Cooking with compassion

Vegan goddess Sarah Kramer has returned with her fourth compendium of earth friendly treats, Vegan A Go-Go.

The book is intended for vegans on the road, but it’s a great fit for students’ busy schedules. With restaurant prices continuously increasing, eating at home or bringing sack lunches to campus might be a healthier, more economical choice.

For students cooking for themselves for the first time or students that are looking for innovative, tasty recipes, Kramer delivers.

Recipes include meals from breakfast to dessert and everything in-between. Kramer has you covered for pancakes, sandwiches, vegetable dips, pastas, burritos, cakes and much, much more. Some items, such as tofu jerky and energy bars, fit easily into backpacks. Other items, such as the burgers and casseroles, are better to be cooked on nights where you stay home to study and do homework.

A warning is in order for those who have already purchased Kramer’s first three best-selling cookbooks, How It All Vegan, The Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan. There are only 26 new recipes and six of those are just about how to make vegan milk.

The new recipes are labeled throughout the book. Kramer labels individual recipes as “Quick and Easy,” “Travels Well,” “Will Impress Your Friends” and “Needs Special Ingredients.”

None of the required “special ingredients” are too wacky. They just might require a trip over to Whole Foods or New Seasons.

Coming in at almost 20 dollars, Vegan A Go-Go is an expensive purchase for a student on a budget.

The compact, sturdy cookbook is roughly the size of two iPhones side-by-side. Although it’s roughly the same price as her first three cookbooks, they were oversized and contained more information.

But, in a postage-stamp sized dorm room, the cookbook’s miniature size might be perceived as a plus. Even though it’s small, Kramer still packs in 176 recipes.

In addition to recipes, Kramer adds some travel tips for vegans that might come in handy during winter and spring breaks. At the back of the book are some measurement equivalents.

In her introduction she chronicles her travels as a child, teenager and an adult. She recounts an almost fatal encounter in New Orleans in her perilous pursuit of a punk-rock show.

When she’s not working on perfecting new recipes or promoting these books, Kramer is updating her popular blog at www.govegan.net and www.sarahstourdiary.blogspot.com.

A Canadian native, Kramer has owned Tattoo Zoo with her husband in Victoria, B.C. since 1994.

She is also an award-winning professional photographer. Her photos have been in a number of publications including Suicide Girls and Herbivore Magazine.

Sarah Kramer is scheduled to come to Portland and will appear at Herbivore Clothing, 1211 S.E. Stark St. at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 7. For a city so firmly entrenched in its natural food ways, this should be an impressive stop for this heavyweight of the vegan movement.

Vegan A Go-Go****1/2231 pages$17.95Check out the blog at www.dailyvanguard.com for a sample recipe.