Growing Up On The Non-Vegetarian Canadian Prairies

I was born a sugar addict in a small town 200 miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The word “vegetarian” wasn’t part of our vocabulary.

“Nutrition” was a foreign word. “Organic” was a chemistry term. “Healthy diet” meant you were lucky enough to eat three meals a day. Sugar was a major food group, and cooking was a chore.

On the Canadian Prairies, food was utilitatian, and organic only if you couldn’t afford DDT. We ate meat and potatoes, refined, packaged and frozen food – lots of white stuff like white bread and milk, which went with all the snow. Oatmeal was the only whole grain we ate – my father being a good Scotsman.

Apart from a brief love affair with baking powder biscuits, I wasn’t very interested in cooking. When I left home and started to cook for myself, I was still far away from becoming vegetarian. Somehow the concept of a Healthy Diet entered my awareness, and cooking became a lifelong adventure. I was thrilled to discover fresh vegetables. Broccoli – WOW! Then I found out about fish and rice, and whole grain bread. Amazing!

Moving To Vancouver, Going Vegetarian

I first encountered vegetarians and organic food in the late sixties, when I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. Back then, the Fraser Valley south of Vancouver was full of market gardens, with vegetable stands. Now, I think it’s just malls! There were Chinese green grocers, and Lifestream was the first natural food store. It was heaven! For many reasons, becoming vegetarian felt right. It was hard to do and harder to explain to people like my Mom, but I never would have admitted it, even under torture!

I pretended I knew exactly what I was doing, but soon found out that excessive enthusiasm, along with an arrogant disdain for facts, is a dangerous combination. Without knowing a single thing about vegetarian nutrition, I started my new vegetarian lifestyle by jumping into extreme macrobiotics. I grew very thin (think gulag survivor), dehydrated and weak. Feeling faint was a familiar sensation. I just thought I was too yin and needed more brown rice.

Some latent instinct for self-preservation told me that I might be malnourished, and I gave up Macrobiotics. Feeling somewhat disillusioned, I started eating a wider variety of vegetarian food, heavy on cheese, beans, and whole grains. I developed terrible gas, constipation and headaches. I was still very thin and a nervous wreck. Classic malnutrition!

‘Nutrition’ entered my vocabulary when I went to work as a housekeeper/companion for a warmhearted, practical, domineering, Dutch woman, (a true role model!) who recognized my nutritionial deficiencies, and took me in hand. She watered me constantly, fed me vitamins, forced me to eat eggs, fish, and meat, and made sure I got plenty of outdoor exercise. Really, she saved me, which I didn’t fully appreciate until much later. Thank you, Molly, wherever you are!

Starting Over

I returned to my own life, with my disastrous vegetarian beginning a bad memory. I started over, and gradually, cautiously became vegetarian. I’ve gotten lost many times, and made countless mistakes in my vegetarian journey. If I’d known forty + years ago what I know now, I’d have saved myself a lot of time and energy, not to mention malnutrition!

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I found Diet for a Small Planet, Laurel’s Kitchen, and Moosewood Cookbook in the seventies – that helped. And I became a maniac organic gardener, obsessed with compost. I read constantly, and the web has become a great
research tool.

Fairfield, IA

In the early eighties, our TM meditation practice inspired a move to Fairfield IA, where there are about a thousand vegetarians, who’ve been an incredible source of information and shared experience. In Fairfield, we learned the basics of Ayurveda, which supplied some vital missing links:

• Knowledge of diets for different body types
• Seasonal variations in diet
• Food as preventative medicine
• The six tastes (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, astringent) as a basis for complete nutrition

During the last few years, we’ve added Western herbal tradition to the vegetarian mix, thanks to experts such as Susun Weed, and Rosemary Gladstar. My daughter Sarah is a budding herbalist who mixes up teas, tinctures, body care products – our cupboards are crammed with jars and bags of interesting herbal things. We’ve gone organic, and non-gmo, and we grow a few herbs and vegetables.

In the course of building Savvy Vegetarian, we’ve studied up on vegetarian nutrition with vegan dietitians Vesanto Melina Brenda Davis (authors of ‘Becoming Vegetarian’), and Virginia Messina (The Truth About Soy).

My approach to vegetarian cooking is a combination of modern and traditional nutrition, intuition, and practicality. I have a casual attitude toward vegetarian nutrition. I know it, I use it, but I can’t be bothered with all the technical names of things. To me, great food should be not only good looking and delicious, but simple and easy. I love to experiment and have fun in the kitchen, and I almost never follow a recipe as given – not always a good thing!

Savvy Vegetarian Is Born

In the mid-nineties, we moved to Minnesota for six years. As a vegetarian in a meat-and-potato town, I stuck out in a crowd, and people started asking me for vegetarian advice.

I soon realized that many more people would become vegetarian if it weren’t so overwhelming! And that there was an awful lot of interest in vegetarianism, for a town like Mankato. I wondered how many more would-be vegetarians were out there, in need of support. Why not start a vegetarian website, and call it Savvy Vegetarian?!

Since my early social blunders, I’ve tried to keep a low profile, live and let live. This is a lifetime challenge for a strong-willed, bossy woman who is always convinced she’s right even when she’s wrong. I do love giving advice – can’t help myself!

But I’ve learned to listen – it’s amazing what you hear that way. And I try to tell people no more than what they want to know. I enjoy helping people to find their own unique vegetarian path, and I’d love to hear from you!

All the best, Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

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A Savvy Vegetarian is – well – savvy! - about vegetarian diet, healthy eating, green living…

Savvy Vegetarians aren’t born full grown, but gently evolve into a vegetarian state of mind and body, gradually becoming aware of how everything works together for a successful vegetarian diet.

Going Veg Is Easy: Sure, it involves changes to every aspect of your life, new knowledge about vegetarian diet and nutrition, and new ways of doing basic things – like cooking and eating. To go vegetarian you just need flexibility, persistence, and a good sense of humor. Piece of cake!

There’s lots of vegetarian info available, so much that it’s often hard to find what you need, be sure that it’s relevant and accurate, and then keep it all straight.

Savvy Vegetarian does the research, organizes and puts the info you need within easy reach. This lets you be a well informed vegetarian, without spending all your spare time surfing the net, or hanging out at bookstores. Of course, if you want to do that, let us know when you find something good!

Savvy Vegetarian is Green and Sustainable

Along with a vegetarian diet, Savvy Veg favors: Healthy eating, green living, organic non-gmo food, and sustainable everything. We believe these activities are essential and inseparably linked to the survival of Planet Earth, and maybe even the human species.

We Like to Take It Easy: Savvy Vegetarian supports everybody from long time vegetarians and vegans, to those who are just thinking about a vegetarian diet.

We believe that everyone has a unique path to follow, and we recommend becoming vegetarian gradually and easily. There’s no point in going vegetarian, only to lose your health and sanity – not to mention your friends and family!

Strange, But True! We don’t care whether or not you’re a complete vegetarian, or what kind of vegetarian diet you adopt, or even whether you become vegetarian. That’s your business, and nobody else’s. Savvy Vegetarian is just there to help when you need it.

Our Approach To Vegetarian Diet: Generally, but not strictly, Ayurvedic. Ayurveda is a 5000 year old natural preventative health system from India. It’s time-tested and broad-based, with great depth and flexibility.

We know what we need to know about nutrition, although we’re far from experts. We rely on our knowldege experience as vegetarians, and common sense above all, but we refer to reputable vegetarian or vegan dietitians and other health professionals as needed.

We Don’t Try Too Hard to Please: Savvy Vegetarian is open-minded, non-sectarian, and as far as possible, apolitical. Not very possible these days. Poke Savvy Vegetarian, and the bleeding heart liberal tree hugger comes roaring out!

We don’t embrace vegetarianism as a religion, or a cause, but we do believe that our actions affect everything else in the universe, as in “The World is My Family”.

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Essential Vegan Nutrition Reference Vegan Food Guide

Becoming Vegan, by Brenda Davis Vesanto Melina, was first published in 2000, and ever since then has been THE essential vegan nutrition reference guide, for vegans from beginners to veterans.

For relevance and usability, nothing else during that time has come close to Becoming Vegan. The authors are registered dietitians, long time vegetarians and vegans, well known, highly respected and influential in the field of vegetarian nutrition.

Quite a few years ago, I reviewed their earlier book, The New Becoming Vegetarian (equally indispensible), and recently a new book, Becoming Raw. I’ve owned a copy of Becoming Vegan for several years, and I admit it’s strange that I haven’t reviewed it.

I thought I didn’t review it because one of my daughters took it home and wouldn’t bring it back. SHE said it’s because I thought veganism was dangerous. I did think that vegan was a difficult, extreme path for a new vegetarian. I still think it’s best to go veg gradually.

But a few years ago I had an epiphany and went vegan myself. So if I had any foolish notions about vegan diet, I no longer do. Anyway, I now have another copy, and I am hereby giving Becoming Vegan its long overdue review.

