Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking: The Yellow Edition

To view the Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking: The Pink Edition (2022), click here.

The Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking series is a distinctively imaginative spin on cookbooks that combine equal parts vegan-cheffing prowess, humorous stories of adventure and mystery, and punk rock. Imagine Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain, but focused on hyping vegan food, crossed with Scooby Doo.

Two Dollar Radio Headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, has become a vegan comfort food mecca thanks to celebrity chefs Jean-Claude van Randy and Speed Dog (with constructive criticism from Eric Obenauf). In this Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking: The Yellow Edition, the executive vegan chefs unearth a fount of vegan-cheffing knowledge. In addition to exquisite recipes and vegan life hacks, they—like every long-winded blogger whose recipe posts you've had to extensively scroll through—view food as a story: nary a meal is prepared without recalling an epic adventure, such as when Speed Dog summited Old Goat Mountain in Banff, armed with nothing more than a sack full of cherry Ring Pops and a wily pack burro.

We are all explorers, vegan food explorers. Join us on this culinary journey—crafting delectable recipes and solving mysteries—as we slay Vegan Hunger Demons.

This Guide to Vegan Cooking is for you if:
* You’re looking for satisfying comfort food;
* You’re interested in a vegan diet but are having trouble giving up cheese;
* You’re (vegan) fishing for accessible recipes that don’t require hard-to-find ingredients you can’t pronounce;
* You crave ADVENTURE.

Reviews

Two Dollar Radio: The Food Is the Story | 12/3/2020
The indie publisher’s new vegan cookbook serves its community-building mission and delivers flavor and laughs along the way
"[Two Dollar Radio’s Guide to Vegan Cooking] is more than the recipes from café chef and owner Eric Obenauf. It’s the adventurous tale of how those recipes came to be part of the menu at Two Dollar Radio’s headquarters café. Intertwined among the vegan recipes and vegan hacks for everyday life is the rock ’n’ roll vegan cheffing tale of characters called Jean-Claude van Randy and Speed Dog. Illustrated by Eric’s cartoons, the story follows the pair on a cross-country road trip during which they encounter the likes of Tofu Daddy and Drunk Publicist as they discover and/or create their badass vegan dishes. The hilarious episodes of Two Dollar Radio’s vegan protagonists are not the stuff of your average food blog... Whether you pick up a copy of the book and cook at home or stop by Two Dollar Radio Headquarters for a visit, vegan comfort food with a great backstory is easy to come by."
—Wynne Everett, EDIBLE COLUMBUS


^ PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAKE NEEDLEMAN

"Searching for a sauce that does it all? We’ve found it for you, friends! This vegan buffalo queso recipe from the Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking has a rich, velvety texture with just the right amount of kick. No one would ever guess that the basis of this quick-to-make, creamy sauce is silken tofu!"
—World of Vegan, view the Buffalo Queso recipe!

"This super fun new cookbook is brought to you by the people at Two Dollar Radio, Ohio’s vegan comfort food cafe mecca, and contains both delicious vegan comfort recipes and also just a whole lot of fun. Come for the incredible recipes (vegan crab cakes benedict–enough said, thank you) and stay for the humorous stories that accompany them. This cookbook is imaginative and creative while also featuring accessible vegan recipes that are both healthy (mostly) and just super delicious all around. Two thumbs way up, and all of my other fingers as well, for this creative little cookbook."
—Audrey Farnsworth, Fodor's Travel "These New Fall Cookbooks Are Full of Your Next Favorite Quarantine Comfort Meals"

"In between the tiny chapters of this oddly engrossing plant-based tale is a (vegan) cheese-friendly menu of chicken wings, tater tots, breakfast sandwiches, crab cake Benedicts and Italian casseroles."
—Avery Yale Kamila, Portland Press Herald, "Seven new vegan cookbooks that perfectly suit this unusual year"

"If I had one word to describe the recipes in this cookbook, it would be decadent!"
—Sadhna Sheli, from The Masala Girl — read the full interview

Bookin' | October 4, 2020
Bookin' Quail Ridge Books Podcast Episode 100 | Interview with Eric Obenauf
"Hosted by Jason Jefferies, topics of discussion include Columbus, Ohio, as a hotbed for the literary arts, how Eric came to work with Chef van Randy and Chef Speed Dog, the Two Dollar Radio tattoo club, celebrities that refer to themselves in the third person, Twizzlers, whether or not veggies are a main dish, drum solos, and much more."

MikeyPod | November 16, 2020
MikeyPod 310 | Interview with Author and Publisher Eric Obenauf
"Eric and I talk about his incredible work and his latest creation, Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking. Of course, we dig into process, overcoming obstacles, and the beauty that often comes from limitation."

