The Accidental Vegan

The Accidental Vegan

Eating vegan doesn't have to be hard. These days, home cooks are seeking out simple recipes that unite hearty, satisfying taste with the perks of vegan food--it's healthy, fresh, economical, lactose-free, ethical, and environmentally sustainable. Omnivorous chef Devra Gartenstein accidentally fell into the vegan world more than ten years ago, and she stuck around for the benefits to her body, her tastebuds, and the world around her. Never one to fuss in the kitchen, Devra has packed this new edition of her pioneering cookbook with more than 180 basic-ingredient, quick-instruction, maximum-flavor recipes. With appetizers, soups, mains, sides, and desserts inspired by Indian, Thai, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Greek, and Italian cuisines, THE ACCIDENTAL VEGAN is sure to have vegans and nonvegans alike clamoring for more. "Eat low on the food chain in high style with this eclectic collection of simply sophisticated recipes from Devra Gartenstein. Please your palate and spare the planet in one fell swoop--or one swell soup!" —Kerry Trueman, cofounder of Eating Liberally “Just as you don’t have to be Italian to love pasta, you don’t need to be vegan to enjoy these recipes.” —Taste for Life     DEVRA GARTENSTEIN owns and runs the Patty Pan Grill, a vegetarian-vegan restaurant and take-out counter in Seattle, Washington. She is also a farmers' market vendor who can be found at local markets almost every day during the summer. Visit www.quirkygourmet.com THE AUTHOR SCOOP If you had to boil the message of The Accidental Vegan down to one sentence, what would it be? You don't have to be a vegetarian to eat vegetarian food, just like you don't have to be Thai to eat Thai food, and you don't have to be Mexican to eat Mexican food. When did you know you were a writer? When I was in third grade one of my teachers said, "You should never start a sentence with "and," unless you're a writer." And right then and there, I decided that's what I wanted to be. What's the farthest you've ever traveled? I once traveled to a small town in Poland thinking it was the birthplace of my great grandfather, but when I got home and double checked, it turned out I'd gone to the wrong town. Any memorable kitchen disasters? I once spilled half a bucket of tahini. That's twenty pounds of tahini. There's no good way to clean up twenty pounds of tahini. What book do you re-read every few years? I re-read Isak Dinesen's Babette's Feast, and then I watch the movie again, because it's every bit as good as the original story. What are you working on now? I'm working on a book called Honest Food: A History of Eating Well. It's an account of the relationship between humans and food, from Paleolithic times until the present day. INTRODUCTION  Cooking starts with shopping: deciding where to go for our raw materials. That's a choice that takes into account everything from what's closest to what we can afford to what matters to us in the larger scheme of things, like our feelings about compassion or the environment. I've heard people say that they'd like to eat more vegetarian food but they can't afford it. That always strikes me as strange, as vegetables are usually less expensive than meat, at least when they're of like quality. But there really isn't any vegetarian equivalent of McDonald's or Taco Bell, with ninety-nine cent meals and cheap, supersized portions. The fact is, we spend money on what matters to us. I know people who are barely scraping by who buy almost all of their food at farmers' markets, and I've met people who live in mansions who fill their cupboards with processed garbage from big-box warehouses. I try for a middle ground. I will sometimes buy mainstream products that aren't grown organically, but I do look for items that have no preservatives or other artificial ingredients. It's great to buy organic foods, but it can be difficult to know whether a producer is just hopping on the bandwagon and making money from the latest trend or carefully creating a clean product because they believe in healthful food. It's easier to tell the difference when we can meet producers face to face, like at a farmers' market or a neighborhood bakery.  Eating Well while Spending Less  Although good food costs more than processed food, you don't necessarily have to spend a lot of money to eat well. Sure, some quality items are costly, like fine olive oil and organic produce, but there are also plenty of wonderful foods that are very affordable, even in an age of rapidly climbing prices. I try to look for a happy medium, like picking a decent olive oil that isn't terribly expensive, or choosing organics when the price isn't that much higher than conventional produce. Above all, it's important to know what different foods usually cost and to be aware of the price of each item you put in your shopping cart. Don't automatically buy the cheapest thing, but don't spend more than you have to just because you're not paying attention