Becoming Vegan starts off with historical and health perspectives on veganism, which is helpful for both newbie and oldie vegans, to understand what it’s all about and get some talking points to reassure family and friends and your doctor.

Davis Melina clearly and completely, with excellent documentation, explain everything you need to know about vegan nutrition: protein, fat, carbs, vitamins minerals, phyto-nutrients. They provide a vegan food guide and chapters on vegan pregnancy, children, seniors and athletes.

They cover overweight, underweight, eating disorders, and last but not least, vegan diplomacy – how to act and talk about your vegan diet without giving the impression it’s a new religion which everybody must join – or else!

If you want to be a healthy vegan, buy a copy of Becoming Vegan, keep it by your bedside and read it every night, before during and after meals, while you’re commuting, or instead of doing whatever you’re supposed to be doing – until you know it off by heart.

Then keep reading it so you don’t forget anything important. And when you’re not doing that, check out Savvy Vegetarian’s delicious mostly vegan recipes, and all the great vegan cookbooks we’ve reviewed.

Judith Kingsbury, Savvy Vegetarian

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4 Ingredient Vegan
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Easy, Quick Delicious: Maribeth Abrams, With Anne Dinshah

It’s difficult for vegans to find food they can eat in restaurants, or in packaged foods. At the same time, for many vegans, finding the time to cook, and learning how to make all kinds of new foods, can be daunting and a real obstacle to vegan success.

With The 4 Ingredient Vegan as your guide and protector, you can travel far along the way of nutritious and delicious meals through the ease and convenience of processed foods.

The 4 Ingredient Vegan is one of The Book Publishing Company’s top vegan books of 2011 – sign up to enter their giveaway and win 2 books.

The recipes in The 4 Ingredient Vegan are easy, delicious, and mostly quick. They’re all about using shortcut ingredients and time saving tips.

There is little gathering prepping of food to do, because every recipe has just 4 main ingredients, which are often prepared foods, such as vegetable broth, canned beans and soups, frozen vegetables and fruit, chopped nuts or nut butters, miso, nutritional flakes, vegan cream cheese sour cream, high quality condiments spice mixes, phyllo dough, noodles etc.

What cooking remains is simple and easy. This kind of food preparation is convenient, fast, and nutritious, ideal for those who work or go to school all day. This cookbook is a meant for people who want to eat healthy but have little time to cook, or who may not enjoy cooking – but definitely enjoy eating.

The authors also make good use of labor saving blenders and food processers in most of the recipes.

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BUT – isn’t there always a but – to make this cookbook happen for you, you’ll need a well-stocked pantry and fridge. That means planning and shopping ahead. Fortunately, the authors provide a fairly simple list of pantry staples to get you started.

I like to think that I avoid processed food, in favor of cooking my own. I do love to cook, and I spend a couple of hours a day at it. But the fact is, I am often busy with other things, and I do use processed foods every day as a matter of convenience and take them for granted.

In my kitchen, I always have a few cans of beans, olives, coconut milk, tomato paste and so on, as well as frozen peas, spice mixes, veggie cubes, prepared flavorings and condiments, nut butters, pasta, non-dairy milk, tofu miso, dried fruit and shelled nuts. I don’t think of them as processed or convenience foods, but they are.

From this cookbook, I can see how taking that minimal use of processed food a few steps further could mean the difference between eating well, and eating junk food, for someone who is too busy or disinclined to do much cooking. It’s a matter of discriminating between good processed food, and bad.

Bad processed food contains ingredients such as trans-fats, gmos, msg, high fructose corn syrup, excessive salt and sugar, artificial preservatives and coloring, with little food value, the most important quality being a very long shelf life.

Good processed food is made with high quality food, such as organically grown vegetables and beans, generally has a short list of ingredients, and usually needs to be refrigerated and used up quickly after opening to get the maximum nutritional value.

The authors of The 4 Ingredient Vegan offer a judicious balance of convenience foods and whole foods, for easy cooking and maximum nutrition…although not always quick. For example, instead of calling for prepared polenta, they teach you how to cook your own, or how to cook lentils (almost a convenience food) instead of opening a can.

We enjoyed 2 recipes from the book:

Artichoke, Leek and White Bean Soup calls for frozen artichoke hearts, fresh leeks, a carton of vegetable broth, a can of white beans, and of course a blender. Besides salt pepper olive oil, there were no other flavorings or ingredients to deal with. And it was easy to make.

