Being a (vegan) food snob

I realized a few months ago, that my problem when ordering in restaurants is not that I'm vegan, is that's I'm a food snob. I expect to eat a good meal every single time I'm at a restaurant, and when I don't, I pissed right off. If you can't figure out how to make something delicious without bacon in it, or cheese, or beef stock, you shouldn't be cooking for a living. If you've never expanded your palate beyond meat-and-potatoes meals, then you shouldn't be in a position where you are expected to create dishes for veg*ns on the spot. But it happens all the time: I ask for something vegan, am told the chef will make something special for me, and end up with pasta and red sauce. Or salad and french fries. Becuase if you're at a place where they can't even be bothered to have one vegan item on the menu, the management doesn't care about your business and the chef sure doesn't give a crap about making you a decent meal. I think omnivores make the assumption that vegan don't actually like delicious food; as if someone who cuts out so many "delicious" things from their diet can't possibly care about flavour. When I was at a work event on the weekend and they forgot to prepare my vegan dish, I was trying to avoid the vegan pizza. Vegan pizza usually means the same sub-par crust, without the fat and flavour that usually compensates for the horribleness of the other ingredients, instead with whatever sad vegetables they could find, whether or not they should ever be on a pizza (eggplant? please!). But when I caved and ordered the pizza, mostly due to a lack of other options, I was pleasantly surprised. The tomatoes were ripe, the onions were perfectly cooked, and the crust was both crisp and chewy. That my friends, is how you do a vegan dish--don't forget that food should always be delicious.

Tastebud salsa of joy

A food photo from the past for tonight's post: a plate of Viva Vegan dishes, and one of my most favourite things in the world. I'm probably doing a disservice to myself actually, because I tried the first few things I that caught my eye in Viva Vegan, and I keep making them over and over again: baked marinated tempeh, black beans, sofrito, and tamales. I should branch out, try new things, life is short! But holy chipotle, this plate just makes my tastebuds do a veritable salsa of joy. I'm sure my tamales wouldn't win any contests (I've been told they're small, which seems like bad/not-bad thing) but I could eat this every day, I make a big batch and eat it until I have nothing left and then I lick the bowl. If you haven't cooked anything from Viva Vegan yet, I dare you not to fall in vegan love.

Dumpling-sized review-: dim sum on the Danforth

Is it possible to be in love with a dumpling? I may just be. I dream about going to this place every week. My second time there, another person who was also sitting by himself looked up from his food and said, "Isn't this place amazing? I've never been here before, and I have to come back." He lives in the west end, and coming to the Danforth is pretty out of the way for him. But let me says this: it is worth every minute of sitting on transit, to enjoy the beautiful restaurant-made delights. These dumplings do not look like they came out of a box or frozen junk, and I would lay money on it that they don't. And what's more, they have a clearly laid out vegetarian menu, and the guy working the counter when I was there checked if anything had egg for me. Nope! I had sticky rice in lotus leaves, fried tofu, and several kinds of scrumptious dumplings. The service was basic, the decor was nothing to write home about, but the food was delicious, and fast, and an incredible price.  If you're in Toronto, go to Ha Gow Dim Sum, near Donlands and the Danforth. And if you don't live in Toronto, come visit, and we can get dumplings!

(Road)Avocado: delicious food in the jungle

Travelling in Ecuador was an experience I will never forget. One of the ways I hold my travel memories near is cooking the same foods when I return home. I have veganized chevre chaud from my trip to Paris; I make avocado toast, a cherished New York City memory, all the time; and my love of Italian food increased tenfold after travelling from Venice to Cinque Terre to Florence to Rome.
One of the things I will be making (one of these days!) is a condiment I discovered at the homestay in Ecuador's Amazon jungle. There were a dozen of us in my tour group; and I was the only vegan but there were two vegetarians as well. I was warned by the tour company that I might have trouble with vegan food at the homestay, but I ate far better there than during the (very expensive) Galapagos tour. One day at the homestay they even served us all pancakes--which I was assured were vegan! With every meal, there were two bowls of "sauce" on the table. We put it on eveyrthing and raved about how delicious it was. I asked our guide, and he said it was tomatoes, onions, lime juice, water, salt and chilis. That's it! And it was soooo delicious. It added zing to my vegan vegetable soup and jazzed up my rice and beans. And I've never appreciated delicious vegan food as much as the delicious vegan food I was given when I was in a jungle, far, far away from a convenience store.

