| Rabbit food. That's what my dad calls vegetarian | | | | lasagna suggests that something is missing from the |
| cooking and cuisine. Salads and vegetables - can't be | | | | recipe. Anyone who has dined on spinach lasagna |
| anything more to it, can there? Oh, but there is. | | | | knows that there's nothing missing - the blend of |
| Vegetarian cooking is at least as varied as 'regular' | | | | creamy cheese and spinach and spices is perfect in |
| cooking - and in some cases, far more imaginative. | | | | and of itself. Polenta with spicy black bean sauce has |
| Nearly thirty years ago, Diet for a Small Planet, and | | | | no need of meat to make it more complete - made |
| the follow-up cookbook, Recipes for a Small Planet | | | | right it melts on the tongue AND sticks to the ribs at |
| hit the bookstore shelves with a resounding thud that | | | | the same time. |
| still echoes. While many of the theories of protein | | | | Even within the overall umbrella of 'vegetarian cuisine' |
| complementarily that Frances Moore Lappe presented | | | | there are variations. Outside Western culture, most |
| have been proven to be naïve by further | | | | meals have little or not meat at all - so it is not |
| research, the basic theories of eating and the | | | | surprising to find vegetarian main dishes in Indian and |
| wonderful meatless - and truly vegetarian - recipes | | | | Chinese cuisine, nor in Russian cooking and African |
| endure. The Moosewood Cookbook and The | | | | regional cuisines. Many base main dish meals on |
| Enchanted Broccoli Forest followed, and then an | | | | legumes and nuts. Peanut and cashew soups, humus |
| avalanche of cookbooks devoted to the vegetarian | | | | with spices and lemon, fermented black bean sauces |
| gourmet. | | | | ladled over bread and pasta and rice and couscous - |
| Vegetarian cooking is more than just 'meatless'. | | | | Middle Eastern and African cooking offers all of those |
| There's an art to mixing flavors and textures in just | | | | and more. |
| the right combinations to create masterpieces that | | | | If one approaches vegetarian cuisine as a 'substitute' |
| are as appealing to carnivores as to those who've | | | | for cooking with meat, one is sure to be |
| eschewed meat. For Hindi chefs who practice | | | | disappointed. It is a way of eating and cooking, of |
| Ayurvedic cooking, food is more than nutrition - it is | | | | spices and combinations that can be as light and |
| a meditation, a gateway to the higher consciousness. | | | | fluffy as a meringue or as dense and chewy as the |
| There are three major components and six tastes | | | | best seven grain bread. If you've never tried a real |
| (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, pungent and astringent) to | | | | vegetarian meal - as opposed to a 'meatless' or 'meat |
| be considered in the preparation of every dish, and a | | | | substitute' - the very best place to start is at your |
| meal prepared according to the Ayurveda is a feast | | | | nearest Indian or Middle Eastern restaurant. You'll be |
| for the eyes, the nose, the mouth and the mind. | | | | amazed at the flavors and textures - and you won't |
| The very best vegetarian meals are not 'meatless' | | | | even notice that there's no meat. |
| versions of dish that usually has meat in it. 'Meatless' | | | | |