It would have been much less expensive to use homemade broth and cook the beans, but I know that for most people, in that case, this soup wouldn’t have happened. But I’d use fresh or frozen broccoli, instead of artichokes, because broccoli is less expensive, readily available and blends much more easily.

Hearty One-Pot Lentil-Vegetable Supper calls for 4 cups chopped fresh vegetables, 1 carton of vegetable broth, a 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes, and 2 1/2 cups brown lentils. As the recipe suggested, I jazzed up the flavor with curry spices and Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (another convenience food I keep on hand).

Instead of vegetable broth, I used 2 vegan bouillon cubes in 4 cups of water. I also soaked the lentils for several hours before cooking to soften them up and speed the cooking.

More Vegan Cookbook Reviews

30 Minute Vegan
Vegan Baking Classics
Vegan Soups And Hearty Stews For All Seasons
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Christine Waltermyer Expands and Transcends Macrobiotics

Since I almost starved myself to death on a strict macrobiotic diet when I first went vegetarian, I’m a bit prejudiced against anything macrobiotic. Like most prejudices, mine doesn’t hold up under close examination.

Christine Waltermyer bases her cooking on macrobiotic principles. However she expands and transcends macrobiotics with recipes that are fresh wholesome, simple easy, comforting delicious – all at the same time.

As she explains in The Way of the Natural Vegan Kitchen: “For a health-promoting diet to last a lifetime, the food has to taste so good we think it must be bad for us. Otherwise, why bother.” My sentiments exactly!

Christine explains the basic macrobiotic principles that she follows: eat in harmony with your natural surroundings, maintain balance in your life and diet, savor mealtimes, and enjoy natural living – excellent principles to embrace, regardless of your ideology.

Then she adds her enhancements to make macrobiotic diet better:

1. Include more raw foods
2. Supplement with Vitamins B12 and D2
3. Avoid eating fish (heavy metal contamination)
4. Eat foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids
5. Reduce or eliminate salt, refined soy products, and gluten
6. Include more cultural variety in meals, such as Mexican, Indian, and Italian versions of macrobiotic recipes

All of the above, combined with a deep love respect for food, and a huge talent for cooking and teaching others how to cook, results in an outstanding collection of recipes – mostly gluten free, but with a few seitan recipes, pita bread fruit pizzas, and a barley salad.

The Natural Vegan Kitchen is one of The Book Publishing Company’s top vegan books of 2011 – sign up to enter their giveaway and win 2 books.

I have only one quibble with this cookbook:

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The recipes call for fresh produce, which in a northern climate with a long winter, can be tough to do. For instance, fresh tomatoes in winter are hard, tasteless, expensive, come from Mexico, and have almost zero nutrition.

Canned or dried tomatoes are a reasonable substitution in my opinion. Same goes for using some frozen veggies, such as peas and corn. Freezing, drying and canning are just ways of preserving food, like fermentation, e.g. miso, tamari, tempeh, umeboshi – all of which are used in this book, along with canned beans.

On the Plus Side:

The glossary of ingredients, mail order sources, and reading list are thoughtful and helpful additions – even though few of the ingredients are unavailable in your local grocery or natural food store.

We tested the Black Bean Soup, which actually did delight even the pickiest eaters – a.k.a. the grandchildren, our toughest recipe testers. I regretted not doubling the recipe, because there wasn’t any left for supper. Boo-hoo!

We also tried simple quick easy White Beans Greens, with cannellini beans and red Russian kale – local, organic and greenhouse grown, which I snagged at last Saturday’s farmers market.

We ate the beans greens with another Natural Vegan Kitchen recipe, Sweet Potato Polenta Pancakes, which I cooked as patties, in far less oil than the recipe specified. We all thought they were much better suited as a side to a savory dish than as breakfast pancakes with applesauce and vegan sour cream.

You don’t have to embrace macrobiotics, or know anything about it to benefit from The Natural Vegan Kitchen. Christine Waltermyer’s recipes will give you a basis for healthy happy eating which you can build on for the rest of your life. Even the desserts are healthy!

Along the way, you’ll probably learn to love kombu, miso, and umeboshi vinegar, used frequently in this cookbook. I’ve been using kombu for years as my secret soup and bean weapon, so I’m happy to see it in so many recipes.

I’m already half sold on miso, and have some in my fridge. Umeboshi vinegar is another matter, but if I can find it, I’m willing to give it a try.

I read the The Natural Vegan Kitchen several times, marking many recipes I want to make, including gluten free power pancakes, fruit pizzas, coconut curry carrot soup, super slaw, Tuscan spring salad, zucchini rice patties, peachy quinoa pudding … etc. etc.

