You Are the Wheat Gluten Beneath My Wings

Last week, I ate lunch with my friend Kara at Milk Street Café. The people there were over-the-top accommodating; they had no problem letting me invent a vegan sandwich using their ingredients since they didn’t have one on the menu, and they even recommended another establishment nearby as a more vegan-accessible alternative.

The restaurant they recommended is called My Thai Vegan Café. The only way this place could be any more of a hole-in-the-wall would be if it were literally a hole drilled into a wall. But who wants to eat in an actual hole in a wall? It would be so cramped.

I met my other friend, Katie, at South Station and we walked over to China Town. My Thai Vegan Café is on a corner next to a deserted lot, and you have to climb up a sketchy-looking staircase to get to it. Just being on the staircase makes you feel like you're taking a risk of some kind, but to make it worse there are open windows with no screens along the side of it. Maybe this wouldn't bother anyone else, but I got nervous about plummeting down into the deserted lot below.

The restaurant itself is quaint and clean, there’s a lot of open space, and the servers are a bunch of adorable middle-aged Thai women whom you can imagine serving their own children the same delicious food at home (assuming their children are vegan).

As a starter, we ordered the Golden Triangles (mostly because the name sounded mysterious): ground fake chicken, onions, mushrooms, garlic, lemongrass, some other vegetables, and curry spices deep fried in wheat flour and served with peanut sauce:

Then we got the Pad Thai (an obvious choice). It was some of the best Pad Thai either of us had ever eaten:

As a second entrée (we didn’t realize how much food this would actually be), we ordered the Cashew Nut Chicken. Katie made the decision to substitute “duck” for the “chicken” because, as she said, she had no idea what actual duck tasted like. So she would be less likely to be disappointed by whatever the fake duck was than by whatever the fake chicken was.

The “duck,” or “mock duck” as it is known in hip vegan circles (of which I strive so hard to be a part), was served with roasted cashews, onions, mushrooms, red bell peppers, snow peas, scallions, and celery. It looked like this:

It was delicious – we were both quite pleased with the taste. But the fake duck breast had a little fake duck wing attached to it. It looked like there should be a bone inside, but when you cut it, it was just all fake duck meat. That made me suspect that back in the kitchen there was a fake duck breast mold into which the wheat gluten mixture was poured.

I have to ask: why? I don’t want to eat a duck, even if it is a pretend duck. I’d rather just eat the duck-flavored wheat gluten stuff in chunks or strips or whatever its natural form is. And where does one get a fake duck breast mold? Is there a market for such things? Maybe the folks at My Thai use their mold to make duck breast-shaped Jell-O for dessert. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Despite the weirdness of the fake duck, this is about as good as an unpretentious little vegan place that doesn't have a website gets.

Happy Graduation! I Made You a Salad.

Basically it’s too hot to do anything in Boston right now. Well, it's too hot to do anything except walk around and ask each other, “Hot enough for you?” Bostonians just love to ask each other that. But they pronounce it, “Hawt inuff fawya?”

Well yes, it is hot enough for me, and luckily it is also too hot to grill. So at my little brother Brian’s college graduation party today, I didn’t have to deal with the stench of burning meat.

Actually, my mom was really considerate of my veganism while purchasing and preparing food for Brian’s party. She bought some roll-ups and finger sandwiches with cold cuts in them, but she spent a lot of time preparing delicious vegan salads as well.

I was able to pull together a plate that looked like this:

Ridiculously, that paper plate says, "Reach for the Stars!" on it.

Aside from the hummus/roasted vegetable roll-ups and the grilled veggies, there were two yummy salads. Here are the recipes (they're salads, so you know... just throw everything in a bowl together):

Mango and Black Bean Salad

1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 ½ cups chopped peeled ripe mango
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
½ cup cooked brown rice
3 tbsp. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbsp. fresh salsa (you can also use tomatillo)
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Classy Ramen Salad

16 oz. chopped cabbage
1 bunch chopped green onions
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
1 cup sunflower kernels
1 ½ packages uncooked ramen noodles
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
¾ cup vegetable oil
4 tbsp. rice vinegar

And there was fruit salad for dessert! So many salads.

I have to admit, I still get nervous in social situations where people are eating non-vegan food. I worry that they will notice I am not eating the food and will confront me about it. Sometimes I appreciate the opportunity to explain why veganism is a good idea, but most of the time I just feel slightly awkward and (strangely) apologetic.

