Raw

I’ve been vegan for almost five years but I still continue to look for ways to improve my health even more. During this time, I’ve removed all processed sugar and most processed foods from my life, stopped drinking my usual espresso in the morning and tea in the afternoon and, during the last month, have been eating more raw food every day.

Raw food is something I’ve been curious about for awhile now. Summer, of course, makes eating more raw much easier. During the summer months, I tend to eat less and I avoid anything heavy (read: cooked). I’ve also joined a fabulous local CSA to make this process even easier (and also for the variety of foods they send weekly) and save me some time shopping on my precious weekends. I’ve started to drink daily green smoothies; it’s a great way to make sure I’m getting extra greens in my life.

Of course, I could never do this without the help of the library and, while there are quite a few raw food books and guides out there, I want it simple and I want it vegan (because many raw foodists still eat dairy). Here are a few books that have inspired me with beautiful photos, sound advice, and delicious recipes:

Going Raw: Everything You Need to Know to Start Your Own Raw Food Diet and Lifestyle Revolution at Home by Judita Wignall. This inspiring guide is filled with both simple as well as elaborate recipes, colorful and appetizing photographs, and step-by-step instructions on getting more raw foods into your life. What I especialy liked about her book was her encouragement that you don’t have to eat 100% raw all the time to reap the health benefits of raw foods. The book comes with a very helpful and useful DVD demonstrating kitchen techniques and equipment demonstrations.

Photo courtesy of Raw Food Recipes for Beginners

Raw Food: A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day by Erica Palmcrantz and Irmela Lilja. Swedish authors Palmcrantz & Lilja’s book is filled with gorgeous photography, very short ingredient lists, encouraging testimonials, as well as tips and shortcuts to make the raw transition easy.

Live Raw : Raw Food Recipes for Good Health and Timeless Beauty by Mimi Kirk. This book caught my eye because the author is an older woman (she’s in her  70s!) who looks amazing and her recipes are very easy to make. There’s a lot of variety, too, and they are delicious. Kirk also discusses lifestyle, including mindfulness, exercise, and stress and how those can affect the body as much as the food you eat.

~Maria

For Love and Science: Korean Barbecue

I’m no Iron Chef, but I’m no slouch in the kitchen either.  So when D., my boyfriend, challenged me to replicate the Korean barbecue he’d eaten at Green Pepper, I rose to the occasion.  The fact that I hadn’t cooked meat in seven years (and wouldn’t be eating any of it myself) didn’t faze me for a second; cooking is an art, to be sure, but it’s also a science.  If you follow instructions closely, you will usually get a recipe right the first time.  Then you can start playing with it, tweaking spices and ingredients, etc.  Easy peasy.

[I’ll spare you the long, internal ethical debate I had with myself, as well as the guilt I felt about cooking meat, even after sincerely blessing the spirit of the cow that died for D.’s dinner.  The things we do for love and science, eh?]

In a perfect world, I would’ve been able to take a class, or hang out in an experienced cook’s kitchen to learn first-hand.  But with a deadline of one week, I would have to rely on my reference librarian skills and prior kitchen experience, and hope for the best.  Luckily, copious searching of both catalog and web turned up a wealth of information that was tons of fun to winnow through in search of the perfect galbi recipe.*  And by “perfect” I mean, of course, something from a source as close to authentic as I could find without actually boarding a plane to Seoul.

Requesting items from other libraries would take more time than I had, so just this once I decided to stick close to home.** There were fourteen Korean cookbooks on the shelf, and I flipped through all of them, comparing and contrasting ingredients and techniques.  The one I eventually took home, however, was Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee’s Eating Korean. I chose it because it contains just as many essays as recipes, making it more of a cooking memoir than a conventional cookbook. Reading about Lee’s childhood and culinary adventures in Korea gave me a context I would never have been able to acquire simply by looking at a recipe;  her stories about making kimchi, learning to fish, picnicking in the park, and other adventures both simple and ceremonial helped me understand and appreciate the richness and complexity of Korean culture.

