Quick Summary: An instructive guide and culinary education in Asian cuisine

My Review: PlantAsia: Asia's Vegetable Wisdom in Recipes, Stories and Techniques by Pamelia Chia is a "Cooking, Food & Wine" masterpiece. It is scheduled for release on 10/28/25.

About the Book: "PlantAsia is a continent-spanning celebration of Asia’s diverse and evolving food traditions that will transform the way you think about and cook with vegetables. Combining storytelling, technique, and unique flavor pairings, chef and author Pamelia Chia challenges and expands what we imagine when we think of vegetarian cooking."

In My Own Words: PlantAsia is an inspiring resource and guide that is filled with recipes, Q & As, pictures, instructionals, and more.

What I Liked/Loved/Cannot Wait to Try:

- I loved the way the author invited readers into her history. Learning about what led her toward this project and to this lifestyle personalized it. I could easily relate to what she shared.

- I found the notes on recipes to have helpful suggestions that would aid me in going forward.

- I really loved the pictures of the prepared food and assembled dishes. When chefs, cooks, culinary teachers, food writers, and anyone in food creation provides visual aids, it proves to be incredibly helpful. It helps me to know what a meal should look like. I find it moves me toward a targeted goal much better.

- I loved the artwork and Q & A with the featured contributors. I was familiar with a couple, but this added treat allowed me to become familiar with more.

- I liked how the book was sectioned. It was perfect...from A to Z! I particularly appreciated Expanding Your Asian Pantry.

- I loved the simplicity, with regard to the recipes. The instructions, the ingredient lists, and the step-by-step preparation guides were invaluable.

- I super loved all of the eggplant recipes!!! Often, people do not know how to prepare them, but this book showed just how versatile this yummy fruit (masquerading as a vegetable) really is/can be.

- I LOVED the recipes. I cannot wait to try (abbreviated listing, per section):

Raw: Garden Greens Sambol, Naengmyeon with Watermelon Dongchimi

Steamed and Blanched: Chayote and Glass Noodle Dumplings, Mushroom Rice Rolls with Bean Sprout Salad

Simmered: Butternut Squash Kootu with Spiced Chickpeas, Tempered Beans with Tomato Casarecce

Fried: Stir-Fried Glass Noodles with Cilantro and White Pepper, Fig and Brie Hotteok

Deep-Fried: Eggplant Croquettes with Cilantro Mayonnaise, Fried Cauliflower with Gochujang Glaze

Charred and Grilled: Kulawong Talong, Smoky Eggplant Raita with Focaccia

Roasted and Baked: Tumeric Carrots with Dill and Mung Bean Jelly, Pumpkin and Pearl Couscous Salad

Sweetened: Steamed Mochi-Stuffed Dates, Black-Sticky Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk and Mango

*** Honorable Mentions: Hot Butter Mushrooms, Tempeh Satay with Sambal Matah, Kare-Kare-Style Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Chili-Flecked Jalebis with Mango Yogurt, Blackberry and Peach Gum Shortcake

My Final Say: This fantastic work of art is so simple and so beautifully done. I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy for my personal library. Not only is the content easy to follow, but it is also inspiring. I plan to refer to it often.

This book belongs in every kitchen. I highly recommend it.

Other: I could easily see this content being carried over into a cooking show or into a specialized food series. It was such an educational experience. I know others will be drawn to it.

Rating: 5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Keeper: Yes
Favorites Shelf: Yes
Besties Shelf: Yes
Status/Level: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sincere appreciation is extended to the author, to the publisher (The Experiment), and to NetGalley. Thank you so very much for granting access to this amazing work in exchange for an honest review. The words I have shared are my own and have been voluntarily submitted. I look forward to reading and learning more from this Singaporean culinary teacher and food writer. Brava!

"PlantAsia is a continent-spanning celebration of Asia’s diverse and evolving food traditions that will transform the way you think about and cook with vegetables. Combining storytelling, technique, and unique flavor pairings, chef and author Pamelia Chia challenges and expands what we imagine when we think of vegetarian cooking."

This is a really cool book that gives home chefs of all levels the opportunity to try their hands at vegetarian and vegan recipes that are a little different from what you would find in general plant-forward cookbooks. There's lots of notes on spices, techniques, and ingredients that help familiarize readers with Asian ingredients and cooking, making this book very beginner-friendly. Aside from the cool recipes and lovely pictures are stories and anecdotes from chefs on their favourite ingredients, textures, and background.

I'm hoping to try to make chayote and glass noodle dumplings and the fig and brie hotteok! YUM

I received a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I received an ARC of this cookbook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful cookbook. It's filled with wonderful recipes but also gives some backstory on the author's life/food journey!

This vegetable based cookbook was great and it had a lot of information on how to cook vegetables. I highly recommend this cookbook.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a review copy.

PlantAsia joins the growing shelf of pan-Asian vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, and so invites comparison to two other relatively recent titles: Sasha Gill’s East Meets Vegan and Meera Sodha’s East. There’s minimal overlap with Gill’s book, which leans into popular takeout-style dishes and feels like a date-night cookbook with most recipes scaled for 2-4 servings and composed of items available at mainstream grocery stores. Sodha’s East, on the other hand, is more closely aligned with PlantAsia and features a mix of modern fusion recipes and plant-based interpretations of popular classic dishes, often incorporating less traditional ingredients.

