on vegan fare.

i've been a vegetarian since 1992 and a strict vegan since 2004. this fact is somewhat surprising considering i am the granddaughter of a butcher, grew up eating cow's tongue and counted coke, doritos and hot tamales (which are vegan, btw) as my closest food friends.

yes, i'm a now a vegan, much to my family's dismay (i "bmom," bring my own meals, because they just can't go there for whatever reason). and i love to cook. it's brought me much joy — relaxing me and fulfilling me. therefore, when i come across articles like this one, i cringe. in "vegan venture: going all-veggie in the company of carnivores," the author bridget bentz sizer makes a vegan dinner for four panelists to try. while i giver her props for bringing veganism to the mainstream, her dishes — squash soup, seitan satay, nut loaf and chocolate cake — attempt to approximate an omnivore experience rather than exploring the flavors vegan cuisine has to offer. the author's nut loaf, as she put it: "a nod toward traditional vegan fare?" it sounds incredibly bland, even to me, the "target audience."

vegan fare should be exciting, satisfying, flavorful and beautifully presented. explore fatfree vegan kitchen to get a sense of what vegan food can be.

it's akin to the conversation i've had with my friend many times about eating at vegetarian/vegan restaurants. i don't have to eat at a vegetarian restaurant to have a satisfying meal. in fact, many of the vegan meals i've enjoyed have been at steakhouses. it's not necessarily about the fact that the food is vegan. it's should be about the fact that the food is good. many vegetarian restaurants make the mistake of creating flavorless food no one wants to eat.

but some don't.

i had the pleasure of eating at millennium restaurant in san francisco, where the food is brilliant. and i look forward to dining at madeleine bistro here in la, where dave anderson is the chef. he has this to say about his approach to vegan cuisine:

i want to show that anything, absolutely anything you can dream up, can be carried out in the vegan realm. we make meringue, we make cheese, we make whipped cream. that’s why i got my education at [esteemed rhode island culinary academy] johnson & whales instead of going somewhere like the natural gourmet cookery school in new york. too many vegan and vegetarian chefs are ignoring thousands of years of culinary history. they’re cutting themselves off from so many resources and knowledge, and starting all over again. i thought to myself, okay, once i understand how a meringue works, and why it does what it does, and how to make it do what i want it to do, it’s going to be a hell of a lot easier for me to duplicate that. whereas if i’m just saying, well i don’t know, i’ve tasted meringue before, now i’m just gonna veganize it by mixing up some tofu in a blender — i’m never going to get there. [full article]

i think some people are surprised when they say i cook well "being a vegan and all" and it's unfortunate. once diners and consumers — and my brother-in-law — start associating being vegan with good taste instead of viewing it as a barrier, we'll be making progress.

suggested reading:

why vegan?