Louise Hagler

Louise Hagler built her career around practical plant-based cooking, especially the use of soy foods in American kitchens. The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, prepared with fellow editor Dorothy Bates, collects recipes and nutritional guidance developed around The Farm community in Tennessee. Book Publishing Company issued the 1988 edition, which explains how to prepare tofu, tempeh, soymilk, grains, breads, vegetables, and other everyday foods without meat, eggs, or dairy products. Hagler also wrote Tofu Cookery, Tofu Quick & Easy, and Meatless Burgers. Across these books, she helped make unfamiliar ingredients approachable through direct instructions and economical recipes. Her work belongs to an early period of American vegan publishing when home cooks often needed to make basic soy products for themselves rather than buy them ready-made.