Monday, February 18, 2008

Vegetable obsessions

“Ooh, cardoons,” I cooed one day, in the fresh-produce aisle at the frou-frou food shoppe. “I wonder what you do with cardoons.”
“If it’s you, you leave it in the refrigerator until it rots,” said my shopping companion, mindful of the fate that had recently befallen a fresh lotus root.
So the cardoons stayed on the shelf that day. And I’ve tried to become more careful about not buying unusual vegetables that are doomed to quick destruction in the fridge.
Instead, I’ve turned to buying vegetables that will wait in suspended animation, like great Cthulhu dreaming, until the stars are right to make use of them.
For example, a bag of fava beans now sits in silent condemnation in the freezer, reminding me eternally of the conversation that accompanied their purchase.
“What are you going to do with fava beans?” said shopping companion.
“Oh, I have lots of recipes for fava beans,” I said.
Readers, do you suffer from a similar unusual ingredient compulsion? What’s the most unusual thing dreaming in your pantry? And, does anyone have a good vegetarian recipe for fava beans?

Friday, February 15, 2008

Bleu Restaurant and Bar

I celebrated a birthday recently with a dinner gathering at Bleu Restaurant and Bar on Frontis Street, behind the Village Tavern off of Hanes Mall Boulevard. I like this restaurant a lot, although I’ve been there only a handful of times. It offers a nice selection of dishes, from reasonably priced sandwiches to pricey entrees, has an appealing atmosphere, features lovely presentation on dishes—and serves tofu! Sadly, there aren’t a lot of restaurants in town who do, so I get really excited when I find ones that do.

As another plus, they seem to be quite attuned to the needs of vegetarians—our server knew exactly which dishes were vegetarian and how others could be altered to make them vegetarian. The kitchen is very willing to make changes to accomodate special diets. If none of the vegetarian dishes on the menu strike your fancy—such as the tofu appetizer with vegetable sushi rolls (big enough for an entree in my opinion), the cheese ravioli or the brie, tomato and arugula sandwich—you can get a vegetable plate; the chef will sear you some tofu or make a vegetarian risotto to go along with it.

However, in yet another instance illustrating how vegetarians need to ask about dishes no matter what, take this dish on the menu: Fresh Egg Noodle with Sauteed Asian Vegetables, Seared Tofu, & Kaffir Lime Scallion Broth. Sounds perfectly vegetarian, right? Unfortunately, it wasn’t—our server told us that there’s beef stock in the broth. (I really don’t understand why they’d put beef stock in something that sounds so vegetarian, or that contains tofu—far more vegetarians than carnivores would order that!) You could get it with a different sauce, though, which is what I did. My white-wine sauce was yummy and came in a small teapot for me to pour over the noodles. It was an unexpected and fun presentation. Although I really wanted a vegetarian version of the Kaffir Lime Scallion Broth.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Food of Love

DawnWatch, which monitors and sends alerts about animal-related media coverage, points out that both the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle featured articles this week about romantic partners dealing with dietary challenges - as when one person is a vegetarian and the other an omnivore.

The couples’ stories run the gamut, from those who have found a way to accommodate one another, to those who won’t even consider dating outside their culinary comfort zone. The articles are available online, the Times‘ here and the Chronicle‘s here.

Readers, do you have strong feelings about dating someone who follows a different pattern of eating?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Organic Style

Organic Style magazine, whose print incarnation ended in 2005, has been reborn as an online-only publication.

The magazine is free, at least for now; you can sign up for a free one-year subscription here or just read the magazine at http://www.organicstylemag.com/.

Though it’s not explicitly vegetarian, the magazine has articles that may be of interest to vegetarian readers. For example, the article “Best Foot Forward” profiles Beyond Skin, a company that makes cruelty-free, vegan shoes.

Monday, February 11, 2008

February Bites

*Got a few moments to kill and want to play a game with a purpose? Then head to freerice.org. For every word’s definition you get right, 20 grains of rice will be donated through the United Nations to help end world hunger. And if you don’t know a word, I think in this instance it would be perfectly acceptable to cheat and look it up in a dictionary.

*And don’t forget similar donations-for-clicks sites that have been around awhile, such as The Rainforest Site and The Animal Rescue Site.

*In honor of Earth Day, Vegetarian Times is offering readers a chance to sign up to receive a digital version of its April issue, complete with video and links. To sign up, go here.

*Heading to the Raleigh or Chapel Hill area? The Independent Weekly recently published a list of totally vegetarian restaurants in the Triangle. Oh for the day when the Triad could have a list!

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Thai Me Up

Once again the Harris Teeter supermarket on Cloverdale Avenue in Winston-Salem is the improbable home to a Thai restaurant, Thai Sawatdee. Vegetarians can celebrate - most of the dishes can be made with tofu, so there’s a great variety to choose from. (Although I haven’t found a Web site for the restaurant, local blogger Julie James has posted an image of the restaurant’s takeout menu.)

Everything I’ve tried at Thai Sawatdee has been delicious. The Pad Khing is a gingery stir-fry brimming with bright, fresh vegetables - light and satisfying. The Som Tum, a green-papaya salad, singed my eyebrows. Next time I’ll order it mild, rather than spicy. (You can request a condiment tray of pepper flakes, red-pepper sauces, etc., so that you can adjust the heat of any dish to your liking.) But my true love is the rich, coconut-milk based green curry. It never, ever fails to make me happy.

