Such is the power of social media, that my latest cookbook purchase and subject of this month’s cook book review, Bosh, was a result of constantly seeing incredible looking food photographs and video recipes on my Instagram timeline. It looked like food I wanted to cook and eat, I wanted to see more and so I bought the book. I happened to follow Bosh on Instagram, I’m not sure how I came across them, and knew nothing about them, other than their recipes are all plant-based.

So, it turns out that there are two Bosh boys, Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, and they used to be avid meat eaters. They turned vegan quite a few years ago now and, having realised that they would need to learn to cook in a whole new way to be able to nutritionally satisfy their bodies’ needs, they set about their Bosh journey. They wanted to share their findings and show the world that plant-based food can be really good, tasty and achievable for all and that cooking from scratch is the way to go. It started with a social media channel, it led to their first cookbook, Bosh, and their second cookbook, Bish Bash Bosh, is due to be released on 4 April.

What I like about the book is that it is full of food I want to eat, it’s real food for real people, it just so happens there is no meat, dairy or eggs in any of the recipes. There are a range of recipes from dishes that are quick to prepare to showstoppers, from big hearty dishes to light and healthy bowls. There’s useful information about the ingredients they use as well as some helpful nutritional information about sources of protein and other essential nutrients.

So far, we’ve enjoyed the veggie kebabs with spicy shashlik marinade, which I served with a herby rice and (non-vegan) raita and the leftovers of which I had for lunch the next day stuffed into a pitta. We also tried a fun and intriguing recipe for an inside-out pasta dish called pastaball marinara; the pasta is in the meat-free balls which are served with an insanely rich tomato sauce, definitely one to try again.

Probably the most economical recipe I’ve cooked so far is the sweet pepper fajitas (pictured at the top of the post). I cooked the full recipe (minus the refried beans) for the two of us for tea, I had leftovers of the sweet pepper mixture and beans for lunch the next day (with a chorizo and fried egg, sorry boys but it really was good!) and then made the rest of the sweet pepper mixture and beans into a chilli for my daughter and I for lunch the following day.

Whether you’re vegan or, like me, just looking for inspirational ways to reduce your meat-consumption and introduce more plant-based dishes into your weekly meal plans, I’d definitely recommend checking out the Bosh social media channels, if not investing in one of their books.