Madison chef releases new plant-based cookbook After writing recipes for her restaurants and receiving requests from her clients and customers, Lauren Montelbano decided to give cookbook writing a try. February 8, 2021 5:00 PM Erica Krug Updated: Local Chef Lauren Montelbano just released her first cookbook, "Grounded: Conscious Plant-based Cuisine." Chef Lauren Montelbano, formerly of Surya Cafe, is the reluctant author of a new cookbook, “Grounded: Conscious Plant-based Cuisine.” “Honestly [writing a cookbook] was never anything that I personally wanted to do!” Montelbano says with a laugh. “I hate quantifying recipes. I really just enjoy the creative freedom of cooking and the personal expression. I am not culinary school trained — I learned from many women around the world and they didn’t use recipes either. ‘A handful of this, a pinch of this…’ to quantify that to me was kind of my worst nightmare.”