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Click on any of the titles to take you to the appropriate pieceFeatures
Lentils: My Favorite, Fast, Hearty , (and dare I say it?) Healthy Food 14 By Jill Nussinow, MS, RD Jill shows us how to make lentils the fast and easy way and provides some tasty recipes, as well! Studies Show We Love Quickies 18 By LaDiva Dietitian, MS, RD Learn about how cooking methods have changed to adapt to our busy lifestyles over the last 100 years. Raw Foods Made Easy 21 By Chef Angela Elliott Angela shatters the myth that raw foods have to take hours on end and tons of work to be healthy and delicious.Columns
What’s Cooking? 3 Find out what’s up with the Vegan Culinary Experience this month. From the Garden: Year of the Pomegranate! 22 By Liz Lonetti Find out about the different cultivars of pomegranates and learn Liz’ super‐fast method for deseeding one of these culinary gems. Vegan Cuisine and the Law: The Farm Bill – Why Big Macs & McNuggets Outprice Carrots and Apples 25 By Mindy Kursban, Esq. Read about why the Farm Bill is bad news for vegetable farmers and what can be done about it. The Vegan Traveler: Atlanta 28 By Chef Jason Wyrick Recently, Chef Jason Wyrick checked out the hot spots in Atlanta and Athens. Find out what’s great, and not so great, about this veg‐friendly icon of the South.. Marketplace 7 Get connected and find out about vegan friendly businesses and organizations. Recipe Index 61 A listing of all the recipes found in this issue, compiled with links. see the following page for interviews and reviews…
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Click on any of the titles to take you to the appropriate pieceInterviews
Author/Instructor Bryanna Clark‐Grogan 33 Bryanna is a long‐time instructor and author extraordinaire, with a world cuisine repertoire to match. Activist Lieutenant Colonel Bob Lucius of the Kairos Coalition 41 Lieutenant Colonel Lucius is one of our outstanding activists, leading the Kairos Coaltion, an organization he founded dedicated to humane education in Southeast Asia. Painter Trish Grantham 48 Trish has garnered an excellent reputation in the artistic community painting colorful, fun animal‐centered art for the past thirteen years.Reviews
Restaurant/Product Review: Casa de Tamales, Fresno, CA 50 By Jason Wyrick Casa de Tamales serves some of the best tamales this chef has ever had! Book Review: Quick Fix Vegan 52 By Madelyn Pryor Easy vegan solutions for vegan meals after a hard day’s work. Book Review: Thrive Foods 53 By Jason Wyrick Thrive Foods is athlete Brendan Brazier’s followup to Thrive. Part cookbook, part nutritional and environmental guide. Book Review: World Vegan Feast 55 By Madelyn Pryor Bryanna Clark‐Grogan delights us with outstanding world flavors from around the world, with recipes that are off the beaten path. Book Review: Vegan for Life 57 By Madelyn Pryor Jack Norris, RD, and Ginny Messina, MPH, RD, provide a comprehensive, honest set of guidelines for vegan nutrition and don’t shy away from making the point that being vegan is about being compassionate. Product Review: Flax USA 59 By Jason Wyrick Flax USA offers an excellent brand of flax milk, going beyond the flavored water most flax milks taste like.
The Vegan Culinary Experience Quick & Easy! October 2011 Publisher Jason Wyrick Editors Eleanor Sampson, Madelyn Pryor Nutrition Analyst Eleanor Sampson Web Design Jason Wyrick Graphics Jason Wyrick Reviewers Madelyn Pryor Jason Wyrick Contributing Authors Jason Wyrick Madelyn Pryor Liz Lonetti Sharon Valencik Marty Davey Mindy Kursban Jill Nussinow Angela Elliott Dynise Balcavage Photography Credits Cover Page Dynise Balcavage Recipe Images Jason Wyrick Madelyn Pryor Milan Valencik of Milan Photography Dynise Balcavage Atlanta Photographs Jason Wyrick Cornfield, GNU Free Documentation License Atlanta Skyline, Lentils, Creative Commons Pomegranate Blossom, Pomegranate Juicer Dollar Bill, Lentil Plant Public Domain Bryanna Clark‐Grogan & Courtesy of Bryanna Associated Images Clark‐Grogan Bob Lucius & Associated Courtesy of Bob Lucius Images Trish Grantham & Courtesy of Trish Grantham Associated Images Casa de Tamales Corn Jose Aguilar Mill
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I’ll be honest. I love food, I love to cook, but I don’t love to do it all the time. After a long day in the professional kitchen, I often find myself feeling rather burned out for my personal kitchen. That’s when I head for the containers of hummus or other quick foods I’ve got sitting around, or I head to the kitchen to make something fast and easy, something that doesn’t require a lot of thought, but tastes great and leaves me satisfied for the rest of the night. This issue is dedicated to everyone else who goes through a similar experience. In this issue, you will find recipes that are simple to put together and are generally done in 10‐15 minutes with about five minutes of total work involved. A few take longer to cook, but even those are short on the work time. We’ve also got some great book reviews and some of the best interviews we’ve ever done. Thanks for reading and I look forward to being with you for many more issues in the future. It’s a great time to be vegan. Eat healthy, eat compassionately, and eat well!C
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Jason Wyrick ‐ Chef Jason Wyrick is the Executive Chef of Devil Spice, Arizona's vegan catering company, and the publisher of The Vegan Culinary Experience. Chef Wyrick has been regularly featured on major television networks and in the press. He has done demos with several doctors, including Dr. Neal Barnard of the PCRM, Dr. John McDougall, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens. Chef Wyrick was also a guest instructor in the Le Cordon Bleu program. He has catered for PETA, Farm Sanctuary, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Google. He is also the NY Times best‐selling co‐author of 21 Day Weightloss Kickstart Visit Chef Jason Wyrick atwww.devilspice.com and www.veganculinaryexperience.com.
