Cookbooks For Food Lovers Who Are Nearly Vegetarians

The Los Angeles Times “Almost Vegetarian” by Diana Shaw (Clarkson Potter, $18) and “The Practically Vegetarian Cookbook” by Josceline Dimbleby (Random House, $25) would seem to cover the same basic territory - recipes for food lovers who eat vegetarian a lot of the time but haven’t given up chicken or fish.

The approaches are different, though. Shaw’s book (paperback, no photos) runs to Mediterranean-like things such as salade Nicoise served in a sandwich, chicken breasts stuffed with artichoke and whole-wheat pasta with cabbage and cumin.

She does have a wild side, as shown by a relish of honey, vinegar, red cabbage and dried cherries and a “tabbouleh” of bulgur, garbanzos, beets and an orange juice-tahini sauce. At least you know where you stand with a health foodie who confesses to having reservations about tofu.

Dimbleby’s book is much grander, a large-format volume with hard-sell photos of all its 150 dishes. Although the author is the food correspondent for the London Sunday Telegraph, the measurements have been Americanized, so it isn’t one of those really maddening English books.

Dimbleby reflects a lot more Indian, Southeast Asian and Latin American influence, and her inventions are far more ambitious (avocados in spinach-tinted jelly; a tart that calls for 1 pounds of shallots). Many of the dishes certainly look wonderful, like the carrot tart topped with candied carrots. Some, for all her dashing combinations of unexpected ingredients, are very English indeed - say, cauliflower with cheese sauce … and sun-dried tomatoes.

Shaw’s book would serve for everyday cooking, Dimbleby’s for when you have your nearly vegetarian boss over for dinner.