Tuesday, March 04, 2008

No groceries in the house

It has been a joke in my family for years. One day my dad declared, “There’s no groceries in the house!” despite the fridge, cabinets and shelves overflowing with food.

Turns out, he really meant, “There’s no peanut butter in the house!” Peanut-butter sandwiches are such a staple in his diet that to him, a house with no peanut butter might as well contain no groceries at all.

Most of us have something like that, though—The things we’re always using up, and that go right back on the shopping list once they’re gone. If those magic ingredients are on our shelves, we feel we can survive. If they are missing, we fear we’ll be going hungry, no matter how much else is on the shelves. You can see that anytime there is a chance of snow. Store shelves are stripped bare of bread and milk as people lay in their stock.

For me, the magic ingredients include brown rice, miso and frozen mixed berries. Oh, yes, and beer! And the cats said I also better mention catfood. They don’t add up to a balanced meal quite the neat way peanut butter, bread and (soy)milk do; but it works for me. What do you always keep on hand?

Friday, February 29, 2008

Seeing Through the Fence

In case you missed yesterday’s relish, there will be a showing of the documentary Seeing Through the Fence at the Werehouse tonight at 8:30. The film, by vegan activist Eleni Vlachos, explores factory farms and slaughterhouses, as well as examining the contradiction between how much we love our pets and other animals and yet continue to eat meat. The film also shows Vlachos’ path to becoming a vegan and her family’s issues with her decision.

You can read more about Vlachos and the film here.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Good Gravy

If I could tell people just one thing about going veg, it would be this: Vegetarianism and veganism don’t mean deprivation or “giving up” anything - I’ve become a more adventurous eater and enjoy my food more than ever since moving toward a vegan diet. And even traditional “comfort foods” can be re-created in yummy vegan form.

Take gravy, for example. It doesn’t have to start off with meat “drippings.” When I came across some “tatties and neeps” (mashed potatoes and rutebaga) left over from the recent haggis meal, I thought it would be nice to have some gravy to go with them…. And 15 minutes later, with just a few basic pantry staples, I had it!

Here’s how I made my gravy, following the recipe given in Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Christmas - a wonderful cookbook - but adding mushrooms to her basic recipe. All you need is:

3 TBSP vegan margarine (Earth Balance is the best!)
3 TBSP whole-wheat flour (Other flours work fine too. Whole-grain spelt flour gave good results.)
2 cups water or vegetable stock
3 TBSP soy sauce
Dried mushrooms, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Put the margarine and flour in a non-stick skillet, and stir over medium heat until the margarine melts and the flour is smoothly incorporated. Let it bubble and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until the mix browns slightly. (Adjust the heat as needed as you cook to keep it from burning.)

Meanwhile, crumble your dried mushrooms into the 2 cups of water. (This works if you have very thinly sliced dried mushrooms that are easily crumbled by hand and reconstitute quickly - but if you have sturdier dried mushrooms, you may want to soak them ahead of time and chop them before adding to the gravy.)

Once your margarine-flour mix has browned a bit, pour in the water (stand back and be careful, since there’s a chance the hot oil will splatter when you pour in the water). Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, and cook for about 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken to gravy consistency as it cooks. After 10 minutes, stir in the soy sauce, grind in the pepper, and stir it up. Turn off the heat; your gravy is done….

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.