Madelyn Pryor ‐ Madelyn is a lover of dessert, which she celebrates on her blog,
http://badkittybakery.blogspot.com/. She has been making her own tasty desserts for over 16 years, and eating dessert for longer than she cares to admit. When she isn’t in the kitchen creating new wonders of sugary goodness, she is chasing after her bad kitties, or reviewing products for various websites and publications. She can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].
Sharon Valencik ‐ Sharon Valencik is the author of Sweet Utopia: Simply Stunning Vegan
Desserts. She is raising two vibrant young vegan sons and rescued animals, currently a rabbit
and a dog. She comes from a lineage of artistic chef matriarchs and has been baking since age five. She is working on her next book, World Utopia: Delicious and Healthy International
Vegan Cuisine. Please visit www.sweetutopia.com for more information, to ask questions, or to provide feedback. Milan Valencik ‐ Milan Valencik is the food stylist and photographer of Sweet Utopia: Simply Stunning Vegan Desserts. His company, Milan Photography, specializes in artistic event photojournalism, weddings, and other types of photography. Milan is also a fine artist and musician. Milan is originally from Czech Republic and now lives in NJ. For more information about Milan, please visit www.milanphotography.com or www.sweetutopia.com.
Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, The Veggie Queen ‐ Jill is a Registered Dietitian and has a Masters Degree in Dietetics and Nutrition from Florida International University. After graduating, she migrated to California and began a private nutrition practice providing individual consultations and workshops, specializing in nutrition for pregnancy, new mothers, and children. You can find out more about The Veggie Queen at www.theveggiequeen.com.
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Liz Lonetti ‐ As a professional urban designer, Liz Lonetti is passionate about building community, both physically and socially. She graduated from the U of MN with a BA in Architecture in 1998. She also serves as the Executive Director for the Phoenix Permaculture Guild, a non‐profit organization whose mission is to inspire sustainable living through education, community building and creative cooperation (www.phoenixpermaculture.org). A long time advocate for building greener and more inter‐connected communities, Liz volunteers her time and talent for other local green causes. In her spare time, Liz enjoys cooking with the veggies from her gardens, sharing great food with friends and neighbors, learning from and teaching others. To contact Liz, please visit her blog site www.phoenixpermaculture.org/profile/LizDan. Angela Elliott ‐ Angela Elliott is the author of Alive in Five, Holiday Fare with Angela, The Simple Gourmet, and more books on the way! Angela is the inventor of Five Minute Gourmet Meals™, Raw Nut‐Free Cuisine™, Raw Vegan Dog Cuisine™, and The Celestialwich™, and the owner and operator of She‐Zen Cuisine. www.she‐zencuisine.com Angela has contributed to various publications, including Vegnews Magazine, Vegetarian Baby and Child Magazine, and has taught gourmet classes, holistic classes, lectured, and on occasion toured with Lou Corona, a nationally recognized proponent of living food. Minday Kursban, Esq. ‐ Mindy Kursban is a practicing attorney who is passionate about animals, food, and health. She gained her experience and knowledge about vegan cuisine and the law while working for ten years as general counsel and then executive director of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Since leaving PCRM in 2007, Mindy has been writing and speaking to help others make the switch to a plant‐based diet. Mindy welcomes feedback, comments, and questions at [email protected]. Dynise Balcavage ‐ The author of The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine (Globe Pequot, 2009) and the upcoming Vegan Celebrations: 200 Animal‐Free Recipes for Every Occassion (Globe Pequot, October 2011), Dynise Balcavage has been writing professionally for the past 20 years. She has also penned 10 books for young readers and her recipes have appeared in VegNews, Vegetarian Times, and Végétariens magazine (in French). Dynise has been interviewed in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune and has done cooking demonstrations across the globe, from New York to Paris. When she’s not cooking or writing, Dynise enjoys traveling, running and sewing. She lives in Philadelphia, blogs at http://urbanvegan.net and tweets at #theurbanvegan.
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LaDiva Dietitian! ‐ Marty Davey is not only LaDiva, Dietitian!, but a Registered Dietitian with a Masters degree in Food and Nutrition. She became a vegetarian in 1980 when she discovered that there were more chemicals in cattle then attendants at a Grateful Dead concert. Her family is all vegan, except the dog who drew the line at vegetarian. She conducts factual and hilarious presentations and food demos. While her private practice includes those transitioning to a plant‐based life, LaDiva's most popular private consulting topic is "I'm too busy and I don't cook." Her website is www.ladivadietitian.com. Eleanor Sampson – Eleanor is an editor and nutrition analyst for The Vegan Culinary Experience, author, and an expert vegan baker with a specialty in delicious vegan sweets (particularly cinnamon rolls!) You can reach Eleanor at [email protected].M
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Welcome to the Marketplace, our new spot for finding vegetarian friendly companies, chefs, authors, bloggers, cookbooks, products, and more! One of the goals of The Vegan Culinary Experience is to connect our readers with organizations that provide relevant products and services for vegans, so we hope you enjoy this new feature! Click on the Ads – Each ad is linked to the appropriate organization’s website. All you need to do is click on the ad to take you there. Become a Marketplace Member – Become connected by joining the Vegan Culinary Experience Marketplace. Membership is available to those who financially support the magazine, to those who promote the magazine, and to those who contribute to the magazine. Contact Chef Jason Wyrick at [email protected] for details!Current Members
Casa Mettá Tierno Tours Sweet Utopia
(www.casametta.com) (www.tiernotours.com) (www.sweetutopia.com) Milan Photography LaDiva Dietitian!, MS, RD Jill Nussinow, MS, RD
(www.milanphotography.com) (www.ladivadietitian.com) (www.theveggiequeen.com) Urban Vegan Bad Kitty Creations GoDairyFree.org (http://urbanvegan.net) (www.badkittybakery.blogspot.com) (www.godairyfree.org)
Non‐profits
Vegan Outreach Rational Animal Farm Sanctuary
(www.veganoutreach.org) (www.rational‐animal.org) (www.farmsanctuary.com) The Phoenix Permactulture Guild
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LaDiva Dietitian’s
Click
&
Cook
Video
LaDiva, HELP! Can I make easy, healthy food that will give me hair as great as yours???
Yes!!! Take me into your kitchen via your laptop or iPod or whatever device floats your boat.
Every month I’ll send you links to simple, yummy VIDEO recipes. You can print off the PDFs, or follow along with the video to create Quick, LOW FAT, no cholesterol healthy dishes.
EVERY MONTH YOU GET:
✓ List of ingredients and equipment needed
✓ 3 recipes of mine and cook with me
✓ 1 recipe made by the Planet Pyramid kids.
SO you KNOW you can make it and let the kids have their own kitchen fun
✓ 1 shopping or cooking tip, such as how to buy and store knives, creating a pantry,
how to read a nutrition label in less than a minute
Click on the YouTube video links below for a taste of what you will get every month. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LaDivaDietitian#grid/uploads
All for $5/month or $60 per year. To Order Go to:
http://www.ladivadietitian.com/ladivadietitian/Marketplace/Marketplace.html
While cooking lentils requires a greater time investment than peeling a carrot or a cucumber or biting into an apple, they certainly provide a huge variety, depth of flavor and hearty quality that fresh vegetables and fruits cannot. You likely know that I am a huge proponent of eating vegetables. Somehow, though, lentils top my list of fast and easy foods especially when compared to other legumes, which include beans and peas. When you think of lentils, you likely think of the brown or green ones because they are most often called for in recipes. Yet lentils come in different sizes, shapes and colors. Here’s how I classify them: Small, such as lentils Du Puy, black beluga, or French green, or other tiny varieties that stay firm when you cook them Hull less lentils such as red or ivory, that melt into your dish, turning into a puree Brown or green, the most typical lentil, that falls between firm and puree with a bit of texture The reason that I like lentils so much, besides their versatility and variety, is that they don’t require soaking before cooking. This means that you can decide at 5 p.m. to have lentil salad, stew, soup or chili for dinner – tonight, as in before 6 p.m. If you have a pressure cooker, most lentils take only 6 minutes at pressure to cook (See my new ebook, and soon to be in print, The New Fast Food™: The Veggie Queen™ Pressure Cooks Whole Food Meals in Less than 30 Minutes for more info). Lentils, like other legumes, need to be sorted and picked through remove any debris or rocks. Wash them well before using. The biggest issue with black lentils is that it is difficult to see small rocks or pebbles since they resemble one another. When cooking, I find that adding salt after cooking improves the quality of the lentils. Sometimes adding salt can make them tough. I also do not use a lot of salt, so I’d rather add it to the finished dish. Most of the small, firm lentils will cook on the stovetop in about 25 to 30 minutes. Keep in mind that as legumes get older (as in more than a year old), they need to cook for a longer time to be thoroughly cooked. To cook them, cover the lentils with water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and continue to cook until done. Test them at 25 minutes to see if they are cooked through. I always test a few lentils to make sure that they are all cooked. If they are not cooked, continue cooking.
Lentils: My Favorite, Fast, Hearty,
and (dare I say it?) Healthy Food
lentil plant The hulless lentils need about the same amount of time and it’s easier to tell when they are done. They break down into a puree and the lentils are creamy. This will also take about 25 minutes. The standard brown‐green lentils are also cooked by covering with water but they often take 40 to 45 minutes simmering to be cooked through. Some people find that they have problems digesting lentils, but this is much less often than with full sized beans such as black, kidney and pinto. To make any legume more digestible, you can sprout them (although there is a toxin in kidney beans, so do not do this with them). To sprout (see my blog post here), soak the lentils (you cannot do this with the hulless lentils) overnight, drain the soaking water. Rinse twice a day, for a couple of days. When the tail is the same length as the lentil, they are ready to eat or to cook. They require much less time to cook if they are sprouted. If you don’t want to sprout them yourself, you can purchase sprouted lentils from Tru Roots in a package and rehydrate them to use them. All sprouted lentils make wonderful raw salads. You can buy lentils at your local natural food, or even grocery, store. I encourage bulk buying for many reasons but one of the best is that if your store sells a lot of lentils, you are likely to get a more recent crop of lentils than if you buy them in a bag on the grocery store shelf. To purchase some of the more exotic lentils, I recommend checking out Timeless Food for their organic lentil
assortment, which includes black beluga, red, harvest gold and more, and Purcell Mountain Farms for more lentils than I can list here. Even I couldn’t buy as many as I wanted to. Next on my list to purchase is the Autumn Lentil Mix, which seems perfect for soup. When I cook a batch of lentils, I almost always cook extra and stash them in the freezer. They make a great start for a quick and easy meal at a moment’s notice. I freeze them in one to two cup bags, or in freeze in whatever amount you’d likely use. I hope to spark your creativity when it comes to using lentils: little nutrition powerhouses packed with protein, fiber and many B Vitamins. Now that you know how to cook lentils, here are some recipes for how I like to use them.
