"Vegan Rock You" - the rock'n'roller among vegan cookbooks
Dear Regine, dear Ansgar, why did you write a book about vegan cooking in the first place?
Because it's fun and totally easy. That is the most important thing for us. Many lack ideas, recipes and there are also many prejudices. Basically, however, there is a lot of interest. However, most people don't know how to do it. Therefore it is important for us to give ideas, inspiration, courage and our knowledge, and to clear up with negative prejudices. The fact that the vegan lifestyle is currently on everyone's lips, because it is also very healthy and environmentally friendly, makes us very happy, because it allowed us to write this book at all.
What makes "Vegan Rock You" different from other vegan cookbooks?
It contains very simple dishes. No fancy stuff and no frills. It's the rock'n'roller of vegan cookbooks, so to speak. Plus it's family friendly and there are exclusive kids favorite dish potato stamps. But the book also has quite a few other tips, like eating out, vegan grilling, about life with kids and vegan junk food. Then the book also looks just super cool. The cover you would almost rather hang on the wall and the photos are from The Bosshoss house & yard photographer. Rock'n'roll just.
What else do you think belongs to the "vegan lifestyle"?
Just try it out and go through life with open eyes. To feel healthy and fit, to live homemade and sustainable and to avoid waste and suffering. And by the way, to be well prepared for the rock'n'roll life full of junk food, sins and temptations.
And what is special about your recipes?
There are about 80 really simple recipes. We sorted out everything that was a bit more elaborate. Sometimes we even thought "this is so simple, you can't even call it a recipe. But it's just too delicious." Then we left it in and summarized it in the "awesome off" chapter. We are not trained chefs, but a very simple family who wanted to try vegan cuisine.
In the book you also write about vegan food especially with and for children and you can tell from your own experience. How did your children initially react to vegan dishes and is there anything that surprised you?
We didn't make a big fuss about it, because we wanted to try it out for ourselves for the first 2 weeks. The children didn't even notice at first. When at some point we stopped buying milk, eggs or cheese, the first complaints came from the children. We do not ban these foods, but over time they have become something special. We did not expect the health effects in this form. For example, the skin condition of one child has improved extremely, the stomach pain of the other disappeared and all of us are actually never sick. What surprised us the most, however, is that the children also primarily choose vegan or vegetarian dishes at school or at the buffet on vacation.
How important are good ingredients for you, do you have recommendations for shopping for vegan food?
The ingredients have a very high value, because they are the basis for cooking and ultimately the diet. The simplest rule is: If you don't want to eat something, don't buy it. But you have to understand one thing: health is not just about the meat - that's often misunderstood - it's about the animal ingredients in all kinds of products. If you simply eat a purely plant-based diet for a while, it's a real boost for your health. If the products are also in organic quality or from the farmer around the corner, it's even better, but only makes up a small proportion... This then rather leads to the question: Which industry do I want to support?
Do you have a favorite recipe in the book?
Yes, all of them. Even with 80 recipes, it was hard for us to choose. We have many many more, but wanted all the recipes to be easy to recreate. And with a family of 5, at least 15 favorite recipes come out recipes. If Regine were to name one, it would be caponata, a sweet and sour braised vegetable made with eggplant, celery and tomatoes. Ansgar just loves anything with beans or lentils. Lasagna or even spaghetti bolognese is right up there. What the children like best is marked in the book with the children's favorite dish-potato stamp.
