Where to Start with Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Isa Chandra Moskowitz is a Brooklyn-born chef, author, and restaurateur who helped transform vegan cooking from a niche pursuit into a mainstream culinary movement. She began cooking vegan in the early 1990s and launched the Post Punk Kitchen, first as a public-access TV show in New York and later as one of the most popular vegan recipe websites in the world. Her cookbook Veganomicon (2007), co-authored with Terry Hope Romero, became a bestseller and was named one of the best cookbooks of the decade by several publications. She has written more than half a dozen cookbooks, including Vegan with a Vengeance, Appetite for Reduction, and I Can Cook Vegan. In 2014 she opened the restaurant Modern Love in Omaha, Nebraska, later expanding to Brooklyn. Named favorite cookbook author by VegNews readers for seven consecutive years, Moskowitz is known for recipes that are boldly flavored, approachable, and never preachy about their plant-based foundations.
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Isa Does It
Isa Chandra Moskowitz · 320 pages · 2013 · Easy
Themes: vegan cooking, weeknight meals, accessible recipes, plant-based basics
The vegan cookbook that finally made weeknight plant-based cooking feel effortless. Isa Chandra Moskowitz distilled two decades of vegan cooking experience into 150 recipes designed for real life: meals you can get on the table in about 30 minutes, using ingredients from a regular grocery store.
Why Start Here
Moskowitz’s earlier books, particularly Veganomicon, established her as a thorough and inventive vegan cook, but some recipes required weekend-level time and effort. Isa Does It strips everything down to the essentials. The book is organized by format: curries, stir-fries, pasta, bowls, salads, and sandwiches. Each chapter opens with a template that teaches the underlying technique, then offers variations that keep things interesting week after week.
What makes this the ideal starting point in Moskowitz’s catalog is the balance between her signature bold flavors and genuine everyday practicality. You get the spice, the creativity, and the personality she is known for, but in recipes you can actually cook on a Tuesday night after work.
What to Expect
A practical 320-page cookbook with 150 recipes organized for weeknight efficiency. Clear instructions, short ingredient lists, and bold flavors drawn from global traditions. The tone is warm and funny, with hand-drawn illustrations and appealing photography.
Alternatives
Isa Chandra Moskowitz · 336 pages · 2007 · Moderate
The book that put Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the map and became a vegan cooking bible. Co-authored with Terry Hope Romero, Veganomicon contains over 250 recipes covering everything from basics like broths and sauces to elaborate dinner party dishes, organized in a way that makes it both a teaching tool and a long-term kitchen reference.
Why Start Here
Veganomicon is the more ambitious sibling to Isa Does It. Where that book focuses on speed and simplicity, this one prioritizes breadth and depth. It covers techniques that many vegan cookbooks skip: proper bean cooking, tofu pressing and marinating, homemade seitan, and vegetable stock that actually tastes like something. The range is impressive, from Ethiopian lentil stew to pumpkin crust pizza to chocolate-hazelnut biscotti.
The book was a game-changer when it came out in 2007 because it treated vegan food with the same seriousness that traditional cookbooks give to French or Italian cuisine. It proved that plant-based cooking could be as varied, technical, and satisfying as any other culinary tradition.
What to Expect
A substantial 336-page reference with over 250 recipes. The difficulty level is moderate, with some recipes requiring more time and technique than a weeknight allows. Best suited for cooks who want to build a deep foundation in vegan cooking and are willing to spend a weekend afternoon in the kitchen. Named one of the best cookbooks of the decade by multiple publications.