Lentil Salad
Serves 4‐6 You can use brown lentils or black or French green lentils for this salad, depending upon what is available. You can serve this on top of salad mix, sprouts or arugula, or just on its own. ¼ cup finely chopped shallot 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 cup French green lentils or regular brown or green lentils 1/2‐ 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup minced red or other colored pepper 3 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley 3 tablespoons olive oil, preferably extra‐virgin 1/4 cup walnuts, toasted lightly and chopped fine In a small bowl, combine shallot and 1 tablespoon vinegar. In a small saucepan simmer lentils in water to cover by 2 inches until just tender but not falling apart, 15 to 20 minutes (if using French lentils BE SURE to taste them no matter what to see if they are cooked), and drain well. Add hot lentils to shallot mixture and season with salt and pepper. Cool mixture, stirring occasionally. Add lentils to red pepper, remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, oil and walnuts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Note: This salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before serving. Taste and adjust seasonings.Lemony Lentil and Potato Chowder
Serves 6‐8 I love lentils and the red ones break down so nicely but unfortunately lose their red color and turn yellow. This is comfort food at its best. The lemon and mint also makes it incredibly refreshing and fresh tasting, something not always easy to do mid‐ winter. 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional) 1 medium onion, sliced 1 tablespoon minced garlic ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 cups red lentils 6 cups water or vegetable broth 3 cups unpeeled diced potatoes, red look nice but any will work 2 cups chopped greens like kale, mustard, chard, collards or sorrel 1 teaspoon lemon zest 4 tablespoons lemon juice ¼ cup chopped mint ½ teaspoon salt, or more to taste Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Heat the oil over medium heat in a large stockpot. Add the onion and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and cayenne and cook for 1 minute more. Add the lentils, broth and potatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes or until the lentils and potatoes are tender. Puree the mixture with a hand blender. Add the greens and cook 5 more minutes until they are wilted. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and the mint. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Serve hot. ©2011, Jill Nussinow, MS, RD from The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment, http://www.theveggiequeen.com
Lentil Tomato Stew
Serves 4 to 6 This stew uses spices that are more common in Africa or the Middle East, but would taste equally as good with more traditional curry spices or Mediterranean herbs. If you like smoky flavors, add some smoked Spanish paprika to the mix. Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you. This comes together so easily in the pressure cooker. 6 minutes high pressure; natural pressure release; 5 minutes stove top cooking 1 tablespoon neutral or olive oil (optional) 1 large yellow onion, diced small 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 small Yukon gold or Yellow Finn potato, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger 1 tablespoon ground cumin 2 teaspoons paprika ¼ teaspoon each ground coriander, cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, cloves Pinch of cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes 2‐3 sprigs fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme 1 ½ cups brown lentils 1 ½ cups vegetable stock 1 cup diced tomatoes ½ cup tomato paste 1 cup frozen green peas ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste Heat the oil in the pressure cooker over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and potato. Sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and sauté for another minute. Add the thyme, lentils and stock and lock the lid on the cooker. Bring to high pressure over high heat. Lower the heat to maintain high pressure for 6 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally. Remove the lid, tilting it away from you. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer on the stovetop for 5 minutes, adding the peas at the end of cooking, stirring until they are bright green. Taste and add salt as desired. ©2011, Jill Nussinow, MS, RD from The New Fast Food™: The Veggie Queen Pressure Cooks Whole Food Meals in Less than 30 Minutes The Author Jill Nussinow, MS, RD is the author of The Veggie Queen™: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment cookbook and the ebook, The New Fast Food: The Veggie Queen™ Pressure Cooks Whole Food Meals in Less than 30 Minutes due out in paperback this fall. You can see and read more about what Jill does at http://www.theveggiequeen.com. Find Jill on Facebook at The Veggie Queen or follow Jill on Twitter.Mondays start at 4:30 a.m., 2 hour drive to a consulting job, 10 hours of work, leave for home, stop for a visit with the Queen Mother, get home around 8 p.m. Dinner is half‐price fajita night at a local joint with boring guacamole. Even though the guacamole is tasteless, the idea of cooking at the end of the day is just beyond me. And I am not alone. According to the National Restaurant Association, 49% of food dollars are spent in restaurants. In fact, they see an upturn in the industry as a whole.i How did we go from, “Earl, chop Momma up some fire wood” to “Honey bear, Mommy brought home edamame and veggie sushi for dinner”? It just throws fuel to the fire that when you educate someone you can’t keep’em down on the farm. Douglas E. Bowers has written the quintessential article on this in FoodReview magazine. ii If you want more insights I suggest it as great reading. However, in my on‐the‐go life, I’m plucking out the highlights plus some added info from a couple of other sources. No matter what, women spend more time, on average, cooking and doing domestic chores than men.iii Nonworking married women spend the most amount of time cooking at 70 minutes, while single gals spend around 15 minutes whether they work or not.iv It is this movement from married with kids in the the biggest change on eating habits, obesity and chronic illness in this country. Thank goodness we are now smarter, more educated, aware of the food industry, and returning to looking for nutrition in our daily meals. A survey of households around 1900 stated that women spent 44 hours per week preparing meals and cleaning. That is a full week of work with childcare added on top. Most employment opportunities, especially for minority women, were as domestics. Immigrant women, such as those in my own family, were domestics, but also made their living at factories. Twenty percent of all women over the age of 16 were working at the turn of the 20th century, however, only a little over five percent of married women were employed. From 1900 to 1920, sixty percent of the US lived in a rural area. The women there were not considered part of the workforce, although they brought in monies from products such as eggs and poultry. More than 20 percent of homes had more than seven members in the household. So, even though there was large family to feed canning, cleaning and gardening had many hands to help. Less than six percent of the rural farms had a single dweller. The average family members were 4.8, although there is no data or photos of 0.8 people. With the discovery of vitamins, came nutritionists and food science. These experts, mainly women,