The most disturbing and fascinating story for me was the tale of the day Lee first killed a chicken, which concludes like this:

Our meal was a simple country one with a few side dishes, rice, and the starting main course of chicken.  I was as proud as a hunter who’d bagged a bear that morning, acting as if I had made the whole meal, while everyone raved about the delicious meat. As I enjoyed lunch, I almost forgot the insurmountable fear in my being as I faced the brown bird and the feeling of deep sadness as I watched the life leaving its body. I now had a deeper respect for the animals that had given their lives so that we could enjoy a wonderful meal. (174)

A conscious omnivore with a simple galbi recipe that called for ingredients I could easily find at both conventional and Korean grocers? Here was a cookbook I could definitely learn from.  Besides the sections on beef, chicken and fish, there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options in the side dishes, or mit banchan, such as roasted seaweed sheets, simmered tofu, soy-seasoned potatoes, and seasoned black beans. If you’re looking to expand your culinary repetoire, you’ll find many dishes here to please all palates.

The verdict?  Aside from using more soy sauce than the restaurant did, my galbi efforts were pronounced successful.  Thanks Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee!  As for me, I ate Gardein beefless tips, and loved them. While I won’t be apologizing to cows or killing chickens anytime soon, I had a blast learning about Korean cuisine and culture and actively exploring my own beliefs and limits.  And, as ever, I enjoyed preparing food for somebody I care about and want to please.  Because, at the end of the day, whatever we decide to cook and eat, we all hunger for the same thing:  love.

Leigh Anne

(who is still up for that cooking lesson, if anybody’s offering)

*Galbi, sometimes transliterated kalbi, is different from bulgogi, another flame-broiled Korean specialty.

** Expanding your search countywide gives you more options, which I plan to explore ASAP.

So What Do You Eat?!

I’ve been a vegan for four years and, after learning that vegan means that I do not eat any animal products (which include dairy, meat, and eggs), one of the most frequent questions I get (after “where do you get your protein?”) is “so what do you eat?!” Since going vegan, however, I have never eaten such a variety of foods in my life nor felt better than I do now. I only wish I had done it sooner. Simply put, I eat plants.

Fact is, if you want to be mindful about your food and what you put into your body, you have to learn how to cook. And what better place to learn about vegan cooking than the library? 

The following cookbooks (and their authors’ blogs and web sites) have guided me and introduced me to some of the most delicious foods ever. And because I’ve been cooking for so long and so often now, I can create meals quickly and easily. If you’re new to being vegan, or just curious, these books are very informative and helpful and, most important of all, the recipes are outstanding.

 

 

 

 

 

How It All Vegan, The Garden of Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard and La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer. These Canadian punksters are so enthusiastic about being vegan they make it fun. What started out as a gift zine for friends and family quickly turned into something much, much bigger. Tons of recipes will have you wanting to try a different dish every single day.

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan Express by Nava Atlas. This is my number one go-to book for quick, easy, and delicious recipes in less than 30 minutes. Everything she creates looks fresh and beautiful and, best of all, impresses your meat-eating friends!

Dreena Burton’s books, especially Eat, Drink & Be Vegan and Vive le Vegan! are wonderful for one-of-a-kind meals using whole foods (vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes). I especially enjoy her breakfast and dessert sections because she uses a lot less sweeteners and oils in her recipes than a lot of other vegan cookbooks. As my tastebuds have changed (which is common for vegans), so has my sugar intake and tolerance for sweets in general.

While not vegan, Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson is eye candy for its gorgeous photography alone and the texture of its pages; it’s an art book for food. She stresses the use of colorful whole foods and I have successfully “veganized” many of her recipes.

Finally, Short-Cut Vegan by Lorna Sass is just a nice little book to have around when you want something fast. There are no pictures but the recipes are delicious. I was disappointed to hear that Sass is no longer vegan, but I won’t hold that against her.

~Maria