Clara Donne of Muriwai holds the vegetarian cookbook she launches on October 17 besides Dandy, one of the family ponies.

Persistence could pay off for vegetarian Clara Donne who savours a special letter.

As a six-year-old she wrote to Prime Minister John Key asking for a law change to stop animals being killed for food.

The animal lover realised from his non-committal response she needed to change tack, starting a project to prove meals without meat are yummy.

"Lots of people would have to think and be vegetarian for a law to be changed," she says. "I wanted to show that people can be healthy and not eat meat and animals can still live long lives."

Now aged 11, the Muriwai resident has written, illustrated and self-published a cookbook.

Each of her recipes feature on pages she collaged over four years, waiting patiently for her mum Taina Henderson to learn about publishing a book.

Excited about the outcome, she says her most favourite recipe is Mexican pizza.

"As you can probably tell on my face in the photo! Beans are very healthy."

The cookbook is dedicated to her first teacher Nicky Ling of Birkenhead Primary School, who told her mum there should be plenty of Clara's philosophy in it.

"The cookbook is empowering for her. It's good if children have concerns they can do something about it and not worry about feeling helpless," Henderson says.

She says her daughter is a real greenie who has her own vegetable garden, does environmental artwork and is quite an activist at Waimauku School, picking up spiders and setting them free outside her classroom.

Her passionate influence is spreading with her parents, including dad Adrian, sometimes having meat-free meals and her 10-year-old brother Luca and other friends now vegetarians.

"When Clara became a vegetarian I didn't know one single vegetarian recipe. I did a huge amount of research," Henderson says. "Now everyone we cook for, including the children, love the meals."

A section in the book about Iron, Omega 3 and Vitamin B12 also appeases parents who don't want their kids to be vegetarians because they think they won't be healthy.

But the Playcentre mum says her daughter understands the need to respect other's opinions and what they eat.

"People have to make their own decisions about what they want to eat. I've decided not to eat anything with more than four legs."