Compassionate Cuisine

Selected as one of PETA's must-have vegan cookbooks of 2019! Vegan recipes and heartwarming stories for animal lovers, from the Catskill Animal Sanctuary.

Add love and stir! Written with love and authenticity, Compassionate Cuisine tells the story of one of the country’s oldest and most respected animal sanctuaries through its food. With humor and heart, Chef Linda Soper-Kolton and Chef Sara Boan, Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s vegan chefs, bring the Sanctuary’s culinary program, Compassionate Cuisine, to life through an array of recipes intended to inspire and delight. Their recipes have been savored and devoured by thousands of visitors to the Sanctuary, and they want to share them with the world. Interwoven with the recipes are the animals. Sanctuary founder and director Kathy Stevens writes for the voiceless many for whom the Sanctuary works so fervently to share the good news about how wonderful–and important–it is to consider compassion first when we eat.

Find diverse recipes such as:

• Blueberry Praline French Toast Casserole
• Homestead Granola and Vanilla Nut Milk
• Avocado Tartines with Peach Salsa
• Buffalo Cauliflower with Blue Cheese Dressing
• Chipotle Sweet Potato Stew with Lime Cashew Crema
• Thai Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce
• Moroccan Vegetable and Chickpea Tagine
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
• And many more!

Catskill Animal Sanctuary wants the world to go vegan. It’s who they are. It’s what they do. It’s why hundreds of rescued farm animals call their place home. And it’s why they open their gates to thousands of visitors each year. Now, home cooks everywhere can enjoy the same delicious and compassionate cuisine served at the Sanctuary, and read about the people and animals that make the Catskill Animal Sanctuary such a special place.

Catskill Animal Sanctuary opened in January of 2001, the culmination of many months' research, travel, and internships at successful farm sanctuaries by founders Kathy Stevens and Jesse Moore. The Sanctuary is a 148-acre refuge for eleven species of farmed animals rescued from cruelty, neglect, and abandonment. Catskill Animal Sanctuary rescues farmed animals, ignites social change to end their exploitation, and champions vegan living. Today, it is one of the world’s best known and most beloved sanctuaries, having saved over 4,000 farm animals through direct rescue, and exponentially more through groundbreaking programming that encourages humans to adopt veganism. It is located in Saugerties, New York.

Kathy Stevens in 2001, co-founded Catskill Animal Sanctuary, where her love of teaching, her belief that education has the power to transform, and her love of animals come together. Kathy is the author of Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp, two critically and popularly-acclaimed books about the work of Catskill, and a frequent contributor to books, podcasts, and articles on animal sentience, animal rights, and veganism. She takes her message of kindness to all beings and the urgent imperative of veganism to conferences and colleges in the US and Canada. Kathy lives on the grounds of Catskill in Saugerties, New York, with her dogs Chumbley and Scout, and kisses many critters every day.

Linda Soper-Kolton graduated from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, with a certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition as a holistic health coach. In 2012, she came to Catskill Animal Sanctuary as a guest chef, teaching Compassionate Cuisine cooking classes and leading and growing the culinary program, inspiring and educating with love, patience, and delicious food. Seven years later, she continues to strategize, teach, blog, and kiss pigs. She owns her own vegan café in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Sara Boan has been a vegan chef and culinary instructor at Catskill Animal Sanctuary since 2016. Sara holds degrees and certificates from Ohio University, The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, and the Academy of Culinary Nutrition. Sharing her passion for delicious plant-based foods and living a compassionate vegan lifestyle are the great joys in her life. When she's not cooking, you can find her knitting and spinning with vegan fibers, snuggling with her cats, and spending time with her partner. Sara lives in Peekskill, New York.

Alexandra Shytsman is a food photographer, recipe developer, and blogger at The New Baguette. She lives in Syracuse, New York.