Studies Show We Love Quickies:
The abbrv. history of food preparation during the last 100 years
The immigrant wave in the early 1900’s brought more unmarried people into one place than ever before. Of course, most women did marry and the percentage of married women in the workforce stayed stable. On the other hand, movies brought us Theda Bara as the silent screen, “It” girl, glamourizing the single female. In the 1920’s a lot of things had changed. Urban communities had begun to change from wood and coal stoves to gas and electric. They had ice boxes and could buy produce and other perishable foods. This increased the types of foods canned by food companies and included meal items instead of just soups. With electricity came gadgets – food processors, toasters, timers and even refrigerators to the upper class. The thin, chic image of a female began to be the vogue. And women began to change American society with the development of family planning and the right to vote. The 1930’s depression sent many women back into the home, but didn’t decrease their use of kitchen gadgets. In 1935, the Electrification Administration was set up to get electricity to rural America. The success of that administration led to increased use of appliances and taking some of the drudgery out of cooking. World War II brought more employment, but a national conservation of resources to feed troops abroad. In 1943, 40% of vegetables consumed came from home gardens. Canning got a resurgence. Returning soldiers after the war revitalized the idea of the woman in the home. Only this time she was supposed to educated, look like Grace Kelly, keep a spotless home and cook incredible meals for the husband and children in heels and a ton of hairspray. In a phrase, Homemaker Barbie. With freezers now available, came frozen foods. What could be easier? On the farm, the business began to change from Mom and Pop’s diverse farm to specialized agribusiness. Cutler, Glaeser, and Shapiro illustrate the change in diet by the change in potato: “Before World War II, Americans ate massive amounts of potatoes, largely baked, boiled or mashed. They were generally consumed at home. French fries were rare, both at home and in restaurants, because the preparation of French fries requires significant peeling, cutting and cooking. French fries are now typically peeled, cut and cooked in a few central locations using sophisticated new technologies. They are then frozen at 40 degrees and shipped to the point of consumption . . . “ v Women’s magazines stressed these new foods and ease of preparation. The new “home cooked” meals went from 44 hours per week to below 20. The civil rights Act of 1964 dealt with race as well as gender inequality. This led to huge up swings of women in colleges and in the marketplace. Men’s role in the kitchen began to change. Divorce rates grew as did one parent households. Men had children to feed without a female partner in the kitchen. Ray Krock began the era of franchised eateries to bring the restaurant experience to the middle‐ class. Julia Child made her debut to get cooks back in the kitchen, but food preparation, despite her best efforts dropped to 10 hours a week. The 60‐
minute Gourmet, column by Pierre Franey, was launched in the New York Times in 1975.vi More than half of all women over age 16 were employed in the 1980’s. Fifty‐four percent of married women were employed. With more parents in the work world, meals at home also dropped. Breakfast was on the bus, school, day care or desk at work. Whereas 1950’s children had come home for lunch from school, now schools were expected to feed all children of all grades. The National School Lunch program looked to add breakfast for economically challenged households. The number of single‐ parent households was now over 20%. New York City schools almost never close due to the amount of lower income children they feed breakfast and lunch. In the 1990’s, both parents hit the job market with 70% of all women working. Household members decreased as more DINKS [double income no kids] couples grew. Most “home cooked” dinners were actually 50% prepared foods. With the explosion of obesity, childhood obesity in particular, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes we have come back to the notion of wanting nutrition in our foods. It is widely known that obesity declines when family meals increase. Americans are still in love with the grab and go mentality, but there is a growing movement to have healthier, low fat, high fiber choices. When Michelle Obama launched her “Let’s Move” campaign, more and more restaurant chains have realized that healthy choices sell. Even WalMart has launched a campaign to local and organic. When I send off this article I’m going to run to the kitchen, chop‐chop some veggies in the frig, throw them in the pot with H2O, a dash of seasonings and quick cooking lentils, then set it to boil. After it boils, I’ll turn down the heat and let it simmer . . . until tomorrow. The Author Marty Davey, RD, MS is not only LaDiva, Dietitian!, but a Registered Dietitian with a Masters degree in Food and Nutrition. She became a vegetarian in 1980 when she discovered that there were more chemicals in cattle then attendants at a Grateful Dead concert. Her family is all vegan, except the dog who drew the line at vegetarian. She conducts factual and hilarious presentations and food demos. While her private practice includes those transitioning to a plant‐based life, LaDiva's most popular private consulting topic is "I'm too busy and I don't cook." Her website is www.ladivadietitian.com. i http://www.restaurant.org/research/facts/ ii Bower D. 2000. Cooking Trends Echo Changing Roles of Women , FoodReview, Volume 23,Issue 1. Retrieved on September 19 2011 from http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/foodrevie w/jan2000/frjan2000d.pdf iii http://www.ers.usda.gov/amberwaves/novemb er05/datafeature/ https://webspace.utexas.edu/hamermes/www/ IsoWork120407.pdf v David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser and Jesse M. Shapiro [2003] Why Have Americans Become More Obese? http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/jesse.shapiro/r esearch/obesity.pdf vi http://culiblog.org/2006/03/an‐improbable‐ history‐meal‐assembly‐centers/