Thanks for a great cookbook, Christine Waltermyer!

More Vegan Cookbook Reviews

30 Minute Vegan
Vegan Baking Classics
Vegan Soups And Hearty Stews For All Seasons
Vegan World Fusion Cuisine
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Health Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Publishing Policy
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How to Buy, Store and Prepare Nuts Seeds

Buy nuts seeds fresh and in small amounts that you can use up quickly. Because of their high oil content, nuts and seeds go rancid easily, so test before you buy if possible. Rancid fats can make you sick.

The turnover in bulk bins is usually faster than with packaged nuts, but it depends on the store. If you get your nuts or seeds home and they taste bad instead of fresh and sweet, don’t eat them, return them for a refund.

Soak nuts and seeds for 3 – 12 hours to soften and make them easier to digest, to bring out the full flavor and nutrition, and to reduce bitterness from tannic acid. Discard the soaking water.

Soaking is especially effective with walnuts and hazelnuts, which should be soaked 12 hours. Hazelnuts should be rubbed together in the water after soaking, to remove loose skins. Discard the soaking water.

Store nuts and seeds in the fridge or other cool place, in tightly sealed containers. Freeze them if you won’t be using within a month.

Blanch almonds by plunging in just-boiled water for 1 minute, drain, then cover with cold water for 5 minutes. The skins will slip right off. If you don’t want to heat your almonds, soak 12 – 24 hours, then peel the skins off.

Grind raw or roasted nuts or seeds in a spice grinder to make a powder for thickening sauces, soups and veggie burgers, adding to smoothies, making nut or seed spreads or patées.

Purée soaked nuts and seeds in a blender, food mill or food processor, with a little water, non-dairy milk or vegetable stock to suit your purpose.

Roast nuts seeds on the stove or in the oven, at low temperature (275 – 300 degrees), for 15 minutes, stir often, and watch carefully so they don’t burn. Sprinkle with salt if you like.

Eat nuts seeds raw, add them to trail mix, or sprinkle them on salads.

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Tips for a Happy Healthy Breakfast

The following tips are loosely based on Ayurvedic dietary principles, and my own experience. They may or may not apply to you – go with your gut instincts – Judith Kingsbury

Breakfast doesn’t need to be large, but should be well balanced, nutrient dense, and have some variety. While oatmeal is a Good Thing, and I like it the best for breakfast, sometimes I feel like a smoothie, or toast with nut butter jam. Or just a bunch of fruit and nuts. Mix it up!

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Breakfast should include plenty of liquid, whole grains and protein; vitamns, minerals phytonutrients – and about 25% of daily calorie intake. Since we’ve been fasting for up to twelve hours, it’s not a good idea to overwhelm our digestion with a huge breakfast.

Over-eating at breakfast makes us sluggish and unenthusiastic about lunch, which should be our main meal, because that’s when our digestion is at its daily peak.

Eating lightly at breakfast and dinner, and getting most of your calories at lunch, encourages good digestion and an ideal body weight.

On the other hand, going for lots of sugar caffeine at breakfast time will cause a mid-morning blood sugar crash, requiring more sugar and caffeine.

If you’re a night worker, go right to bed after work, then get up and eat a good lunch before 2:00 p.m., and have supper before 9:00 p.m., either before or during work, with a snack of soup, or fruit and nuts during the night. Be sure to take in plenty of liquids.

Eating drinking like that while working at night will help keep your digestion in good shape, and minimize the disruption of your bio-rhythms.

For diabetics concerned about carb intake, Dr. Mirkin explains that whole grains digest much more slowly than whole grain flours. Refined grains and flours are higher in carbohydrates and sugars, lower in protein, and digest much more quickly, leading to elevated blood sugar levels.

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Rice Cooking Tips:

Because it includes the germ of the rice kernel, with it’s volatile essential oils, brown rice should be stored in the fridge or freezer so it doesn’t go rancid.

Brown rice can be used in place of white rice, but it has a much longer cooking time.

We’ve tried various ways to get around this – pressure cooking, par-boiling, soaking, crockpot cooking.

Nothing works nearly as well as just rinsing the brown rice, then putting it on the stove and cooking it – for 45 minutes!

The good news is that brown rice can be cooked ahead and stored refrigerated in quantity, re-heats very nicely, and can be used cooked in any recipe.

Undercooking brown rice by using less water and cooking it for 30 minutes is a good way to ensure that your cooked brown rice doesn’t get mushy in whatever you’re adding it to. This trick worked well in Cuban Black Beans Rice

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