Instead of the regular album format, a size resembling old pocket books, and instead of perfectly staged photos, lovely black and white illustrations – this is what it’s like if a graphic designer starts to write a cookbook. Not only did Kata Moravszki share the design of her book Vegán finomságok (Vegan Goodies), she also shared some recipes with us.
Kata Moravszki is a graphic designer originally: portals including Phenomenon and artportal owe their visual appearance to her. After work, Kata likes to wind down in the kitchen, and she is particularly good at baking. Her cookbook was published recently, and both its recipes and illustrations caught our attention.
“Eight years ago I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. As a result I had to say goodbye to all of those sweets I loved the most. As a fanatic sweet consumer, I didn’t want to get used to the fact that I was unable to taste similar products than before. After many attempts in the kitchen and many rubber-taste sponge cakes, the recipes were becoming better and better and, slowly, they were evolving to be good enough to save them. It also turned out that there is a gluten intolerant, a vegetarian, a vegan and someone who avoids refined sugar amongst my friends and it made me wonder what the best solution to avoid those embarrassing birthdays when some of us have to skip some of the meals would be” – explains Kata about the background of her cookbook idea. Simplicity was also a key factor: so that anyone can make all 40 recipes of the book regardless of their age and financial standing.
The end product is not a trendy vegan cookbook, but a super original publication, designed by the author, of course. “The peculiarity of the book is that instead of the photographs, it contains black and white illustrations. Its size resembles that of old pocket books: József Váncza’s “A mi süteményes könyvünk” published in 1936 served as a basis both in terms of size and feeling.”
The lockdown got many in the mood for baking, so we asked Kata to share three recipes from her book. Here they come:
Hónapvégi aranygaluska (End-of-the-month monkey bread)
Grissini italozás mellé (Grissini for drinks)
Datolyás csokigolyók (Date choco balls)
Vegán finomságok, Scolar Kiadó, 2019
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