Lucky Peach Presents Power Vegetables! Turbocharged Recipes for Vegetables with Guts

Meehan and the editors of the much-awarded food journal Lucky Peach follow their previous two books with what Meehan describes as “all-caps cooking for people looking to eat more vegetable-centered meals.” After getting a few rules out of the way (“no egg-on-it dishes,” “fruits are vegetables”), Meehan dives into salads, soups, accompaniments, and main dishes that reflect both global influences (a McAloo Tikki veggie burger; salsas hailing from Mexico, India, Italy, and beyond) and right-now New York City cuisine, with several recipes inspired by (or credited to) the likes of Saltie, Superiority Burger, and Parm. Gabriele Stabile’s vibrant, even lurid, color photographs fully embrace Meehan’s stated goal of creating a book that’s “98% fun and 2% stupid”: miniature plastic skiers schuss down thick layers of cream cheese icing on a slice of carrot cake, and pies—torta di erbe, a veggie-filled pizzetta, and a veggie-only Tex-Mex shepherd’s pie—appear against celestial backdrops that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1990s science textbook. As with so much of what Lucky Peach does, the balance between irreverence and utter seriousness of purpose makes this book a delight. The playful visuals and Meehan’s off-the-cuff text offer near-constant reminders that vegetables are wildly versatile, and cooking them ought to be fun. (Oct.)