Mollie Katzen's most important books

Mollie Katzen, with over 6 million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful vegetarian food from the "fringe" to the center of the American dinner plate, Ms. Katzen has been named by Health Magazine as one of "The Five Women Who Changed the Way We Eat."

Her latest book is The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without.

She recently told Newsweek about his five most important books.

And she addressed two other book-related issues:

A classic book that, upon rereading, disappointed:

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Formal and methodical, where I've come to prefer spontaneous cooking and eating, as in: slice one perfect tomato and call it lunch.

A much-recommended book that you've resisted reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. There's something about preserving the shroud of mystery around an esteemed fiction writer.

Read about Katzen's most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue