Vegan Delights

5. The fantastic new non-hydrogenated butter and margarine substitutes now available. Vegan pastries are now truly great, and easy for the lay person to make.

4. The awesome, non-TVP meat substitutes now available. Wheat-gluten and soy based meat analogs from Field Roast, Tofurky, and Yves, and other companies are really coming into their own, tasty, widely adaptable and with no nasty stuff at all. Likewise, there are some great, meltable, 100% vegan (no casein) cheeses available now too.

3. Vegan pizza made by folks who really want to make it good. Locally, I have a pizza place called Bella Faccia (on NE Alberta, in Portland, Oregon) that makes vegan pizza so killer even cheese heads choose it sometimes for a change of pace. The key is their special cashew-tomato sauce--definitely something to write home about.

2. Great, gourmet chefs who aren't even phased by "dietary restrictions." Chef Thierry Rautureau of Rover's in Seattle is one such chef, quite possibly the best in the world. I've had the great privilege of dining at Rover's on a half dozen occasions. I've been a vegan for more than 15 years. Mr. Rautureau greets each table before each meal, welcoming guests and asking about dietary restrictions. There are two fixed-menu options, 5 courses each, one non-vegetarian, one vegetarian. A person can specify anything (within reason) and requests will be gladly, and swiftly, met. What a show. Impossible to describe French-inspired nouvelle cuisine which one does not easily forget.

1. South-Indian food. Vegetarian and vegan food has an ancient history in India of course (as it does in China). Unfortunately, it is much harder to find South-Indian food than it is to find North-Indian food--just as it is hard, if not impossible, to find high-quality (ie, Buddhist) Chinese vegetarian food. The Jains and Buddhists in South India, both east coast and west coast, long ago perfected the art of incredibly tasty vegan foods. Seeing on a menu such dishes as dosa, idli, uttapam, sambar, bonda--too many to name--should mean only one thing to the interested, and hungry, diner: tremendously good, high-caliber food ahead! Once you get hooked, I promise you'll begin to see South-Indian food for what it is--one of India's most precious gifts to the world.