Thursday, April 29, 2010

White with Tofu?

The “rules” on wine parings tend to be meat-centric (red wine with beef, for example). Personally, I subscribe to the theory that the wine to drink is the wine you enjoy (or better yet, skip the wine and go with beer!)—but vegetarians looking for more-formal guidance may enjoy a recent article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the experiences of vegetarian winemakers. (I found it through Erik Marcus’ blog Vegan.com.) It concludes with some tips for pairing vegetarian foods and wine. My favorite is “When in doubt, try sparkling wine.”

Vegan tipplers may also want to toddle over to Barnivore.com. As the site explains, “Brewmasters, winemakers, and distillers may include animal ingredients in their products directly, or they might use them in the processing and filtration.” Barnivore has more than a thousand listings that detail the vegan- or vegetarian-friendliness of beers, wines and liquors.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Stamps for animals

I’m in need of a new book of stamps, but I’m going to wait until the end of the month if I can, so I can buy a couple of books of the new set featuring 10 dog and cats who were adopted from animal shelters. They’re adorable! To make it even better, in conjunction with the stamps, pet-food company Halo is donating a million meals to shelters around the country. Well-known animal-lover Ellen DeGeneres is also involved in the campaign. I’m thrilled that the U.S. Postal Service is bringing attention to the plight of shelter animals.

To read more about the campaign or to pre-order the stamps, go here.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Here, there and everywhere

As the Veggin’ Out picks for the top vegetarian entrees show, there are a lot of things for vegetarians to enjoy in local restaurants. Bravo to all the places that offer creative and delicious choices for vegetarians. But ... how can I put this gently? ... many restaurants fall short in the creativity department. There are a few “vegetarian cliches” that I wouldn’t mind never seeing on a restaurant menu again. Portobello mushroom sandwiches, for example. I love mushrooms, truly I do, but do they have to be everywhere? It’s not even that I don’t enjoy a portobello mushroom sandwich from time to time. I just wish there were something more to choose from.

Other people feel this way. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post recently wrote about how he detests the GVP—grilled vegetable plate: “Let’s get something straight: A vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat meat. It’s not someone who loves vegetables. Or dislikes composed meals. Or thinks food doesn’t benefit from seasoning, and saucing, and a variety of textures and grains and cooking methods.” You can read the whole amusing rant here.

What are the vegetarian cliches you would like to see less often?

Monday, April 05, 2010

Veggie food for carnivores

It’s always gratifying when I serve something vegetarian to an unrepentent carnivore and they really like it.

At a recent gathering, I served mock chicken-salad sandwiches, using the exceptionally yummy mock chicken salad from Whole Foods (I’m also a big fan of Earth Fare’s mock chicken salad—it’s sublime). My most carnivorous friend, a real meat-and-potatoes guy who seemingly has never met a green vegetable that he liked, kept going back for another and another sandwich.

“You could have told me it was real chicken salad, and I would’ve believed you,” he said.

Now, I don’t believe for a second that he’s suddenly going to renounce steaks in favor of tofu. But maybe it will help him be a bit more open-minded about trying vegetarian food in the future, now that he’s realized that he actually LIKES some of it. It makes me feel good, like I’m helping to change misconceptions about vegetarian fare, one bite at a time.

Have any of you had successful “experiments” of serving vegetarian fare to a carnivore?

Friday, April 02, 2010

How sweet it … isn’t?

Agave nectar has become a popular sweetener among vegetarians and health-conscious consumers, but nutritionist and registered dietitian Jeff Novick questions whether it is any more benign than the dreaded high-fructose corn syrup in a post titled “Agave: Health Food, Health Fad or Health Fraud?”

It’s a guest blog on a blog run by Jack Norris, a nutritionist and registered dietitian and the president of Vegan Outreach.

The agave post got me thinking about the subject of nutrition. While animal issues are the reason for my vegetarianism, rather than health concerns, it is good for the animals for vegetarians to stay as healthy as possible – to avoid perpetuating the stereotype of the sickly vegetarian. (Toward that end, it’s also a good idea to avoid falling for the equally false stereotype of the vegetarian diet as automatically healthful).

In addition to the blog, Norris has an excellent Web site focused on nutrition at www.veganhealth.org. Another dietitian who provides reliable, readable information is Virginia Messina at her blog The Vegan Dietitian and Web site Vegetarian Diets: A Dietitian’s Guide.