Like both those books, PlantAsia is visually engaging. It features step-by-step photos for some of the more involved dishes and informative interviews with contributing chefs, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

What sets PlantAsia apart is the ambitious range of countries and cultures it represents, many of which haven’t yet had significant representation in recent vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. The featured cuisines and influences include Burmese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Sri Lankan, Japanese, Taiwanese, Indian, Hakka, Singaporean, Thai, Laotian, Malay, Filipino, Tibetan, Cambodian, Indonesian, and Hainanese. This breadth brings both an exciting opportunity to explore new flavors and a potential challenge in sourcing ingredients, depending on local availability.

There’s no singular unifying theme beyond an Asian inspiration, so the recipes vary widely from modern fusion (often with an Australian twist) to homestyle dishes. You won’t find textbook versions of any dish; instead, the book offers interpretations that creatively blend tradition with innovation.

The diversity of contributors mirrors that of the cuisines. The book introduces a range of newer voices while also including familiar names, like Sonoko Sakai, who have their own cookbooks. However, this variety results in some variability in technique and recipe formatting, leading to less standardization across the book.

The recipes vary in complexity. Some are quick and approachable, while others, like the Watercress Noodles with Split Pea Fritters, for example, are more involved.

I tried five recipes based on ingredients I had on hand:

● Tofu and Chive Dumplings with Peanut Sauce: Quick to assemble; the mild, creamy dumplings are a great blank slate for the peanut sauce and chili crisp.
● Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage: Simple and adaptable. One cabbage yielded enough for multiple meals: first as a side, then mixed in a noodle stir-fry, and later in buns and dumplings.
● Ginataang Munggo: The fried tofu provided a satisfying texture contrast in this creamy mung bean stew.
● Butternut Squash Dengaku: Sweet and pleasant, but ultimately a bit forgettable.
● Steamed Mochi-Stuffed Dates: Made without the optional osmanthus flowers, a little one-note: soft and sweet stacked on more soft and sweet.

I hope to revisit this book in the future once I’ve sourced a few more ingredients to try more of the recipes, including the chickpea tofu in the current cover image.

That said, a few quibbles around usability:
● Clear labeling of vegan versus vegetarian (or egg-free, dairy-free, etc.) would be helpful for the likely intended audience.
● Some vegan substitutions are mentioned in headnotes or ingredient lists, but more consistent and clearly marked alternatives would improve accessibility.
● Organizing recipes by cooking technique doesn’t align with how many home cooks plan meals. Organizing by region, ingredient, course, flavor profile, or preparation time might make navigation easier and discovery more intuitive.

Thank you to The Experiment and NetGalley for providing an advance reading copy.

Thank you NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I never thought plant based foods were boring (a cliché you hear that they speak about in the book, and try to overcome) but this book really took vegan dishes to a whole new level. Some ingredients would be hard for me to source where I am, but the recipes and pictures were super appetising, with bits and pieces of history interspersed between recipes. Most recipes I really, really want to try though so I will try my best to find the ingredients. Great book!

This is a beautiful cookbook with adventurous, authentic Asian vegan recipes of all sorts. There is a full page photo (or more) of every recipe, along with interviews with vegan Asian chefs. I liked the layout— the chapters are broken down by raw, steamed, etc instead of by course. The dishes all seem very flavorful and inspired. You may have to work to source some of the ingredients if you are not near a large Asian community but most should be fairly easy to find. No nutritional information is provided. There is a fair bit of wheat and soy in the recipes but a lot will work for people with allergies and I appreciated the instructions for things like chickpea tofu. It’s a fun, interesting cookbook.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book via netgalley.

Thank you Netgalley, The Experiment, and Pamelia Chia for sending me this advanced review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a really great vegetarian cookbook, that even meat eaters will love! The photos were beautiful and shoed the food very well. I was getting so hungry while reading through this cookbook. There were also a ton of very beautiful paintings too!

I enjoyed the detailed information about what ingredients to add to make up for the things that are lacking when not using meat. You sometimes loose richness or texture.

The extensive detailed descriptions of the various ingredients was a very nice touch, and make it much easier to find the right thing at the store. I already had a lot of them on hand because I cook Asian food on a regular basis. Some of the ingredients can be hard to find if you live in a rural area like I do, but a lot of them can be ordered online.

All the recipes looked amazing, and were fairly authentic too, with some minor modifications here and there for hard to find ingredients. The directions were very clear, and I think an adventurous beginner could tackle any recipe in this book with ease. If you wanted to, it would also be easy to add meat to a lot of these dishes if you aren't a vegetarian too.

The way the categories was set up was very nice. We had Raw, Steamed & Blanched, Simmered, Fried, Deep Fried, Charred & Grilled, Roasted & Baked, and Sweetened.


I think the first recipe I plan to make is the Mini Kimbap with Ssamjang Mayo. This would be a perfect lunch on a hot summer day.

This would be a great cookbook to have on anyone's shelf. It's beautiful, and approachable for any level of cook.