Didi Emmons

Didi Emmons built her career as a chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer by making vegetarian cooking practical and suited to shared meals. Houghton Mifflin published Entertaining for a Veggie Planet: 250 Down-to-Earth Recipes in 2003. The book moves from small gatherings to larger celebrations, pairing recipes with planning advice and Emmons’s informal approach to hosting. Its dishes draw on many culinary traditions without centering meat. Emmons had already published Vegetarian Planet and brought professional kitchen experience to the project. She co-founded the Cambridge, Massachusetts restaurant Veggie Planet, where plant-based dishes and live music occupied the same space. Entertaining for a Veggie Planet received an International Association of Culinary Professionals award in 2004. Emmons treats hospitality as flexible and convivial, giving home cooks recipes and confidence for assembling occasions around them.