Book Review: Low-Fodmap and Vegan: What to Eat When You Can't Eat Anything by Jo Stepaniak
This was the first lowFODMAP book I bought and it helped me so much. It gives you a lot of vegan specific information about the diet, IBS and the practical issues of it all. It also gives you some recipes, which serve as great inspiration.
I’ve made three of the recipes to show you! because that’s probably the hardest thing about buying a cookbook online, you don’t really know if the recipes are any good!
The book consists of the following chapters:
Understanding IBS
Treating IBS
The Better you eat, the worse you feel
navigating FODMAPs Safely
What to Eat When You Can’t Eat Anything
Low-FODMAP Staples
Breakfast Bowls, Beverages and Light Bites
Dinner Buffet
Getting Sauced
Soup, Sandwich and Salad Bar
What I Liked about “Low-Fodmap and Vegan: What to Eat When You Can't Eat Anything"
Literally the only lowFODMAP vegan cook book I could find on Amazon.
It’s much more of an information book, explaining the diet and practical tips for dealing with IBS.
It has very comprehensive lists of vegan low FODMAP foods, which helped me realize there were actually plenty of things you can eat!
She also wrote it very much from the position of someone who has been there and done it, which I really appreciated.
At the time the only real information I could find with specific considerations for vegans was basically “make sure you get enough protein”, which I can only assume was written by someone who knows nothing about plant-based diets and also says “but beacons?!” and “plants feel pain too!”
It’s full of references and indexes, which are useful to read though and help you learn all the things you’ll need to be aware of.
Things I wasn’t so keen on…
It’s definitely catered to Americans! Cup sizes are used for measurements, which differ between the US, UK and Australia. I think if I was going to write a lowFODMAP cookbook, grams would be a the best, unambiguous unit to use for everyone.
The recipes aren’t very erm, trendy. The ones I have tried do taste good, but if you’re more into the modern, hipster plant-based style of cooking, they will seem odd and a tad old school.
I also have to admit, that the book made me cry several times. Just because the beginning is a deluge of what you cannot do and cannot eat. It sort of unintentionally knocks you down before it builds you up again. So while I’d definitely recommend it as an extremely good value vegan low FODMAP book, I’d say read Chapter 5 (What to Eat When You Can’t Eat Anything) and the recipes first, then confront the beginning sections.
You can get it here on Amazon and I think for the price (less than £5) it’s very good value. Have you tried this book? What did you think?
