Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates: Festive Meals for Holidays and Special Occasions

by The Moosewood Collective

For three decades, the famed Moosewood Collective has prepared innovative meatless meals that have left vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike clamoring for more. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of their internationally acclaimed Ithaca restaurant, The Moosewood Collective presents their first-ever collection of menus for memorable occasions, with vegetarian specialties for every season.

Holidays and celebratory gatherings can present a challenge for vegetarian cooks who want to serve festive meals that will satisfy all of their guests. The Moosewood Collective has met this challenge brilliantly, with more than thirty-five ingenious menus that can transform even casual get-togethers into a party. Covering a diverse array of holidays and occasions both traditional and spur-of-the-moment, Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates provides the perfect excuse to get to-gether with friends and family more often. You’ll find inspiring food ideas for all these and more:

• Traditional holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Ramadan, Kwanza, Passover, Diwali, and Christmas
• Family gatherings, from a casual Rainy Day Picnic on the Porch to an outdoor Labor Day Get-Together to a fully orchestrated Wedding or Commitment Celebration
• Just-for-fun events, perfect any time of year, including a Tapas Party, a Birthday Breakfast in Bed, and a Sports Night Supper

There is even an additional section on versatile party nibbles and celebration cakes to choose from, plus a chapter of delectable foods you can make to give (or mail) as gifts.

Filled with practical advice on preparing holiday feasts with the minimum amount of fuss, and incorporating the rich flavors and ethnic influences that the Collective is renowned for, Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates is an indispensable assortment of lively vegetarian menus spanning a dazzling array of cultures and occasions.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Christmas, Vegetarian

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

The Moosewood Collective is a crew of fourteen women and five men. Some of us moonlight from Moosewood, and among us we have a broad range of interests and avocations. Our group comprises musicians, singers, dancers, actors, performers, mediators, meditators, activists, teachers, trainers, consultants, writers, gardeners, editors, poets, artists, quilters, calligraphers, martial arts instructors and enthusiasts, health advocates, parents, grandparents, good cooks, and really good eaters.

Reviews

[Linda Harkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

another excellent Moosewood publication

[Carrie Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christmas Dinner recipes were a hit! Love this cookbook

[Kecia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Moosewood cookbooks! When I saw this one at the book fair this year I just grabbed it and didn't even look at it until I got home. When I finally looked at it I was thrilled! This cookbook is so cool - it has full menus (and even scheduling tips for cooking) with recipes for various holidays. All the biggies are there Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Cinco de Mayo, Passover - but also some over-looked holidays like Juneteenth. It also has more casual celebrations like Rainy Day Picnic on the Porch or Big Game Night.

I have not made a full menu yet but I have tried 3 recipes - 2 from the Diwali menu. First I made the Kale with Cashews. It was really good but I think I prefer my kale prepared simpler. I also tried the recipe for Keer. I was really, really nervous about this one because the proportions were so different from how I would normally make a rice pudding. It worked but it took 2 hours!

Finally I made the Chai Smoothie. I made it during vacation and did not let myself think about how sugar I was consuming. It was delish! A few days later I ordered one at my local coffee house and it was nowhere near as good as Moosewood's.

Super fun book that I'll go back to time and time again.

[Cynthia Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Some Moosewood books are gems -- in this one it appeared that they ran out of good ideas and just put as many weird ingredients together as they could. I found two recipes to try.

[Marley · Rating 3 out of 5]

mostly veggie; what you'd expect from Moosewood.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

B Acutally not as good as some of the other Moosewood Cookbooks, this cookbook includes holiday menus so you don't even have to figure out what goes together.

[BryAnn]

Found a great stuffed yams recipe. Need to go food shopping!

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the ideas of the party menus, but rarely have time to prepare them.

[Bobbi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recipes I might like to make are Saucy Asian Noodle Salad p. 96 & Haroset and Matzo Casserole p 327. Others seem odd and require a lot of prep.

[Kbsalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use this one a lot, and as a jumping off point for my own concoctions.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of prep, uncommon ingredients, not my favorite Moosewood.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as their other cookbooks

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another new cookbook. While I'm not a vegetarian, I have a few friends who prefer eating that way and I didn't have many recipes to make for them. I was lucky enough to find this at a library sale, I can't wait to try these out since I do occasionally have a vegetarian meal.