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My Vegan Cookbook

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How did one conversation in a cafe lead to my decision to become vegan? How did planning meals for my family grow into this book? I am a psychologist, a mum of three, of Maltese heritage and I love cooking. My book is about your health with plant based recipes to satisfy, nourish, heal and nurture.

BETTY CHETCUTI

Writer

Project Type:

Short Script
Number of Pages:

376
Country of Origin:

Australia
Language:

English
First-time Screenwriter:

Yes
Student Project:

No

Writer Biography - BETTY CHETCUTI

Betty is an Australian psychologist, working in Melbourne, Australia. For over 20 years, she has helped people to be happier, calmer and to take care of their emotions. The role of nutrition, sleep and exercise has always been a core foundation of her work as a psychologist and this research on vegan eating provided another avenue for people to improve their health outcomes. Betty has always enjoyed cooking and from an early age, she was preparing delicious family meals alongside her Maltese parents with vegetables, herbs and fruit from the home garden. She wrote a Maltese Cookbook in 2000 to capture her family recipes in a project she shared with her parents. Since becoming vegan in 2019, Betty expands upon her love of cooking by sharing easy to access information about vegan eating in My Vegan Cookbook to encourage and inspire people to learn new ways of cooking the vegan way. As a mother of three children, she found this way of eating was easily adapted into family meals for her children to enjoy. Betty completed over 1,000 hours of research whilst compiling My Vegan Cookbook and ongoingly continues her research into the health and welfare impacts of being vegan. Aside from the simple pleasures of life such as cooking, she also enjoys socialising, walks, being amongst nature by the sea or the trees, reading books, having guests over for dinner, and being a vibrant and innovative part of her community.

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Writer Statement

Want to be vegan but don’t know where to start? Vegan cooking is simple, delicious and wholesome.
My Vegan Cookbook has nearly 180 recipes that can mostly be prepared in 30 minutes. Recipes from breakfast to drinks and desserts, including how to make cheese and plant based milks so you don’t feel you are missing out on anything by being vegan…and instead will feel remarkably surprised by the wider range of wonderful dishes you can enjoy with many new taste sensations.

My Vegan Cookbook inspires you to cook with easy to follow recipes and mouth-watering colour photos. Your familiar favourites such as pancakes, toasted sandwiches, pastas, chocolate cake and cafe latte are all possible with simple and easy plant based alternatives. Once you ‘veganise’ your current dishes, My Vegan Cookbook explains how to add diversity for gut health and immunity, ever important since 2020.

An amazing Introduction with 50 pages of research and sharing experiences on how children adapt to these recipes, simple dairy and egg swaps, weekly menu plans plus ever helpful protein and iron tables to manage the ‘where do you get your protein /iron from?’ questions. My Vegan Cookbook is for people from all walks of life who are interested in their health and the welfare of animals and the environment.

To emphasise the family friendly and embracing nature of this book, family photos, the author’s Maltese heritage and personal stories of family cooking using the home kitchen garden are shared. Recipes with multicultural flavours are selected from across the continents for a tasty menu and to build your palate, including some Maltese recipes made vegan for My Vegan Cookbook! Plus the conversation where it all started with Dr Andrew Davies, a Melbourne based Intensive Care doctor. Andrew told Betty about his wife’s Aunt Dulcie who survived severe heart disease after adopting plant based eating. Andrew recommended to watch 'What the Health' which Betty did that Saturday night, and when she saw what they did to cows it became the line in the sand. She was so impacted she started writing vegan recipes for her family that later turned into My Vegan Cookbook. She was even more encouraged that the extensive medical literature citing health benefits of vegan eating was also experienced in her psychology clients, in her own life and that of her family. Betty is honoured and grateful to have a wonderful forward written by Dr Andrew Davies. Although, leading a busy life in 2020, being President of her daughter's school, caring for her mother, being a Board member for her professional membership association with many media appearances, plus running a full time private psychology practice made more demanding during 2020, she was highly motivated, initially for health and subsequently for animal life to be respected, to stay up late and over the weekends to write recipes and to photograph each recipe to pique your tastebuds and enthusiasm for vegan food.

Betty also incorporates zero waste ideas in her recipes, psychological tips to stay eating vegan and provides podcasts, readings and documentaries to encourage you to become and stay vegan.

This is what people have said about My Vegan Cookbook

“The Pear Cake is great! Not too sweet, exactly how I like it. Definitely a winner xx” Faith

“Love your book …delicious xx” Michelle

“I also have really enjoyed your book Betty. Recent Anzac cookies the best ever. “ Mary, mother of Simon Hill @plant_proof

“Just wanted to let you know that I am loving your cookbook. It is absolutely amazing”. Daniella

“Hi there Betty, I just bought your book. I absolutely love it. The pictures are gorgeous and the recipes look straightforward and yet so interesting in terms of combinations of spices, grains etc. I have a huge number of Vegan cookbooks. I think your book will become my favourite. Thank you” Delwyn

“I just wanted to write and tell you what a wonderful book that you have published. I just enjoy looking through it and reading it from cover to cover or wherever it happens to open. What I really like is that it reminds me of some of the basics that I know but have forgotten or techniques that I haven’t used for a while. So I thank you for that. It’s a pleasure to read and browse through. I am more strictly WFPB than some of your recipes but you do include many substitutions and options. So I am working through the recipes thinking how to make them align with my cooking style. But I just love the mix of foods and recipes that you offer. I wish that this was my first vegan cookbook when I changed eating styles as you make things sound so easy. So congratulations again on your publication.” Cheers, Julius