I am the queen of easy peasy. I love whipping up a tasty dish with very few ingredients, I find it a fun and engaging challenge. Imagine this. It's 5 o'clock in the afternoon and your family decides to surprise you, you have a bottle of wine, a few odds and ends you aren't sure will go together, you've had no time to run to the store, so you have to use your imagination to come up with a delicious enough dish that you can make out of this and that and do it in the next 30 minutes. You will be happy to know that you not only made dinner, but you also made dessert too. Talk about wowing your family in a flash! Here's what you made:
Creme a la Zucchini
1 cup chopped zucchinis 1 ripe avocado ½ cup chopped celery ½ cup spring water 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 teaspoon dried dill weed 1 garlic clove ¼ teaspoon sea salt Combine all the ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth. Serve immediately.Chocolate Pudding
½ cup pitted dates, soaked for 15 minutes 1 ripe avocado 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder or cocoa powder 1 tablespoon agave 1 teaspoon vanilla flavor or extract 1/8 teaspoon sea salt Drain the dates but reserve the soak water. Place the dates in a blender along with the remaining ingredients, adding just enough of the soak water to facilitate blending. Process until smooth. Chill the pudding in the refrigerator for 30 or more minutes and serve. You made dinner and dessert in a flash, so now you have to time to set the table nicely, pick some flowers from the garden, and put on something nice. Wasn't this a fun game? Wanna make it real? Get the above ingredients, prepare them, and invite over some friends and enjoy! The Author Angela Elliott is the author of Alive in Five, Holiday Fare with Angela, The Simple Gourmet, and more books on the way! Angela is the inventor of Five Minute Gourmet Meals™, Raw Nut‐ Free Cuisine™, Raw Vegan Dog Cuisine™, and The Celestialwich™, and the owner and operator of She‐Zen Cuisine. www.she‐ zencuisine.com. Angela has contributed to various publications, including Vegnews Magazine, Vegetarian Baby and Child Magazine, and has taught gourmet classes, holistic classes, lectured, and on occasion toured with Lou Corona, a nationally recognized proponent of living food.Raw Foods Made Easy
By Angela Elliott
The garden looks pretty bad this time of year – the plants like survivors of a devastating season, which is pretty accurate. Temperatures are still high in September, but they are starting to fall and nights are cooling off, giving respite to weary trees, vines and the perennials in the garden. We’re starting to plant for the winter crops here in Phoenix and I always feel like a kid in a candy store when thinking about all the greens that will start coming in – delicate lettuce leaves, more robust kale and swiss chard – YUM! The Citrus trees have next year’s crop green and full of promise for the future, but the star of the show at this time of year? POMEGRANATES!! Pomegranates have survived the harsh summer with their precious fruits nourished through the heat and made sweeter in our seasonal furnace. Some cultivars will be ready to harvest now and some of them will be perfect for picking before Thanksgiving, making it one of the few fruits that ripen at this time of year and a must have for the savvy gardener looking to extend a fruit harvest as long as possible into the year! They also store well kept in a cool place, and compare with apples for an excellent shelf life. Pomegranates originated in the northern region of India to the Himalayas of Iran and some varieties do quite well with some frost, although temperatures below 12degrees F can permanently damage the trees. Surprisingly they do very well in our desert home and can be prolific producers in your garden as they prefer arid conditions. They are very drought tolerant once established, but prefer regular irrigation for best fruit set. The pomegranate even makes a good container tree, if given a large pot. It is impossible to discuss pomegranates without referring to the world’s leading authority, Dr. Gregory Levin, author of Pomegranate Roads: A Soviet Botanist's Exile from Eden. Dr. Levin spent over 40 years traveling Central Asia and the Trans‐ Caucasus, collecting and cultivating over 1,100 varieties of pomegranates, eventually sending the best of the best to be grown out at UC Davis in California. The best known variety of pomegranate is the Wonderful. It is the oldest commercial cultivar, typically the kind you get in the grocery store and it’s name is quite descriptive as it is a large, sweet fruit on a tree that produces heavily. The fruit stores well, keeping a high quality for many weeks under good conditions. Other varieties are now being offered to the home gardener and each has slightly different characteristics. Some have earlier or later harvests, some fruit is sweeter and some more tart, color is also being selected for with varieties ranging from white seeds to deepest purple. Some other varieties* to consider would include: AC Sweet. Sweeter fruit than Wonderful, more widely adapted (better quality in cool‐ summer climates). Small, glossy‐leafed, ornamental tree with showy Turkmenistan (country of origin) orange‐red blossoms in
Year of the Pomegranate
late spring. Very suitable to espalier and container growing. Harvest late summer. Unsplit ripe fruit stores in cool, dry place for two months or more. Ambrosia. Medium to large size fruit with pale pink skin. Large seeds with dark red, sweet‐tart juice. Good source of antioxidants. Long‐lived, any soil. Garnet Sash. Naturally slightly dwarf tree is extremely precocious, setting profuse amounts of attractive flowers and fruit in the first year. Would make an attractive ornamental. Fruit is small to medium sized, with yellow skin, blushed pinkish red. Garnet Sash has large seeds with very flavorful sweet‐tart juice, a great source of antioxidants. It would be an excellent choice for juice blending. Harvest from late September to mid October. Grenada. A true grenadine selection. Fruit is colored a dark, burgundy‐red all over. Seeds and juice are dark red, with good flavor. Kashmir. Medium size pomegranate with light pink‐red exterior. Ruby red seeds have intense flavor with no overbearing acidic taste. Plant has a slightly