"I love a cookbook that's as fun to read as it is to cook from! The punk aesthetic that runs through the book reminds me of 90s zine culture... The recipes are fancy but approachable, the kind of dishes that use ingredients you already have in your pantry but include something special, like an aioli."
—Bianca Phillips, Vegan Crunk

"Delicious recipes and fun stories in the vein of Hunter S. Thompson, this 'cookbook' is wholly unique!"
—Samantha Kolber, Bear Pond Books (Montpelier, VT)

"The Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking is a perfectly hilarious way to learn some badass recipes. In the first of a new *very well-priced* guidebook series from the publisher, celebrity chefs Jean Claude Van Randy and Speed Dog venture out to solve mysteries and "slay the hunger demons."
—Gary Lovely, BuzzFeed News

"Probably the most fun we've ever had reading a cookbook! If you're looking for a) a romp of a read and b) accessible and delicious vegan ideas to add to your arsenal, look no further."
—Anna Weber, White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh, PA (@whitewhalebks, Instagram)

"Like everything [Two Dollar Radio] does, this one is strange and delightful and more of a story featuring recipes than a standard cookbook."
—Sadie Dupuis (@sad13 Instagram), author of Mouthguard, and frontperson of Speedy Ortiz

"This book is an utter delight; it's super-weird and funny and full of mouth-watering recipes. In short, it's the best kind of emblem you could brandish to try to replicate the joy-full, delicious experience of being at $2 Radio HQ in person."
—Janet Geddis, Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA)

"Loaded with colorful photographs, stories behind our favorite TDRHQ eats, and easy recipes... We love this cookbook and hope you do too!"
—Columbus Veg Community, Instagram: @columbusvegcommunity

"For the reluctant vegan, these recipes are hearty and not overloaded with specialty ingredients. Bonus: author commentary is personality-infused; of course, this isn't surprising given his roots are in Sheboygan!"
—Kay Wosewick, Boswell Books (Milwaukee, WI)

"Can’t find a store-bought dairy-free cheese you like? Make your own. Made with simple ingredients you can find anywhere, this dairy-free queso comes together with just a quick blitz in the blender. Drizzle it over tacos, douse it over nachos, swap it with traditional pizza sauce, or toss it with penne for a buffalo-style mac and cheese. Your imagination is your only limitation—this sauce is fantastic on everything!"
—Switch4Good
View the recipe for Buffalo Queso here.

"Three years after opening a bookstore and café with a bar in Columbus, Ohio, indie publisher Two Dollar Radio is combining its expertise in publishing with the culinary expertise of its two chefs on staff to produce the kind of cookbook that only the unconventional and multifaceted company would create."
—Publishers Weekly

VegWorld Magazine recipe excerpt:
View the recipe for Calgary Carrot Lox Salad here.

Interviews

MikeyPod | November 16, 2020
MikeyPod 310 | Author and Publisher Eric Obenauf
"Like many of us, Eric Obenauf found himself weighing his options after the 2016 election here in the United States. Was it time to leave the country, or was it more important to stay and create the type of community he believed in? He and his wife Eliza settled on the latter and the result was Two Dollar Radio Headquarters in Columbus, OH, an indie bookstore and vegan cafe that serves as the perfect extension of Two Dollar Radio, their acclaimed family-run book publisher... Eric and I talk about his incredible work and his latest creation, Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking. Of course, we dig into process, overcoming obstacles, and the beauty that often comes from limitation. Give the show a listen, and then grab yourself a copy of the book at your local indie bookstore!"

The Masala Girl | October 27, 2020
Veggie Peeps – Interview with Vegan Publisher Eric Obenauf
"Well, if I gain 5 pounds this week it’s totally Eric Obenauf’s fault. I dove into his first cookbook Guide to Vegan Cooking & picked his recipe “MAPLE-FROSTED COOKIE DOUGH BARS (GLUTEN-FREE)” as the first recipe I wanted to try. It was so good I froze half of it to mix in with my vegan vanilla ice cream at a later date, because if I didn’t I would have eaten the whole thing! And being a total tease here — it’s base is garbanzo beans... Here, he shares his inspiration for his cookbook & tips to help inspiring vegan home chefs."

Bookin' | October 4, 2020
Bookin' Quail Ridge Books Podcast Episode 100 | Eric Obenauf
"Hosted by Jason Jefferies, topics of discussion include Columbus, Ohio, as a hotbed for the literary arts, how Eric came to work with Chef van Randy and Chef Speed Dog, the Two Dollar Radio tattoo club, celebrities that refer to themselves in the third person, Twizzlers, whether or not veggies are a main dish, drum solos, and much more."
(Support indie bookstores! Copies of Two Dollar Radio Guide to Vegan Cooking and lots of other awesome books can be ordered here from Quail Ridge Books, with FREE SHIPPING!)

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