman – Amazon

La Dolce Vegan! Vegan Livin’ Made Easy, by Sarah Kramer – Amazon

Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian: More Than 650 Meatless Recipes from Around the World by Madhur Jaffrey – Amazon

This Can’t Be Tofu: 75 Recipes to Cook Something You Never Thought You Would – and Love Every Bite by Deborah Madison – Amazon

Quick-Fix Vegan: Healthy, Homestyle Meals in 30 Minutes or Less – Amazon

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook – Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero – Amazon $10 eBook

This is the cookbook to cook from when you want to wow your meat-eating friends. The recipes are easy to follow, written in a friendly, approachable manner and turn out delicious. Everything I’ve made from here, I’ve loved.
– Jenn, Past Veggie Challenge Team volunteer

Happy Herbivore: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan RecipesLindsay Nixon – Amazon $9 eBook

Healthy, simple recipes with no added fat. This is a great cookbook for weeknight meals as most of the recipes whip up quickly. I love the hippie loaf, the cornbread and the black bean brownies.
– Jenn

Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook – Kim Barnouin – Amazon $15 eBook

This cookbook is worth it for the orange scone recipe alone. I know it’s not essential that a cookbook look pretty but I love the pictures and the layout of this one. You’ll want to make everything! And you should!
– Jenn

Get It Ripe – Jae Steele – Amazon $14 eBook

It’s hard to pick a favourite cookbook but this one might be mine. The first half is all nutritional information presented in a completely digestible (ha!) format and the second half is the recipes. Like Veganomicon, everything I’ve made from this book has been a winner.  The millet and mushroom tourtière is out of this world. As are the maple flax cookies. And the tahini thumbprints.
– Jenn