Hema Bhatter’s International Vegetarian Recipes

Hema Bhatter has been a passionate cook since she was a child. Raised as a vegetarian in a Hindu Indian family, she was encouraged to cook by her mother, who taught her to prepare Indian and Nepalese dishes. An enthusiastic student, Hema was soon preparing many of the family's meals herself.

After getting married, Hema lived and traveled throughout Europe and Asia, refining and expanding her culinary repertoire. "Before we married, she said she was a good cook, but I had no idea then of her skills," says her husband, Shreelal Bhatter. "She was like a sponge, absorbing the starkly different cuisines of Europe and then improvising them to suit a vegetarian lifestyle as well as coming up with innovative fusion creations."

While living in Brussels, Hema started conducting cooking classes for friends and students from such diverse places as Lebanon, the United States, Ireland, Chile, South Africa, and Egypt. Because of popular demand, she began compiling her recipes for publication and purchased the domain name VegCooking.com to create a handy reference for people interested in vegetarian cuisine. Hema later donated VegCooking.com to PETA. The site is now expanded and features Hema's wonderful array of vegetarian recipes from across the globe. We know that you will enjoy them as much as we do!

You can e-mail Hema at hemashree@yahoo.com.