Tampa Bay Author’s Cookbook Offers Veggie Versions Of FL Favorites

FLORIDA — A new cookbook by a Tampa Bay-area author offers veggie versions of classic Florida dishes.

“The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook” by Dalia Colón, who lives in Riverview, was released by the University Press of Florida at the end of March.

Colón, who produces the food podcast “The Zest” for WUSF, and, for WEDU, produces and co-hosts “Arts Plus,” and produces and hosts “Bite by Bite: Sustainable Eats,” said she never considered writing a cookbook until she was approached by UPF in January 2021.

“The cookbook was not my idea,” she said. “I was busy with multiple jobs, my kids and it was during COVID. It was the worst time of everyone’s life. The last thing I needed was to be writing a cookbook.”

But Colón couldn’t say no to the project, though she wondered, “Will anyone care?”

Turns out, the timing was right for such a cookbook, she said. “Plant-based eating is having a moment; so, I was lucky.”

Personally, she adopted the diet and lifestyle in 2013 after watching the documentary “Vegucated.”

“And I went cold turkey — no pun intended,” Colón said. “I wasn’t a big meat eater anyway, but I never ate it again after that.”

All people, whether they eat meat or not, might find the recipes included in “The Florida Vegetarian Cookbook” appealing to their palates.

No matter the cuisine, food writing and sharing recipes is “just about storytelling, and everybody eats, so food is the perfect gateway to talk about history, culture, agriculture,” she said. “Literally, every other subject touches food. It’s the perfect topic.”

And Florida has a lot to offer, as far as cuisine, she added. After all, the tagline for her food podcast is “citrus, seafood, Spanish flavor and Southern charm.”

“It’s literally everything,” Colón said.

And her book touches upon all of that, offering vegetarian versions of well-known Florida dishes.

Her vegetarian Spanakopita is a nod to the Greek culture Tarpon Springs is built upon, while her beans and rice recipe refers to Florida’s Cuban and Hispanic culture. (“It sounds so basic but a lot of people don’t know how to season basic ingredients,” she said.)

The book also relies heavily on Florida’s seasonal produce. In fact, the book is broken down by season.

“Things are almost always growing here, except in summer,” Colón said. “Even in the summer, there are mangos, herbs, things like that. The cookbook celebrates the diversity of produce available but also reflects the diversity of the people in Florida.”