spreading growth habit and can also be grown as a tree. Keep any height with summer pruning. Pink Satin. Medium to large size, medium pink to dark red fruit with medium to large, light‐pink edible seeds. Wonderful refreshing light‐colored juice is non‐staining, with a sweet, fruit‐punch flavor. Plant is vigorous and can be grown as a shrub or tree and kept any height by summer pruning. Sharp Velvet. Large sized pomegranate with a very appealing, unique mildly acid refreshing flavor. Fruit has a dark red exterior and dark seeds, the color of crushed‐red velvet. Upright growing plant sets huge crops of highly ornamental fruit and can be kept any height with summer pruning. Any of these varieties would do well in our Phoenix location, as they require only 150 – 200 hours of chill and we get at least 250 each winter season. They are also self‐fruitful, meaning that you don’t need to have more than one tree to get a good harvest of fruit, unlike some trees that need a mate to cross‐pollinate. All have excellent antioxidant qualities and would do well eaten fresh out of hand, juiced or used in cooking. And since the theme of this edition is quick and easy, I’ll share with you the absolutely fastest way to remove the seeds from a pomegranate. Take your pomegranate and cut it down the center it so that the stem and blossom ends are at the top of each half. Hold your pomegranate half in your hand, cut side down and over a large bowl. Then take a large heavy spoon, or other blunt heavy object and whack away at the pomegranate. This will quickly separate the seeds from the skin. You could do this over a large bowl filled with water if you want the seeds to easily separate from the membranes, as the membranes float while the seeds will sink to the bottom. This whole process should not take more than a couple minutes once you practice. If your intent is to juice the fruit, just take your cut halves and use a citrus reamer style juicer and juice it as if it were an orange or grapefruit. For those of you interested in learning more, the AZ Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers annual Festival of Fruit is dedicated to the Pomegranate and is being held in Phoenix this year. This event will be held the weekend of November 5th at ASU’s Tempe campus, for more info please click here. This year the Valley Permaculture Alliance is offering classes on fruit tree care as well as 13
different varieties of pomegranates, some of them cultivated from the best of the best of Dr. Levin’s research. The VPA is very excited to be able to offer some of those rare varieties for sale to the public as a part of this years exciting Fruit Tree Program. If you love pomegranates, consider adding this versatile tree to your yard and garden, you won’t be disappointed. Now check out my recipe for Iced Pomegranate Tea on page 164 of this issue. *Descriptions primarily from Dave Wilson’s Nursery The Author As a professional urban designer, Liz Lonetti is passionate about building community, both physically and socially. She graduated from the U of MN with a BA in Architecture in 1998. She also serves as the Executive Director for the Phoenix Permaculture Guild, a non‐profit organization whose mission is to inspire sustainable living through education, community building and creative cooperation (www.phoenixpermaculture.org). A long time advocate for building greener and more inter‐connected communities, Liz volunteers her time and talent for other local green causes. In her spare time, Liz enjoys cooking with the veggies from her gardens, sharing great food with friends and neighbors, learning from and teaching others. To contact Liz, please visit her blog site www.phoenixpermaculture.org/profile/LizDan. Resources www.urbanfarm.org www.phoenixpermaculture.org
For almost 70 years, the “Farm Bill” has been the most significant piece of legislation affecting what American farmers grow and American consumers eat. The next round of Farm Bill revisions are expected to be taken up by Congress in 2012. This provides a limited time to push for change toward agricultural policies that favor healthy and sustainable plant‐based diets. Here are my five top things to change in the 2012 Farm Bill: 1. Grow Corn and Soybeans for People to Eat, not to Reduce the Cost of Meat. Commodity Programs that give money to certain agriculture sectors – what are commonly known as “subsidies” – are one of the main components of the Farm Bill. When Congress passed the first Farm Bill in 1933, subsidies provided an economic safety net to millions of small farmers facing the loss of their farms, while also ensuring a stable food supply. That original laudable intention has been severely distorted, resulting in unintended, unfortunate, and unhealthy consequences. Ninety‐three percent of subsidies today go to five “commodity crops”: corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, and wheat. The vast majority of these crops are processed into feed for the cows, pigs, and chickens who ultimately end up in our grocery stores and fast‐food restaurants at bargain‐ basement prices. As much as 98 percent of soybeans grown in the U.S. are used for animal feed. Less than 10 percent of the corn grown makes it directly to our dinner tables. The poultry industry received an average of $1.25 billion a year in grain subsidies between 1997 and 2005. Even the waste materials from cotton production and corn milling for ethanol are fed to animals. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, “the ethanol industry is expected to produce more than 39 million metric tons of animal feed in 2010‐11, enough to produce 50 billion quarter‐pound hamburgers – or seven patties for every person on the planet.” When people do consume these commodity crops, it is often in the form of highly‐ processed, unhealthy inventions like high fructose corn syrup turned into sodas and hydrogenated oils found in McDonald’s Big Macs, Chic‐Fil‐A chicken patties, KFC’s apple turnovers, and most other fast‐food menu items. We don’t need easy and cheap access to these disease‐promoting foods. Taxpayer dollars should
Vegan Cuisine and the Law
Why Big Macs & Chicken McNuggets Outprice Carrots & Apples