But I am proud to report that there were hardly any conversations about veganism at this party. One of my aunts did tell me I had “gotten all California” since I left the east coast, but since she didn’t specifically cite my veganism, I could pretend she was just talking about my flowy scarf and laidback demeanor.

I did have a conversation about bees and whether vegans should eat honey, this time with my Uncle Timmy. He is a peaceful, kind vegetarian who raises bees as a hobby. Unlike my energetic friend Katie, who on more than one occasion has attempted to convince me of the benefits of a honey-eating lifestyle, Uncle Timmy didn’t seem to care one way or the other whether I ate honey. But he did describe the process of gathering the honey, and he said it seemed like the bees really didn’t mind it. So eating honey is back on the table (so to speak).

This party felt like a turning point for me. Yes, my mom catered to my vegan diet in choosing which foods to serve. But my veganism really wasn’t an issue otherwise. Everyone could focus on how awesome it was that Brian had graduated from college and not worry about what I was (or was not) eating.

Months ago, when I first told Brian that I was a vegan, he chuckled and said, “Hey, maybe you could try eating some weirdo vegan food while you do some yoga on the beach. Do you think you could be any more of a stereotype?” But today he ate the delicious vegan food my mom had made and didn’t mention the word “vegan” once. Maybe I’m kidding myself, but it seems like people back home don’t think veganism is so crazy anymore.

You know what is crazy, though? This heat. Nobody complained that most of the food was vegan – maybe nobody even noticed. They were too busy going around asking each other, “Hawt inuff fawya?”

Meghan the Fancy Pants: Prix Fixe at VeeVee

Before I was a vegan, I used to get quite excited about prix fixe menus. For those of you less cultured than I, “prix fixe” means “fixed price.” So for a prix fixe menu, you pay a certain amount and you get a three or four course meal. Sometimes you have a choice between two or three items for each course.

I recently discovered that the reason we in the States use the French term “prix fixe” is because over in France, almost every restaurant offers a prix fixe menu every night. Even random, sloppy-looking joints have a chalkboard outside the front door announcing the prix fixe menu for the evening.

In the States, however, “prix fixe” usually means the same thing as every other French term: “fancy pants.” Expensive restaurants will offer special prix fixe menus for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and other occasions on which objecting to the absurd fixed price makes you feel cheap and like you don’t love someone enough.

My problem with prix fixe menus is that they are rarely vegan. If the average person is paying $100 for three courses, one of those courses better be a steak.

So imagine my delight when I found out that VeeVee, a cozy establishment in Jamaica Plain, offers a vegan prix fixe menu every Wednesday! I would have paid any amount to try it (within reason), but luckily it only cost $25.

I went with Amy, who was staying with me at my parents’ house for a few nights before starting work in DC, and my friend from college, Alex, who is gluten-free and mostly vegan.

Amy and I had proven ourselves decidedly un-fancy by taking every form of public transportation Boston has to offer to arrive at VeeVee. After having been squashed up against a sweaty shirtless man making racist comments on the bus and taking the orange line to Green Street (a stop at which drive-by shootings don’t not happen), I was ready for a dose of classiness. Especially if it came with deliciousness.

And I was not disappointed! The first course was a farro salad with cucumber, corn, cherry tomatoes, and some unidentified greens. Don’t worry, I didn’t know what farro was, either. Turns out it’s a whole grain form of wheat that’s good to eat hot or cold (in this case, it was cold).

The entrée was warm black lentils with olive oil croutons surrounded by cauliflower puree. Those croutons were amazing. It was one of those meals during which you keep looking up and making eye contact with the person across from you (in this case, Amy), confirming the intensity of your shared flavor experience with nodding and raised eyebrows.

And for dessert: ice cream made of coconut milk in a chocolate ganache with toasted coconut shreds and mango slices on top.

By the time it was all over, I was wishing I had another Wednesday evening in the Boston area so I could come back. And my fancy quotient was through the roof.

I'd Turn Tricks for Treat

I don’t get the cupcake craze. Everyone’s into them and cupcake stores are popping up in cities all over the country, but come on. They’re the same minimum-effort dessert your third-grade classmates’ moms brought in for the whole class to celebrate their kids’ birthdays.

Plus they’re just a disaster to eat. It’s pretty much impossible to bite into one and not end up with frosting stuck to your nose (and maybe your eyebrows, depending on the size of the cupcake).

But I recently ate a cupcake and I liked it. I was with my friend Janie, who was on a mission to get some frozen yogurt after a decidedly vegan-unfriendly lunch in downtown Needham, Massachusetts. I figured I’d tag along, watch her eat the frozen yogurt, and sulk about how it wasn’t vegan.

