Urban Vegan

Dynise Balcavage has been cooking since age seven, and writing professionally for the past 16 years. The author of 11 books for young readers, she recently published recipes in Herbivore magazine and Végétariens magazine (France's first vegetarian magazine), and has written for VegNews. An interview with her in Herbivore ran alongside an interview with Rory Friedman (author of Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch). She and her husband were also featured in an article on interdietary relationships in The New York Times.Dynise's blog, Urban Vegan (http://urbanvegan.net), details life as a city vegan and the ups and downs of living with an omnivore spouse. She gets more than 30,000 visitors each month and more than 2,500 web sites currently link to her. Urban Vegan made the top 10 food blogs nationwide in the 2007 Bloggers' Choice Awards and Philadelphia Weekly featured it in September 2007 as one of Philadelphia's top food blogs. Dynise volunteers for Philly PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society), and is an activist for countless animal rights organizations. She lives in Philadelphia.

"The Urban Vegan is fresh, hip, and intelligent, and simply perfect for everyone – from the city dweller who wants to do a vegan dine-in to the rural cook who yearns to sample the vegan delicacies a large urban centre has to offer." - Dreena Burton, author of Eat, Drink and Be Vegan "With an engaging, down-to-earth tone, but quirky and charming, Balcavage delivers the best of the world's flavors to your kitchen, from Western Europe to the Middle East, and back home to Philly favorites."– VegNews "You don't have to convert to veganism to appreciate Balcavage's healthy, Easy-to-make recipes."– GRID "Dynise Balcavage's "The Urban Vegan," is less fussy, more funky, with vegan versions of sophisticated eats. It also requires specialty ingredients, but delectable dishes such as millet-crusted mushroom-leek pie and cherry-chocolate chunk scones are easy to make." – The Seattle Times, Food and Wine section "The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine is by Dynise Balcavage, who details life as a city vegan on her blog, UrbanVegan.net. Selections range from Marsala mushroom crepes and sweet-potato gnocchi with basil cream sauce (made with soy milk) to minty mojitos and sherry-infused pate (made with cremini mushrooms and pecans, rather than goose liver). As she puts it, newer recipes have transformed vegan cooking from "oat cuisine" to "haute cuisine."– Winston-Salem Journal "The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine by Dynise Balcavage is one of our absolute favorite new cookbooks!"– GIrlyGirl Army Praise for Celebrate Vegan"Gather, rejoice and feast: Dynise has all the dining milestones covered, joyfully so. Her Italian mojitos should be a tradition for every holiday!"– Terry Hope Romero, author of Veganomicon and Vegan Pie in the Sky "Celebrate Vegan is a must-have book for anyone that loves to eat! Dynise makes every occasion a celebration, with 200 deliciously fabulous vegan recipes to celebrate holidays big and small."– Julie Hasson, author of Vegan Diner