Natural Flava: Quick & Easy Plant-Based Caribbean Recipes

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I loved all the different curries, was delighted to find a Vegan Jamaican ginger cake recipe and the rum roasted potatoes were a wonder at Christmas. I mention it only because I feel if I alter anything in someone’s recipe, I feel it is only polite to say so! One of my aids in fighting the grimness outside has been this persuasively upbeat book by Craig and Shaun McAnuff who are brothers from South London of Jamaican heritage.

I normally like recipe books that include pictures for every recipe and while this book doesn't have pictures for them all, the pictures that are included look delicious. A vibrantly designed Caribbean vegan cookbook from the internationally celebrated duo behind Original Flava. There's lots of interesting recipes for plantains, a squash wellington that I've never seen before, some porridge bowls, and more! Think Potato and chickpea curry with roti, Jerk cauliflower wings, Coconut, black-eyed pea and sweet potato stew, and Plantain cookies . By the way, I used vegetable shortening (in the form of Trex, which is much the same as Crisco) rather than the vegan butter stipulated in the recipe, as I always have it in the fridge for pastry.

Caribbean food makes for brilliant vegan dishes because it relies on fresh and vibrant fruit and veg from plantain to pineapple. So I prescribe myself the Kitchen Cure, which is to say I lose myself in cooking and eating good things full of bright flavour.

Some of the recipes are veganised versions of predominantly Jamaican classics; others are Caribbean-inflected reworkings of foods they love and have grown up eating. This is rare for many reasons that are maybe too related to neurodiversity/mental to go into but significant enough, reader, to get those 5 stars. There really is much to love here, especially if this is a cuisine you want to try as the recipes look both delicious and accessible and cover a range of scenarios and influences that will make you drool. Rasta Pumpkin Pasta was the first recipe we tried from this book, which I picked up because I'd seen it reviewed in the newspaper. I work with students from the Caribbean, so I was always curious about the foods they grew up eating.With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing plc for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Presented with mouthwatering pictures and engaging text that makes you want to cook, the recipes are easy to follow and written in an engaging way that isn't gimmicky. Now, in Natural Flava, they're spreading the love, offering Ital inspiration and punchy Caribbean flavors to the feel-good, plant-based diet taking the world by storm.