Jackfruit joy

You know that moment, when you try a new recipe or order somethingat a restaurant that you've never had before, and you realize, "Oh my god, I am going to eat this everyday for the rest of my life." Jackfruit carnitas are one of those foods. It's like the perfect combination of flavour, simplicity and sandwich. It's like tacos and PB&J got together and had a more delicious baby. It's like the sandwich I wish I had for lunch as a kid, except I didn't eat an avocado until well into university.
I got the recipe from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day, which is one of those cookbooks I just like to flip through and daydream about. The amazingness of this particular sandwich makes up for the weird texture and look of jackfruit, which to me, kinda looks like canned brains. Disregard this, and make it anyway. Or make it for Halloween and pretend you're a zombie: braaaaiiiinsssss...

Musings: healthy and/or vegan

No photo tonight, [photo added] because I'm deep in thought. I'm thinking about the commentns on VegNews' link about accidentally vegan foods. I'm thinking about someone's reply to a twitter post I made and hashtagged "govegan". And I'm thinking about a friend of mine saying, "I couldn't live without cheese." And I know what you're thkinking: "FFS, Ms Avocado, you've been vegan 5 years and you still read the comments?? NEVER read the comments!"
Well, gentle reader, that is a good point. But I was really interested in VegNews' link to accidentally vegan foods, because I have been saved many a time by Oreos' accidental veganity. (The photo shows my airplane meal on flight back to Ecuador in the spring. Dinner of champions!) And I was surprised/annoyed/confused to see so many people who were surprised/annoyed/confused to see so much junk food in the list. "These foods are so unhealthy! They shouldn't be on a list of vegan foods. Because I conflate healthy with vegan even though anyone with a basic knowledge of venn diagrams can prove me wrong." But I think this goes back to my issue of terminology: plant-based does not equal vegan. While many people eat plant-based diets for health reasons and call themselves vegan, they "cheat" because, well, everyone cheats on a "healthy" diet. But they call themselves vegan, and then every single non-vegan on the planet has a story that goes something like, "I know this vegan, and one time she ate a bacon sandwich with dolphin meat and unicorn tears sprinkled on top. So you must bacon-dolphin-unicorn sandwiches, too, right???"
And when someone tells a story like that, we say, no, meat/dairy/egg/tears aren't vegan, we don't eat them; while no one can be perfect we do the best we can; and no, I"m sorry, while I appreciate that your cookies only have a small amount of rendered pork fat, I won't be having any, thank you.
So these people who are vegan for health reasons turn into healthy plant-based-diet police and verbally crap all over VegNews' very helpful accidentally vegan foods link. Because my way of living is the only way to live, right? If I'm eating vegan for health reasons, everyone else must be doing the same thing, right??
Sigh. Such is human nature. Incidentally, would you like a full-of-fat-and-sugar vegan cupcake?

(Road) Avocado: Popped dinner in Ecuador

When I was in Ecuador in the spring, in many places I ate better than I could have imagined. Partly it was because of our amazing guide's dedication intranslating the specifics of my crazy vegan diet. But partly it was I think that vegan food takes advantage of simple, fresh ingredients wherever possible, and therefore eating vegan--and eating well--is possible anywhere if those doing the cooking are dedicated. Which leads to the balance of the equation: I can only assume from the many delicious meals that I ate that the people who cooked for me often genuinely wanted to make me delicious food.

While I started typing by talking about food, I'm realizing that I really am talking about the warmth and the hospitality of the people we encountered. Even though I ate in a way that was foreign to many of them--probably seeming like a privileged North American, the way vegans are perceived even to many North Americans--I had very few bad dining experiences in my three weeks in Ecaudor and the Galapagos. And I had very many excellent ones. When we came home, my mother and I raved about how friendly people were, whether regular people in the stores and on the street or those in the hospitality industry that we deal with every day. And if that hasn't convinced you to go, perhaps actually talking about food now will!
In my last post on Ecuador, I mentioned that their dining involves something unique to their county. Want to take a moment to consider what that might be? In a hundred moments you wouldn't even guess, but go right ahead. It's popcorn.
Our guide told us that in pre-Columbian times, the people who lived in what is now Ecuador didn't make bread. They cooked food in pots over fire, so they made a lot of soups--even now my guidebook says Ecuador is known for its soups. So they popped corn and had that with their soups instead of bread. It was served as an appetizer in many restaurants, and served alongside soups and ceviches. In the photo, they served me ceviche with three things on the side--popped corns, roasted corn kernels, and plantain chips. Delicious! And only in Ecuador.