We passed by Treat, a cupcake shop, and Janie suggested we go in: “Maybe they’ll have a vegan cupcake!” I knew it was unlikely, but Treat looked like the kind of fancy place that would be air-conditioned and it was about 100 degrees and humid outside.

I felt embarrassed asking the girl behind the counter about a possible vegan option… but when I did, she smiled and said, “The whole top row of this display case is vegan. And here’s our vegan/gluten-free menu!” She handed me a print-out with their many vegan/gluten-free options: “The Plain Jane,” “Vanilla Coconut,” “Orange Chocolate,” “Cookies N’ Cream,” “Mint Cookies N’ Cream,” “Golden Cookies N’ Cream,” and “Crispy Crunchy Not So Nutty.”

Suddenly I loved cupcakes. I wanted to eat every vegan cupcake in that display case. But I had to settle for choosing just one (I’m on a grad student budget, here): Mint Cookies N’ Cream, a chocolate cake cupcake with a dark chocolate layer and mint cookes n’ cream frosting.

The girl who was serving me even ran back into the kitchen to get me the vegan version of an Oreo cookie to stick on top. It came in a little box that was reminiscent of Chinese take-out. It also came with a fork, so I could eat it without smashing it into my face.

Janie seemed to enjoy her frozen yogurt, but not as much as I enjoyed my vegan cupcake from Treat. If only I lived around here so I could Treat myself (!) after every unsatisfying meal.

People in Meat Houses Shouldn't Throw Bones

Do you love the planet but also love meat? Then check out the Environmental Working Group's 2011 Meat Eater's Guide to Climate Change and Health.

With the help of environmental analysis firm CleanMetrics, the EWG assessed the "cradle-to-grave" carbon footprint of 20 popular types of meat, fish, dairy, and vegetable sources of protein. The study includes the greenhouse gas emissions of conventionally produced (non-organic) meat at every stage of production, from the growing of animal feed to the disposal of unused food.

The EWG found that lamb, beef, cheese, and pork generate the most greenhouse gases (mostly methane and nitrous oxide). Yes, cheese. So "vegetarians who eat dairy aren't off the hook."

Instead of these high-impact foods, opt to get your protein from lentils, tofu, beans or peanut butter; these foods have the least greenhouse gas emissions. An appealing infographic demonstrates the carbon footprint of all the foods analyzed, in terms of car miles driven per 4 oz. consumed.

The Meat Eater's Guide includes a "Tips for Meat Eaters" section, which lays out some rules to live by if you must eat meat. First of all, eat less meat and dairy. When you do eat meat, eat "greener" meat that is grass-fed or pasture-raised, antibiotic- and hormone- and nitrate-free, certified organic, certified humane, and/or low sodium.

But even if all meat eaters follow these guidelines, it still won't be enough to reverse the damage the meat industry is doing to the environment. So the EWG suggests getting in touch with political representatives to encourage them to change the policies that allow (and encourage) the industry to be so environmentally damaging.

For instance, taxpayer subsidies for animal feed should be cut and programs that support pasture-raised livestock should be supported; regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) should be more strongly regulated; conservation requirements on farms that collect subsidies should be increased; etc.

Susan Carpenter of the LA Times' summarizes the EWG's findings here. She quotes TV chef Mario Batali, who endorses The Meat Eater's Guide, as saying: "Asking everyone to go vegetarian or vegan is not a realistic or attainable goal, but we can focus on a more plant-based diet and support the farmers who raise their animals humanely and sustainably."

I agree with Batali - I think it's unrealistic to expect most Americans to cut meat out of their diets completely. But if you're willing to commit to eating less meat and making sure the meat you do it is as environmentally sound as possible, sign the EWG's "pledge to eat less and greener meat." They hope to get 100,000 supporters to agree to give up meat one day per week (why not celebrate Meatless Monday?) and to eat more fruits and veggies.

Sign the pledge here.

Let's all move out of our collective meat house before it collapses around us. It's starting to smell pretty rancid, anyway.

Photo: easyjo.com

No Moose Were Harmed in the Making of This Mousse

The other night, my parents decided to throw a dessert party for our neighbors. Dessert parties are the best because you don’t have to prepare a huge meal; you can skip right to the part everyone’s waiting for anyway. My mom made a blueberry cobbler (which she veganized by substituting Earth Balance for butter), so I wanted to compliment it with something chocolatey.

Mousse! While I was in France, I discovered that everyone loves chocolate mousse. I ate it for dessert almost every night while I was there, not worrying about cream content (because I was being a vegetarian). Obviously I’m back to being a vegan now, so I needed to find a way to veganize chocolate mousse.

