Introduction I would first like to take you back to the beginning, to when I started my blog, Two Spoons, in a quintessential French city called Lille, in 2016. My husband, Mitch, was offered a work transfer that uprooted our life from downtown Toronto and into la vie en France.
It is during these major changes in life, when we are pushed outside our comfort zone, that we realize our true desires. This was the push I needed to pursue my passion for sharing plant-based recipes—a diet that was so successful in my struggle with gut health issues and irritable bowel syndrome.
What better place to pursue my passion for cooking than in France? With its daily farmers’ markets teeming with vendors calling out “Les pêches délicieuses!” for “deux euros!,” endless cafés and clanking verres de vins, and the smell of freshly baked bread on every street corner, it is no secret that the French way of life revolves around good food and drink at every occasion.
And what better place to pursue my passion for plant-based cooking than in France? Surely I could have chosen a better location. In a culture where fromage, foie gras, and charcuterie are everyday staples, a plant-based diet was not always celebrated. Calling ahead to restaurants to inform them of my diet was often met with displeasure, and one time resulted in being served half a cooked carrot as my main course. What they did with the other half, I will never know.
It is no surprise that the world of plant-based eating has exploded over the past few years, and during my time in France I watched it unfold. I made friends with the early adopters, the movers and shakers of this small plant-based community, from chefs and café owners to cashiers at petits magasins. I witnessed their twists on French classics, like cashew-based cheeses and vegan mousse au chocolat, and discovered their trendy new recipes for the more adventurous. We would chat about their changing menus, new products of theirs that I had tried and liked, and everyday things like which market vendors had the freshest produce, which boulangerie baked the best bread, and where to buy decently priced coconut yogurt.
I got to know them well. Of course, my poor French accent made me an unforgettable étrangère (foreigner). “Combien ça coûte?” (how much does that cost?) has a much different meaning than “combien ça cul?” (how much is that butt?). I also exasperated a baker once by mispronouncing “plus” when wanting more bread. I repeatedly pronounced it “plu” (without the “s”), interpreted as wanting less of their bread, instead of “plus” (pronounced with the “s”), meaning more. It was a rough go dividing the tiniest piece of bread between four friends later that day.
However, over time I understood better la vie en France. Here are some takeaways for you to nibble at:
- Any limb on the body that can bend is prime real estate for holding a baguette. Most popularly tucked under the armpit.
- Potatoes grow from the ground, so expect to buy them dirty. A vegetable scrubber will soon become your most used kitchen accessory.
- There is no hope of finding berries in October, so pick from the endless supply of apples and bake a tart.
- There is nothing more insulting to the French than adding orange juice to Champagne . . . oops.
- There is no occasion that cannot be improved with a glass of wine, a baguette, and fauxmage.
About this Book This cookbook is meant to be taken lightly. By no means should it intimidate you. It is not a cookbook for French cooking enthusiasts or masterful chefs. It is a cookbook for the everyday home cook, one who wants to add more plant-based recipes into their diet without compromising taste. In addition, it is populated with recipes that pay tribute to my time in France and that are now on regular rotation in my kitchen, as well as lots of healthy and wholesome dishes that you can always expect from me.
I encourage you to adopt the elements that are special to the French way of life—enjoy your dishes as an occasion to be celebrated no matter how big or small, even if just for a moment. Even if it is a tiny piece of bread cut four ways.
In addition, I encourage you to enjoy the process from beginning to end. Start by taking joy in gathering your ingredients, whether by visiting your local farmers’ markets or simply making a connection with the cashier at your grocery store. Maybe it is growing some simple vegetables in your garden if that is available for you or herbs on your windowsill if it is not. Giving a story to our ingredients makes cooking more pleasurable.
Finally, I encourage you to cook what is in season—a mantra that the French strongly live by but one that is less adhered to by North Americans. It was a great lesson for me in expanding my range of recipes. Savour fresh berries in the summer, and bake with apples in the fall. Cook with sweet potatoes in the winter and asparagus in the spring. Eating seasonally will open doors to more recipes that you might not otherwise try. It will make your shopping experience so much more enjoyable, and less expensive, and your food will taste better.
I have organized my book to take you through the day from beginning to end, to give you a real taste of what to eat in a day, starting with breakfast and ending with dessert.
Enjoy a vegan Classic Flaky Croissant (page 33) for breakfast, savoury Buckwheat Crepes with Cashew Cream Cheese and Greens (page 55) for brunch, a healthy Chickpea Salad Niçoise (page 207) for lunch, Madeleines (page 117) for an afternoon snack, and my Balsamic Mushroom Risotto (page 251) for dinner. These are recipes I enjoy cooking for friends and take pleasure indulging in at local restaurants. As for dessert, choose from your favourite flavours: Mousse au Chocolat (page 281) if you are a chocolate lover, or Pear Tarte Tatin (page 267) if you love fruit.
You will also find dishes inspired by the younger generation of French plant-based foodies, which I treasured at the trendy cafés. Enjoy tucking into wellness lattes like a Golden Turmeric Latte (page 86) and wholesome bowls like a Winter Bliss Bowl (page 233). Sink your teeth into gourmet toasts (pages 70 to 77) and devour Wally’s Chocolate Coffee Freakshake (page 93), inspired by my friend Wally’s café hyper chouette (super-cool café).
You will find recipes for some of my favourite healthy dishes, some inspired by Moroccan and Lebanese cuisine, such as my Hearty Moroccan Lentil Soup (page 203) and Oven-Baked Falafels (page 231), and wholesome bliss bowls and curry. A blend of traditional recipes, modern plant-based ones, and flavours from nearby cultures so perfectly captures what I enjoyed as a plant-based foodie in France.
I have also included recipes for dairy-free basics done right. My recipes for quality plant-based milks are great go-tos if you cannot find those ingredients at your grocery store. Or perhaps they are too expensive, or do not measure up to the quality you are hoping for. Whether you need it quick (try my Super-Quick Oat Milk, page 82) or you have ten minutes to spare for Creamy Dreamy Almond Milk (page 81) to sip like a fine wine, you’ll find them here. In addition, there are recipes to make an array of easy vegan cheeses (starting on page 155) to share at l’apéritif (cocktail hour).
I have provided a selection of menu ideas for breakfast or brunch, afternoon tea, l’apéritif, and dinner to tie together tastes, textures, colours and sensations for a well-balanced meal. This is something that the French consider for every meal to give a complete experience from beginning to end. A Sunday brunch is served with at least three courses, whether at a café or a friend’s house, all carefully selected so that you get the full dégustation (tasting). Even busy morning bakeries offer a small menu of fresh orange juice, coffee, and a pastry.
Perhaps it is not common in North America to think through a menu so carefully for each meal, but it is certainly something to consider for special occasions. Whether you’re entertaining a crowd, having brunch with your besties, or serving a romantic dinner for two, let my menu ideas be an example of what you can pair together for a memorable meal. Use them as inspiration to create your own.
In offering a taste of my life in France as a plant-based foodie, I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I have enjoyed creating them. I hope this cookbook will transform your experience of cooking, and that these recipes will bring stories to your ingredients and help turn monotonous tasks, like scrubbing a dirty potato, into a thankful moment. It is a lesson I am so grateful to have learned from my time in France.
Most of all, I hope you enjoy these plant-based recipes to the fullest and that you are proud of what you create—a delicious dish or meal worth sharing. Whether you are making a simple smoothie or a bubbling ratatouille, it is time to be cherished.
Bon appétit!
Hannah
xx
Copyright © 2022 by Hannah Sunderani. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
