Becoming Vegan Review

Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant–Based Diet by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina, Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Co, 2000.

If you are vegan, or want to become a vegan, or simply want to eat a very low level of animal–based foods, then this book belongs on your bookshelf.

Davis and Melina are registered dietitians, and this fact alone initially caused me to regard their work with suspicion. My road to becoming a vegetarian and ultimately to an entirely plant-based diet involved ignoring the advice of physicians, dietitians, and nutritional scientists, who told me throughout my childhood and young adulthood that eating animal products is necessary for health. Even today nutritional and health care professionals who accept that a plant-based diet can be healthy often can not offer any practical advice, because they were trained in and practice in an animal-eating intellectual framework. However, just as T. Colin Campbell has redeemed nutritional scientists in my eyes, and doctors such as Neil Bernard have redeemed MD’s, so Davis and Melina have redeemed dietitians. They wrote Becoming Vegan entirely within a plant-based framework. No "Eat hamburger, but if you're a vegetarian eat beans instead" advice here.

They systematically examine all the major nutritional categories: Protein, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals. They show how an entirely plant based diet can provide all the nutrients necessary for a healthy life when it is done correctly. And they show how to do it correctly. For the few nutrients where unfortified plant foods alone may be deficient – examples include vitamin B12, vitamin D for people who do not get sufficient sunlight exposure, and calcium for people who do not eat ample quantities of greens and beans – they recommend vegan supplements or fortified plant foods.

Then comes the "different strokes for different folks" part of the book. Not all vegans have the same nutritional needs, so Davis and Melina thoroughly and systematically examine the nutritional requirements for children, adults, seniors, people who are overweight, people who are underweight, and athletes. They have a heartfelt chapter on the needs of vegans with eating disorders.

Davis and Melina base their book on science, not speculation; on fact, not opinion. They also have a respect for and identification with those who would eat a plant-based diet, whether for health, to reduce our impact on the environment, or to relieve the suffering of animals.

Supercharged Oatmeal Breakfast

When my mom was a little girl her father got up early every morning and made a big pot of oatmeal for the entire family for breakfast. My grandfather had good nutrition sense. Oatmeal was one of the few whole grains that was readily available and frequently eaten in the typical American diet. I would not agree with having oatmeal every day – variety is the spice of life – but oatmeal is a frequent visitor to my breakfast table. Here is a breakfast that takes oatmeal to a new nutritional and taste level.

Let's start with the cereal. The night before take one cup of whole oats and 1/2 cup of whole barley, rinse and put in a large pot with 5 cups of water and one or two pinches of salt. When I say whole oats and barley, I mean whole. Not rolled, not cut. You can buy them at Whole Foods in the bulk section. The labels will probably read "oat groats" and "hulled barley". Bring the water to a boil. If you have time, let it simmer for 10 or 15 min. Then turn off the heat and leave the lid on the pot. The next morning the oats and barley should be mostly cooked. Add water if necessary to bring your oatmeal to the consistency that you want. Then bring it to a boil again.

Top your oatmeal with raisins and ground flaxseed. Raisins help prevent calcium from leaching out of your bones [1], and flaxseed is the plant kingdom's champion source of omega-3 fatty acids [2].

Pair your oatmeal with a lettuce, carrot, and radish salad. Top the salad with a simple dressing made from flaxseed oil (more omega-3's here), olive oil (high in monounsaturated fats), and balsamic vinegar.

[1] Amy Lanou and Michael Castleman, Building Bone Vitality, (New York: McGraw Hill, 2009), 197.

[2] Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina, Becoming Vegan (Summertown, TN: The Book Publishing Company, 2000), 70.

Indiana Jones and the Channel of Destruction

Put on your Indiana Jones hat and come with me. We are going on a great adventure. We will start at the gaping, cavelike mouth of the Channel of Destruction. Don't worry. Your Indiana Jones hat has strong protective powers and will keep you safe.

As we enter the Channel of Destruction we see a huge sleeping slug on the bottom of the cave. Watch out! The slug is moving. Oh, no! It has knocked off your Indiana Jones hat and and now you are vulnerable. Now the jaws of the cave close on you and cut you into chunks. Then stalactites and stalagmites come together and grind you into smaller pieces. A strange liquid oozes from the walls of the cave and mixes with the pieces of your body. Then the slug makes a surging movement and you feel yourself entering a dark vertical tube. Pushed along by contractions of the side of the tube, in a few minutes you enter the acid bath. It is like a washing machine, only the water is extremely acid. It churns you around and begins to dissolve your chunks of flesh. Then your mushed up body is pushed into another tube, where powerful enzymes tear apart your flesh, sugars and fat. The walls of the tube suck up these your nutrients, leaving you as nothing more than waste products, fiber, and water. Then you are pushed forward to another tube where most of the liquid is sucked out of you. This tube is filled with lethal bacteria. Finally a violent contraction expels you back into the outer world. You are now a foul-smelling, bacteria-ridden, brown blob. No one wants to talk to you or even be close to you. You feel like a piece of poop, because that is what you have become.

The Channel of Destruction is your own digestive tract. This scary process is occurring right now inside you. No wonder most of us don't want to think about it. But how can we make head or tail of the conflicting views on diet and nutrition that we find all around us unless we have a basic understanding of our own digestive process? If you're like me and never took biology in school, or if you did take biology and vacuumed your brain the minute you walked out of the final exam, then it's time for you have to brush up on what your gut is doing.

I brushed up on what was happening inside my gut by watching the videos in Understanding the Human Body: An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology by Dr. Anthony Goodman. You can probably get this series at your local library.

A Moroccan Meal

Chutzpah, audacity, brass, gall, and nerve. That's what you need to jump in and try a new style of cooking. Amy had all of the above when she decided to try Moroccan cooking. We have never been to Morocco and knew practically nothing about Moroccan cuisine, but she got a Moroccan cookbook, Cooking Moroccan by Tess Mallos, and jumped in.

The centerpiece of her Moroccan meal was the tagine, a long cooked Moroccan stew. Most tagines have meat, but she was able to find one that was based on lentils and squash. See the recipe here. She also made spiced carrots (recipe here) and roasted vegetables with prunes (recipe here).

Moroccan food emphasizes long, slow cooking or stewing. It uses elaborate spice mixtures, including cinnamon, cumin, coriander, ginger, and turmeric. The spices are combined with onions and/or tomatoes, olives, and salted lemons, or with fruits.

We also had hummus, garnished with hot peppers and onions. Okay, hummus is really more Arabic than Moroccan, but I like it.

Then there was the bread. Moroccan bread is traditionally made in flat loaves with little or no salt. It is traditionally a wild yeast (sourdough) bread. It was a perfect fit for my basic whole wheat, sourdough pita recipe. I made three loaves of different sizes, so we could find out which one we liked best. The loaves puffed up like pita bread, but since this is apparently not in the Moroccan tradition, in later versions I scored or punctured the tops of the loaves to allow steam to escape.

We enjoyed the meal, but decided that it will be more balanced if we add a salad next time.

Amy and I have both incorporated Moroccan food into our cooking. You can, too. See you on the road to Morocco.

Welcome

Welcome to the Veggie Cooking Around the World blog.  My partner Amy and I started Veggie Cooking Around the World, LLC in January.  Our mission is to teach whole foods, plant-based cooking in the Chicago area.  This blog will focus on cooking, menu planning, and eating delicious whole grains, fruits, veggies, and beans.  We are convinced that a healthy diet is not boring.  In fact, agricultural societies around the world offer us a huge variety of delicious meals.  I hope that you enjoy this blog.  Feel free to comment on our posts.