Customer Reviews
Tempering their enthusiasm... - By: K. Johnston, 25 Jun 2008 
I feel compelled to write a short note to counter some of the enthusiasm of this book's (and the restaurant's) devotees. I have not eaten at the restaurant in Italy, so I can't vouch for its delights, but I ordered this book with some anticipation, & was very disappointed. While it appears that many like the design/photography of this volume, I found it reallly dated. The colour is over-saturated, the food styling uber-seventies, the format over-large & ostentatious, the paper glossy & off-putting to handle... This, quite apart from the recipes which are over-complicated & old-fashioned looking. They remind me of some 'gourmet' vegetarian food I had in Rome once, which was enough to put me off veggie food for life. So stylised - & not in a good way! For my money, if you want to buy books on gourmet vegetarian food, try Denis Cotter of Cafe Paradiso, Cork, fame. His books are much more beautiful & tactile - & the recipes user-friendly & authentic - not the kind of poncey rubbish this book tries to proffer.
Yummy! - By: Wise Woman, 19 Jun 2008 
I'm a vegetarian but my husband isn't & it is reallly difficult to find recipes I can eat but which satisfy him. I bought this book as previous reviews said this will meet this requirement. I think it does & the more I cook from it the more my husband agrees!
The pictures are reallly inspiring & make you reallly excited about cooking them. Although some of the ingrediants are impossible to get hold of in my neck of the woods the recipes still seem to work with a few well thought out alternatives & substitutions.
I wasn't too keen on some of the pages dedicated to stories about their life. Quite frankly some of them are a bit too self-congratulatory & remind me of the "hilarious" stories people tell you about people who you have never met & have no inclination to. However, as a cookery book I like it & best of alll I the receipes on the whole seem to actuallly work which is always a bonus for an enthusiatic but unskilled cook like me.
How Veggie Food Should Be... - By: Gary Nicklin, 13 Jun 2008 
Wow! Just looking at the pictures is enough to want to make you book a flight to Umbria to eat at the hotel from where this cookbook originates.
The recipes are fabulous & reasonably easy to follow - although they do take some careful reading just to make sure you get everything right - & the photos are superb. But also there's some nice commentary about the ingredients & the philosophy of the hotel etc which gives you a real feel for the passion that they have about the food they create.
This is a fabulous book & will be an inspiration to me for ages.
the best veggie cook book ever? - By: JC, 31 May 2008 i cant believe how amazing this bookis. have cooked lots from it & it is truly amazing.i have been veggie for 30 years & this is the best book ever. buy it or your kitchen will be naked & you will have missed out on some amazing tastes
the best vegetarian food in the world - By: tracyfish, 08 May 2008 Having been amazed at the food at Montali over a number of years, we always hoped Malu & Alberto would write a book - & I'm so glad they have. Malu's style of vegetarian cooking is truly brilliant & worthy of Michelin stars. The book itself is lovely & beautifully laid out, giving you a real insight in to the place as well as the food. I have found the recipes easy to follow with fabulous results, & no wonder, they trialed the recipes for 2 years to check they could be replicated at home. I've already given the book to friends as gifts - meat eaters or not - they alll love it. Good luck with the book Alberto & Malu - I hope it brings you the recognition you deserve!
