Joni is just a regular gal who loves to cook and bake…ESPECIALLY for friends and family. Self taught, and still learning, she spends most of her spare time in the kitchen. I recently had the opportunity to interview Joni about her book, The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet. Visit  her website for tasty recipes and other helpful information at http://www.justthefood.blogspot.com/

101 seems like an odd number for the amount of burger recipes in the book. How did you get to this number?

The book was originally titled Just the Burgers: 101 Homemade Veggie Burgers, which was a play off of my website, Just the Food, and a college entry level class on burgers…you know, like Burgers 101.

The “Couscous Pantry Burger” and how you developed it was quite interesting. How hard was it for you to conduct the experiment for the month without buying any food and using only the ingredients you had on hand already? And were any other burgers in the book created in the same manner?

I was truly inspired by my cousin Leah and her husband Tim when they did the same experiment.  It really goes to show you how much food we really keep in our fridges and pantries at any given point in time.  I’ve made lots of “pantry” dishes, and when they come out well, I post them on my blog, but I only made one pantry burger.

I believe you touched on just about every taste including “umami” with the Asian themed burgers how did you decide which would be the final burgers in each of the regionally represented tastes?

Some burgers just were too far fetched to be included in the book…and some that made it in (the Ravioli Burger on page 79, the Burger Roll-ups on page 121, and the Peaches and Cream Burger on page 30) really pushed the envelope on what it means to be a “burger”.  Some that didn’t make it in included dessert burgers, which really just ended up to be cookies, or just ended up to be gross.  Ha-ha.  There were also a few more “meaty” type burgers and variations of the, “I am trying to be a “real” hamburger,” recipes that I thought were just a bit obnoxious…besides, that theme was already well represented in the book.  I really wanted to have at least 10 different recipes from each region of the world, however I found it was a lot easier to incorporate Latin flavors into burgers, than say, Eastern European ones, so my plan to have perfectly even chapters was abandoned.

You keep the ingredients easer to obtain which is great for most families. Did you use trial and error to come up with the right consistencies for each burger?

Absolutely…trial and error, and testing (I had an amazing group of testers for this book from all around the world).  Some burgers went through 6 or 7, sometimes up to 10, different recipes before they finally made the grade, and held together well enough…and of course tasted great!  The Super Quinoa Burgers (page 95) probably took the most tweaking, which was fine by me, since that just meant I had to eat about 40 of them…ha-ha.

What inspired you to include recipes for buns? Did you want to remain consistent with certain continuity of tastes for the burgers or were commercial offerings just overpowering the authenticity?

Not being a true baker, I really was inspired to create recipes for homemade buns that were easy to make, so that vegans could make their complete meal from scratch and really blow the minds of their friends and families.  I mean, seriously, who makes their own buns?

I’ve made vegan takes on burgers that looked interesting but, not easily achieved or very flavorful. What was the burger from the book that completely blew you away on how it tasted as opposed to how it looked?

I think the Seitanic Stuffers (page 100-105) fit this bill nicely.  They are very plain looking.  They look like any old veggie burger trying to look like a traditional beef burger…but then you bite into it and the fillings just explode with flavor into your mouth.  This burger was also a tester favorite, because it allowed you to be very creative with the fillings, and really make it your own.  Also, the Masa Masala burger (page 59) also isn’t much of a looker, but has such interesting flavor combinations; it really takes you by surprise.

What led you to include the desserts, condiments and sides in The Best Veggie Burgers?

I did this so that you could make your whole burger meal out of one book.  The sides included, make sense with the burgers in the book, and the condiments, well, they are absolutely necessary.  The desserts (as mentioned above) were originally supposed to be burgers, but that didn’t really work out, so I included a few of my absolute favorite tried and true, omni and bake sale approved, desserts just to make sure there was a way to finish off that meal.  The desserts I included are no-fuss, easy to make, easy to serve, and work well at an outdoor event, or casual get together, which I feel makes them perfectly appropriate for this book.

Would you consider a sausage or wiener-schnitzel companion book to The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet? (Vegan dogs often get a bad rap but, maybe a get new look with your creative spin.)

OMG.  Yes!  I have to call my publisher with that idea, right now.  Ha-ha.  Wanna be a tester?  I can see it now:  Hold onto your buns, the wiener revolution has begun: The Best Veggie Dogs on the Planet.  I am totally in.