This cookery book shows how to provide all the traditional flavours of the festive season - from Advent to Twelfth Night - without resorting to animal products. Menu suggestions help the reader to plan for all occasions over the holiday period and provides a guide to the best wines for each occasion. The book features specially commissioned photography, practical advice - including elegant table decorations, edible tree novelties and food ideas for presents, and advice and appeal not only aimed at vegetarians and vegans, but also to those who have to cook for them. It had to happen: a Christmas dinner without goose, turkey, ham, or other traditional entr{‚}ees. English vegetarian chef Elliot prepares six holiday menus, complete with timetables and good color photographs, all without meat. In a rather disjointed fashion, she opens with desserts (England's traditional Christmas cake, a variation of fruitcake) and other recipes to be made in advance and frozen. Before long, holiday meals, lunches, suppers, and snacks appear, all an odd mixture of sophisticated and simple dishes, from fennel parmesan and oyster mushroom risotto to Father Christmas faces, many of which, unfortunately, contain quite a few ingredients (e.g., mangetouts, marmite) that should have been translated for American cooks. Sweets consume three chapters; in total, the more than 150 recipes provide an unusual way to summon in the holidays. Barbara Jacobs