It is not as if vegetarians are problem people. Yet the non-vegetarian hostess, when confronted with the task of entertaining vegetarian guests, has known and felt the absence of a suitable cook-book designed to help her. And the vegetarian family who wants to discover new horizons in good eating as also the vegetarian housewife who wishes to adjust herself to the present-day requirements for entertainment can derive little guidance or solace from available books on vegetarian cuisine.

This book has been consciously planned to meet these requirements firstly to help entertain vegetarian guests and secondly to bring a new world of preparations within the reach of the vegetarian housewife. The book is for guests, for families, for husbands and last but not least for children. And having in mind the special needs of numerous Indian families, about 80 per cent of the recipes either do not require eggs or can be prepared omitting eggs.

Further, considering the present-day problems of housewives, the recipes have been selected to conform to the following criteria:

a. They must be simple. Triumphs of decoration which require years of training and practice are not included. The dishes given here can be made by anyone with a minimum knowledge of basic techniques of the kitchen.

b. They must be quick. Some of the recipes can be made in as little as 10 minutes of preparation time.

c. They must be reproducible. In other words, the recipes are not only tested and tried, but so worded as to avoid the possibilities of error.

d. They must be economical. This is of course a relative question, but truly expensive ingredients have been consciously avoided in the recipes.

If you are a beginner, I would say that you are to be envied, because you can look forward to times of exciting experience and to a great deal of personal satisfaction which will soon make you forget those few but inevitable tears of frustration. You see, good cooking is not difficult technically.