only be used to produce healthy, whole plant foods for people, not livestock. Urge lawmakers to end subsidies for growers of commodity crops. 2. Stop subsidizing the Dairy Industry. The dairy industry has co‐opted common sense by successfully convincing America that cow’s milk is a necessary part of a healthy diet. Healthier plant‐ based sources of calcium like green leafy vegetables will not only protect our bones better than cow’s milk, these calcium sources don’t inflict untold suffering on the cows used up and slaughtered as part of the dairy industry’s standard practices. Taxpayers provide the dairy industry with approximately $1 billion in annual subsidies. Farm Bill programs include the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program, which pays dairy producers when milk prices fall, the Dairy Product Price Support Program (DPSP), which purchases surplus products from dairy processors, and milk marketing orders, through which the federal government artificially controls the price of milk. The government shouldn’t be doling out billions of taxpayer dollars to the dairy industry to ensure that every man, woman, and child “Got Milk”. Let market forces determine milk’s price. Demand that your taxpayer dollars stop subsidizing the dairy industry. 3. Redirect Commodity Crop and Dairy Subsidies to Growers of Healthy Plant‐Based Foods. Government subsidies should be restricted to foods that are the healthiest for our environment and for us. The Farm Bill refers to fruits, vegetables, and nuts as “specialty crops.” Two‐ thirds of American farmers produce “specialty‐ crops.” None of these crops are subsidized. The 2008 Farm Bill marked a small step forward for specialty crops. Limited funding for programs that encourage fruit and vegetable consumption included the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) and the Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center. A new “Organics” title was also added to the 2008 Farm Bill to promote specialty crops, grow farmers’ markets, and transition producers to organic production. Many of the programs that support healthy eating only began with the 2008 Farm Bill. Despite the limited resources given to these programs, they are likely to be targeted for cuts in the 2012 version. Yet, we need 13 million more acres of land for growing fruits and vegetables just for everyone to meet the minimum recommended dietary guidelines. For Americans to have easy and affordable access to fresh whole plant‐foods, revolutionary change in agricultural policy is needed. Urge lawmakers to redirect subsidies currently given to prop up the meat and dairy industries to investments in programs that incentivize farmers to grow fruits and vegetables. 4. Bring Old McDonald’s Farm Back. Farm Bill policies contributed to the rise of factory farms. As explained in bestselling author Michael Pollan’s groundbreaking book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, [T]he flood tide of cheap corn made it profitable to fatten cattle on feedlots instead of on grass, and to raise chickens in giant factories rather than in farmyards. Iowa livestock farmers couldn’t compete with the factory‐farmed animals their own
cheap corn had helped spawn, so the chickens and cattle disappeared from the farm. Factory farming meant millions more animals could be raised in smaller spaces through intensive confinement. Combined with more cost savings from the federally‐subsidized animal feed, cheap and abundant meat, dairy, and eggs became part of the “Standard American Diet.” One million animals are slaughtered for food every hour in America, ten billion every year. But the Farm Bill does not provide even the most minimal protections for these animals. Downed animals routinely enter the food chain. Sows and calves spend their lives intensely confined to small, cramped crates. Laying hens are crammed into battery cages so crowded they can barely move at all. Chickens receive no humane slaughter protection. The list of abuses goes on and on. The only mention of animal welfare in the 2008 Farm Bill was to increase the maximum fine for each violation of the Animal Welfare Act from $2,500 to $10,000, which will be of small comfort to those factory‐farmed chickens and calves: The Animal Welfare Act does not apply to farm animals. Urge lawmakers to incorporate meaningful animal welfare provisions into the Farm Bill. 5. Keep Taxpayer Dollars Out of the Hands of McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC. More than two‐thirds of the $284 billion budgeted in the 2008 Farm Bill went toward the Food Stamp Program, now called SNAP – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other food assistance programs. Currently, individual states can decide whether SNAP benefits can be used in fast food restaurants and such use is further limited to the elderly, disabled, and homeless. Currently only California, Arizona, and Michigan allow this practice statewide. Efforts are underway to bust this door wide open. Yum Brands, the company that brings us KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, is spending millions of dollars to convince Congress that the 45 million SNAP participants should be able to spend their food‐ stamp dollars in fast‐food restaurants, effectively delivering billions of our tax dollars right into the hands of Big Food. While ensuring SNAP participants’ access to healthy foods is a complex matter, efforts to increase the availability of foods known to make people fat and sick should be rejected. Urge lawmakers to revamp the food stamp program to feature health‐promoting foods and creative solutions to support participants’ access to these foods. To change the direction of agriculture policy in this country toward healthy, sustainably‐produced, plant‐based food that protects both human health and animal well‐being, our voices must become louder and stronger. If you’d like to weigh in, contact the House Agriculture Committee at [email protected] and politely demand these changes in the 2012 Farm Bill. The Author Mindy Kursban is a practicing attorney who is passionate about animals, food, and health. She gained her experience and knowledge about vegan cuisine and the law while working for ten years as general counsel and then executive director of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Since leaving PCRM in 2007, Mindy has been writing and speaking to help others make the switch to a plant‐ based diet. Mindy welcomes feedback, comments, and questions at [email protected].
Greenery, history, and a thriving international and artistic culture dominate Atlanta, but what isn’t quite expected, but is quite welcome, is a bustling realm of vegetarian cuisine. When I first visited Atlanta in 2001, I was surprised to hear from so many people about how veg‐friendly the city was. Thankfully so, because that was at a time when most cities were not and I was definitely worried about being able to find something to eat in the South, home of fried, fried, and more fried. I remember rushing off to a well‐recommended restaurant called Unicorn Place and being ecstatic that not only could I find something to eat, the food was good. Sadly, it seems as though that place has closed, but with the explosion of vegan cuisine in popular culture, the restaurant scene has followed suit.
