Moosewood Restaurant was originally founded as a worker collective[1] on January 3, 1973[2] during the natural foods and Farm-to-table movements within the American counterculture.

[9] The focus turned to natural foods that primarily featured vegetarian (and later vegan) dishes, but has also included pescetarian options on its menu and in its cookbooks.

[9][10][11] It was popular with countercultural icons: "Crosby and Nash once shared drinks at the bar, and Allen Ginsberg ended his dinner with a Moosewood brownie and black coffee.

The vision was to put forward ideas about sustainable farming and environmentally friendly food systems but to do so in a delicious way.

"[4] It was also set up to: "run collectively, with the aim of supporting a lot of people and sharing the responsibilities of presenting good food to the community.

Everyone gets paid the same hourly wage, the 15% service charge is divided among all who work during each day, and while a certain amount of specialization seems inevitable, everyone is encouraged to become skilled at all the different jobs...People often ask us about our philosophy on food - we have no set response, nor do we collectively subscribe to a particular school of thought.

'...very simply, we try to offer a lot possibilities without any dogma, reckoning that someone who comes in for the brownies will eventually try a fresh vegetable salad and a meat and potatoes person might try a vegetarian casserole...the basic supposition is that if healthy foods are prepared in delicious ways, people will be inclined to want to eat them.

"(p.5)[13]Wynnie Stein, an original Moosewood member, states she became involved due to the emphasis on local ingredients: "it's important for people to know where their food was produced.

Page three contains a list of its creators: "Design, Editing, Hand-writing, Pen-and-ink illustrations Mollie Katzen Feedback digestion, Critical Analysis, Introduction & History Nancy McCauley Cover Drawing Judith M. Barringer Onion Photogram Kathy Morris Frontispiece: charcoal drawing Meredith (Mimi) Barchat Photographs Phyllis Boudreau Photographic Montage Phyllis Boudreau Susan B.

Mollie Katzen states in a quote on the back cover: "It's been nearly ten years since I cooked at Moosewood Restaurant, and I had no hand making this book, yet these recipes evoke memories so fresh, it feels like I worked there yesterday.