Don't be intimidated by the idea of making cheese--vegan cheese is simple and straight-forward, with clean, basic ingredients. Here, green-lifestyle expert Jules Aron shares the tricks of the trade for making sauces, cheese you can grate or slice, and soft spreadable options, using homemade nut milks, vegetables, and natural helpers like lemon juice, probiotics, agar-agar, and nutritional yeast. Her flavorful creations are enhanced with herbs and...

"Some food historians say that 1491 to 1493 are the years the world began in terms of food, that is. Prior to 1492, eight plants--corn, beans, squash, chile, tomato, potato, vanilla, and cacao--existed only in the Americans. Italy didn't have the tomato; Ireland didn't have the potato, nor Russia the vodka distilled from it; and there were no chiles in South Asia. When these ingredients crossed the ocean, they drastically transformed the way the Old...