Book review: Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard

With more than 250,000 people in 193 countries having pledged to cut meat and dairy from their diet this month as part of ‘Veganuary', operators must be mindful of including dishes free from animal products on their menus or risk missing out on the custom of this growing group.

The Dirty Vegan cookbook has come off the back of the success of Matt Pritchard's YouTube show, Pritchard's Proper Vegan Cooking, and last month's BBC One documentary, Wild Man to Ironman, which followed the MTV Dirty Sanchez star's successful attempt to swim, cycle and run the Welsh coastline. It also coincides with the transmission of a BBC series of the same name. In both the book and the show Pritchard is challenged to create healthy, vegan dishes for people with specific nutritional needs.

The book is separated into breakfasts, ‘quick hits', salads, soups, main meals, sides and desserts. While recipes might not challenge the professional chef, Dirty Vegan provides everyday inspiration for making meat-free meals from common cupboard staples.

Pritchard himself trained at Colchester Avenue Catering College in Cardiff, and he credits Riverford Field Kitchen's head chef Rob Andrew for help with the book. He has also roped in guest recipes, including chef Sara Williams' aquafaba pavlovas, the pizza dough used at One Planet in Cardiff, and a vegan burger recipe Pritchard designed with chef Adam Walker from the Grazing Shed in Cardiff.

Seitan sausage recipes could guide chefs through creating their own vegan chorizo or English breakfast-inspired ‘sausages', and there are tips on seasoning blander protein alternatives, such as using seaweed flakes to give tofu a fishy flavour, or frying tempeh with a homemade sambal paste for an Indonesian-inspired stir-fry.

Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard (Octopus, £20)

• Click here for a recipe from the book: jackfruit and red pepper goulash