As usual, I was able to pull together a recipe from various online sources, mostly this one. Here’s what I used:

1 bag vegan chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1 package Nasoya silken tofu
3 tbsp maple syrup (100% pure from Vermont, of course)
1 tsp vanilla

The first part of the preparation really stressed me out: I had to melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. I wasn’t even sure what a double boiler looked like. Apparently, it’s just a round-bottomed pot that fits into a regular pot. You heat up water in the regular pot and put whatever you want to melt into the round-bottomed one, so it melts without ever coming into contact with the hot water.

I had to stir the chocolate chips constantly so they wouldn’t burn. The possibility of the chocolate chips burning made me incredibly nervous for some reason, and I watched them intensely until I had stirred them into a big melted blob.

Then I mixed the chocolate blob with the other ingredients in the blender (this was before the blender committed suicide), divided it into adorable little dessert dishes, and put them in the refrigerator to set. Here’s what the mousse looked like ready to serve:

When the neighbors showed up, they were quite interested in talking about my veganism. Kathy, who lives across the street, even ran back to her house to grab her copy of The Veganist to show me. But despite their general enthusiasm, most people were weirded out when I told them about the tofu in the chocolate mousse.

For some reason, tofu and chocolate seem like two things that just shouldn’t mix. Like toothpaste and orange juice. Or garlic and french kissing.

I acted really confident, assuring everyone that this tofu-chocolate combination would be just delicious. I hoped I was right. For all I knew, it would be disgusting.

As people started tentatively tasting it, I willed it to be good. Please, Tofu, I thought. Please be smooth and pleasant instead of chunky and brain-like.

That was the first time I’ve attempted to communicate telepathically with tofu. But it worked! The chocolate mousse was a huge hit. Everyone marveled at how a vegan dessert could be so tasty.

And now that I think about it, tofu and chocolate are a combination that just makes so much sense. Like chocolate and peanut butter. Or chocolate and... pretty much anything, let's be honest.

Meghan the Veghan Gets Malnourished

This morning after a short yoga practice and a shower, I started feeling weak. My skin was clammy, my hands and knees were shaky; I felt unsteady in general and had to sit down.

When I told my mom, she made that tsk tsk noise and said, “You know, I do think there are certain things your body needs that you’re not getting enough of as a vegan.”

And that’s when I realized I was the worst vegan ever. On the first day of my trip to France, I discovered that I had forgotten all my supplements at home in Santa Barbara. I knew I needed to purchase some, but they were so expensive there that I had to settle for a 20 Euro bottle of multi-vitamins; I told myself I’d buy the rest once I got to Boston.

Well, here I was in Boston, and had I remembered to purchase the rest of my supplements? Of course not. In Santa Barbara, taking my supplements is part of my morning routine, like making coffee. But since I’ve been traveling, it’s been easy to just forget. And now I was collapsed on the floor of the upstairs hallway, demonstrating to my mother that I am not fit to take care of my own diet. How embarrassing.

While my mom went to the store to pick up the supplements I needed (tsk tsking the whole way), I decided to make myself a tofu smoothie so I’d at least get a boost of calcium, magnesium, and protein.

I had a ton of frozen açaí left over from my Superfood Sundae experiment, so I dumped that into the blender with an entire container of Nasoya silken tofu. I threw in a few handfuls of blueberries, a banana that looked like it wanted to get eaten soon, and a dollop (I love that word) of agave syrup.

I pushed “on” and the ingredients blended themselves up for a bit… then BOOM! The blender exploded. Not out the top, as you would expect, but out the bottom, where the blending compartment attaches to the base. Half-blended purple ooze covered the countertop, the floor, and my face.

“Seriously?!” I asked the blender. It didn’t answer, but it sure looked smug.

At that point, my mom returned with my B-complex, Calcium/magnesium/zinc, and multi-vitamin pills. She looked at the self-satisfied blender, she looked at her daughter covered in purple smoothie, and she tried her hardest not to laugh.

I’m pretty spacey about a lot of things, but today I realized that taking my supplements cannot be one of those things. It’s important to me to be a healthy vegan, not just for the obvious reason of staying alive, but in order to represent veganism positively to not-yet-vegans. It’s not that I have an agenda to convert non-vegans, but I certainly don’t want to repulse them by appearing all malnourished and gross.

To make myself feel better, I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Speaking of malnourishment… have you seen those dementors? Somebody needs to feed them a sandwich.