Lunch is an incredible deal - $5.95 for an entree, soup of the day and spring rolls. On days when the soup of the day has been non-vegetarian, the hostess has gladly substituted a vegetarian soup in its place.

A small dining area with about a half-dozen tables is tucked into a niche beside the entrance to the store. It offers a good view of grocery shoppers and folks coming in to order takeout from Thai Sawatdee. To me, this simple setup is part of the restaurant’s charm. And even if it weren’t, the green curry would keep me coming back for more.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

“Great chieftain o the puddin’-race!”

Robert Burns Day is celebrated on (or near) Jan. 25 - “the great man’s presumed birthday” according to a BBC report - with a Burns Supper featuring haggis. Burns’ poem ”To a Haggis” is recited at the supper.

Haggis (traditionally made with a variety of animal innards cooked up in a sheep’s stomach) may seem like one of the most vegetarian-unfriendly foods around, but it isn’t necessarily so. Ready-made vegetarian haggis is available, and there are many, many vegetarian recipes if you want to make your own. For example, cookbook author and blogger Bryanna Clark Grogan has recipes for an entire vegan Burns Supper.

A can of vegetarian haggis from Caledonian Kitchen sat proudly on my counter for several months. I missed Burns Day, but decided to go ahead and try it over the weekend. It was unusual - tasty and something I’ll probably eat again (maybe next Jan. 25). I can’t say how closely it resembled non-vegetarian haggis. It did go well with the traditional “tatties and neeps” (mashed potato and rutabaga) – and the leftovers did well as a “shepherd’s pie,” with a layer of the haggis covered with the mashed tubers). It probably won’t become an everyday food - but then, I don’t know any folks who eat “regular” haggis regularly, either.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Veggin’ on the Web

There are seemingly millions of places on the Internet dealing with vegetarianism and veganism. I’ve already mentioned my favorite irreverant vegan blog, which I visit regularly, but here are a few others in my Favorites list:

*For more links than you could ever possibly click, visit the vegetarian social-network Web site VegBang. Users post news stories and other things they’ve found on the Internet relating to vegetarianism and veganism. Links to articles take you all over the Web. You could certainly spend a vast amount of time surfing around here!

*PETA’s VegCooking Web site offers a wealth of information, including recipes, product information, and a list of vegetarian and vegan options at restaurant chains.

*Looking for vegetarian-friendly places to eat in your area—or when you’re traveling? Check out Happy Cow for reviews and information about restaurants all over the world.

*Famed vegan cook and author Isa Moskowitz’s site, The Post Punk Kitchen, features a blog, very active forums and lots of recipes.

*England’s BBC has a nice, attractive vegetarian site. The only drawback is that the recipes are in British measurements.

*Though it’s not a vegetarian site, when I’m looking for a recipe I generally start with AllRecipes.com. It has more than 40,000 recipes in all sorts of categories, including such ones as holidays and U.S. regional favorites, plus ratings of and user feedback on the recipes.

I’m really interested in hearing from readers and expanding my Internet horizons—what are some of your favorite vegetarian spots on the Web? I know I’m probably missing out on some great ones.

Monday, January 28, 2008

An Eye-Opener

The New York Times ran an excellent article yesterday about the high environmental costs of meat, ”Rethinking the Meat Guzzler.”

In a well-documented, well-written article, author Mark Bittman lays out such facts as that the U.N.’s Food And Agriculture Organization estimates that “an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production” and that “livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases - more than transportation.”

And as Bittman, says, “Perhaps the best hope for change lies in consumers’ becoming aware of the true costs of industrial meat production.”

Articles like this should help bring about that awareness.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Chefs should know better

I was lazing about on the sofa this past Saturday, waiting for the “blizzard” to arrive and looking for something to watch on TV. Scrolling through my DVR guide, I saw that an episode of Simply Ming was about to start and that its theme was Tofu and Parsley. Ming made a green goddess dressing using tofu, which sounded great. But it wasn’t vegetarian, because he used fish sauce in it. He layered it in a salad that included chicken and bacon. But then he mentioned that you could just leave out the meat and add more veggies to make it vegetarian. Uh, no, I thought, because you put fish sauce in the dressing! I was pretty surprised, but I gave him in the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe he just forgot to mention that you’d need to leave out the fish sauce, too.

Later in the episode, Ken Oringer—a chef and owner of several Boston restaurants—joined Ming to make a dish of his own with tofu and parsley. He made a Malaysian Curry Noodle Hot Pot, which also included fish sauce. And then he mentioned what a great vegetarian dish it was! I was pretty shocked that two noted chefs would imply or outright state that a dish was vegetarian when it contained fish sauce. Surely they’d know better than that!

Of course, this made me think that I’d be leery to eat in their restaurants, because how could I trust any description of something as vegetarian if they don’t think a little fish sauce makes a difference? I guess it just goes to show that you can never be too careful and that even chefs who should know better sometimes just don’t “get it.” So it’s always best to double-check and ask how something is prepared—Does this soup have chicken stock in it? Does the curry have fish sauce in it? Are there bacon bits on this salad?