101 Cookbooks

The premise this site was built on is best summed up in two sentences: When you own over 100 cookbooks, it is time to stop buying, and start cooking. This site chronicles a cookbook collection, one (vegetarian) recipe at a time. 101 Cookbooks started in early 2003 when I looked up at my huge cookbook collection one afternoon and realized that instead of exploring the different books in my collection – I was cooking the same recipes over and over. This site aimed to change that. In the years since, I’ve cooked many wonderful vegetarian recipes, vegan recipes, WFPB recipes, and (recently) Instant Pot recipes. Many of the recipes are my own, others are inspired by cooks and writers I admire. I’ve written four cookbooks, become a New York Times Best Selling author, and a two-time James Beard Award winner. Through it all, 101 Cookbooks has always been my home base. It’s my playground for exploring ideas, and where I can interact with the cooks that invite these recipes into their own kitchens. Welcome! In the beginning, I seemed to buy a new cookbook every time I stepped out the front door – always with good intentions. I would regularly go through my collection of books and magazines and carefully tag each recipe that piqued my interest. I ended up with shelves full of books brimming with Post-it notes and drawers full of recipes clipped from my favorite magazines – neatly organized by course, flavor, region, or ingredient. I made a resolution (although it turns out that I wasn’t very good at keeping it). I would stop buying cookbooks, or at least scale back, and start trying new recipes. In the process I hoped to learn new techniques, explore unfamiliar ingredients, discover/keep track of new recipes, document my successes and failures, and hopefully inspire other cooks to do the same. The site has evolved a bit since the early days. Now I choose and write about the recipes that intersect my life, my travels, and my everyday interests – often they are from my cookbook collection, sometimes not – they might come from a friend or family member, or I might write about a recipe I created myself. I focus primarily on natural, whole foods and ingredients. All the recipes on this site are vegetarian, many are vegan, many are whole foods plant based. I believe in the power of plants, home-cooked meals, and sharing a table with the people you love. 101 Cookbooks has been featured in numerous newspaper articles and is a winner of numerous awards including the 2005 people’s choice Webby Award for best personal web site,