Synopses & Reviews
Joshua Ploeg's cooking blows my mind so much that a secret door opens in the back of my head and white doves, musical notes, and winged horses fly out. His cooking is transcendent: Dangerous, strange and perfect. It¹s full of colorful tastes that explode in your mouth like Pop Rocks flavor combinations you never thought possible. Crazy alchemy. Freaky magic. Joshua's the Traveling Chef; you make an appointment, he shows up at your house with a load of groceries, makes an incredible multi-course vegan meal using your pots and pans, and then he's gone like the Lone Ranger riding into a big Texas sunset. Joshua's been in a bunch of hardcore bands and he brings all the good things punk rock gave us: risk, passion, creativity, and weirdness; then he applies them to his meals. I randomly lucked into one of his dinners last year. I usually eat really fast and mindlessly, but I had to take this one slow and let all the flavors develop and do their respective stuff. Each had its own distinctive note its own voice that rang out to let it be known that it was something special and unique. It was an experience in the finest sense of the word.
Review
" ... he put out a little gem of a cookbook a few years ago entitled In Search of the Lost Taste. Its a whole $8, so just STFU and get a copy. It has tastes I would never think to put together, but Im glad he did. From sweet to savory, sometimes using local fresh ingredients, sometimes using tofutti cream cheese, and always using whats on hand (although you might not have it on hand…) its one of the most diverse little cookbooks out there. Plus he cooks the way I do, which is to say 'if youve got some extra XYZ, you should just go ahead and throw that in there…' Like I said, its a little gem." —kitsch & kitchen
Review
"Theres no shame in getting a little creative, cruelty-free cooking help. Sacs own traveling vegan chef Joshua Ploeg published a vegan cookbook/comic book last year called In Search of the Lost Taste. The instructions are written without pretentiousness, and his combination of flavors are unexpected, even a bit exotic. He includes animal-product-free recipes for cocktails, tea, shakes, sorbets, appetizers and entrees for the experimental gourmand, including Deep Fried Blueberry 'Steak' Balls, if you have the balls to try it. " —Sacramento News and Review
Review
"Some people make simple, filling meals. Others treat cooking like one big science experiment, and there are those who are more successful than others. In Search of the Lost Taste is a vegan cookbook from Joshua Ploeg, a man who takes a fresh and exciting approach to vegan cooking, doing everything from simulated fried food to Miso Marys. With a strange, surreal story alongside the recipes, In Search of the Lost Taste is a cookbook experimental chefs will love." —Midwest Book Review
Synopsis
Joshua Ploeg's cooking is transcendent: dangerous, strange and perfect. Itas full of colorful tastes that explode in your mouth like Pop Rocksaflavor combinations you never thought possible. Crazy alchemy. Freaky magic. Joshua's a Traveling Chef: you make an appointment and he shows up at your house with a load of groceries, makes an incredible multi-course vegan meal using your pots and pans, and then he's gone. He's been in a bunch of hardcore bands and he brings all the good things punk rock gave us: risk, passion, creativity, and weirdness; then he applies them to his meals. This sort of vegan cookbook doesnat come along every day, folks Itas impressively decadent, but also totally approachable (and the ingredients you need for these elaborate dishes are things you might actually have around). Give it a whirl, you wonat be sorry.
Synopsis
Joshua Ploeg was once the singer for such bands as Lords of Lightspeed, Behead the Prophet, and the Mulkiteo Faeries. Limpwrist even wrote a tribute song to him as a gay punk pioneer ("Ode"). Now he is a touring vegan chef employing the same skills and enginuity that he learned from punk. Among the many recipes in his new cookbook you will find: Spicy Strawberry Applesauce in Pastry Cups with Sweet and Salty Candied Hazelnuts, Roasted Garlic and Red Bean Pate with Herb Sauce and Mushroom Crackers, Fried Veggie Cakes with Sambuca Sauce and Fig Relish, Straw Mushroom and Black Sesame Rolls with Spicy Mustard Sauce and Sweet Black Vinegar-Soy Sauce, Curried Veggie "Chkn" Dumplings with Orange-Tomato Chutney and Wasabi Cream Sauce, Deep Fried Breaded Shish Kabobs with Pomegranate Sauce and Creamy Dill-Garlic Dressing, Cherry Wontons with Plum Brandy Sauce and Yam "Ice Cream", and Red Wine Sorbet with Chocolate Crostini, Berries in Liqueur and Chocolate Balsamic Reduction.
About the Author
Joshua Ploeg is the author of several vegan cookbooks, including Dutch Much, So Raw It's Downright Filthy, Something Delicious This Way Comes: Spellbinding Vegan Cookery, Twelve Knights in My Kingdom, and A Typografic Meal to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Libelle. He lives in Los Angeles.