Watch Deborah Madison's Google Talk About the Evolution of Vegetarian Cooking

Prolific cookbook author Deborah Madison — best known for her iconic vegetarian book The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone — recently stopped by Talks at Google to discuss the evolution of vegetarian cooking. Madison reflects on the early days of her career in the late 1960s, when veggie-focused cuisine "was extremely heavy, and dark, and grey, and brown... you'd have to have a very strong ethical profile to really enjoy eating this food." Madison's solution for livening it up: adding butter to the equation and serving "pancakes that look like pancakes."

Madison also talks about opening her restaurant Greens in the late '70s ("it was a rather soulful kitchen") and the challenges of the vegetarian stigma ("I had to offer something [spectacular] to take the place [of meat]"). Go, watch:

Video: Deborah Madison, "The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone"

· Deborah Madison, "The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" [YouTube]
· All Deborah Madison Coverage on Eater [-E-]