Vegetarian Star

“Before I became a vegetarian I was a huge hamburger fan. It’s not quite the national food of Canada (that would be beer, or maybe poutine, but probably beer) but hamburgers are for everyone, even us. Then, after I gave up meat, I became a huge veggie burger fan and that’s when I had my revelation: it wasn’t the meat that mattered to me. From where I was eating, the hamburger was simply a delivery device for condiments and lettuce and onions and cheese and tomatoes and bread. Those wan soy patties fell into the background and all those condiments, that turned out to be my true love, rushed to the fore.”

–Amanda Cohen, founder and owner of Dirt Candy, a vegetable restaurant in New York City. This week has been burger week at Eater, and Cohen’s post for the Veggie Burger Power Hour wraps up the work week.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

Amanda Cohen, chef and owner of Dirt Candy, a New York City award winning vegetable restaurant, is working on a cookbook.

The cookbook is expected to be published in 2012 by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group.

For the book, Cohen, who appeared on an episode of Iron Chef America, collaborated with Ryan Dunlavey, artist behind comic book “Action Philosophers,”  for some comic book-like illustrations of cooking, such as with this recipe.

(more…)

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Iron Chef America-Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy. Credit: Healthy Happy Life

Amanda Cohen, founder and chef of New York city vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy, will be competing on Iron Chef America on August 29th, 2010 at 10 PM ET/PT against Chef Masaharu Morimoto in a vegetarian on vegetarian challenge.

To Cohen’s surprise, Moriomoto stuck to an entirely vegetarian menu during the challenge in which Cohen worked so hard her pants fell down.

“I can only hope that this moment didn’t make it onto national TV,” Cohen told Lunch Box Bunch about the embarrassing moment during an exclusive interview.

(more…)

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

Readers at Mother Nature Network nominated their favorite green chefs across the country and Dirt Candy’s Amanda Cohen is one of 40 young chefs who’s taken her passion for food and created both a menu and a restaurant that embodies sustainability.

From MNN:

“Made entirely of recycled and/or sustainable materials, and with as many omnivorous customers as vegetarian, Dirt Candy is a place where you don’t have to brag about your lifestyle, hold certain political beliefs or do anything besides eat all your vegetables.”

(more…)

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

Amanda Cohen, chef and owner of  vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy in New York city, has received PETA’s prize of $10,000 for creating the best tasting vegetarian dish to taste like real foie gras.

Cohen beat out 37 other chefs for the top prize for a substitute where geese aren’t painfully force fed through tubes until their livers swell several times the normal size.

Cohen’s vegan version of foie gras is a mushroom mousse, made with portobellos, soy milk, vegan margarine, and onions, and has been on Dirty Candy’s menu for awhile.

It’s a safe bet humans will voluntarily stuff themselves with this appetizer until their bellies expand in size.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

Amanda Cohen has been busy at NYC’s Dirt Candy making changes to the menu to refresh the not so old vegetarian restaurant she opened less than two years ago.

Change is allowing Cohen to introduce a vegetable version of a Chinese dim sum favorite–barbecue Pork Buns.

“We use carrots instead,” Cohen told Village Voice. “The buns will be different colors based on the different colors of carrots — there’ll be pink, orange, and yellow. They’ll have a slightly barbecued carrot filling and come with a little carrot cucumber salad, and I’m trying to figure out how to make sesame halvah to sprinkle on top.”

If you’re a fan of the kimchi doughnuts, sorry to say the carrot buns have replaced them.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy

Moby‘s prodigy from Teany has been named 2009 Chef of the Year by Metromix.

Although they love Amanda Cohen, Metromix isn’t too keen on the vegetarian food she cooks at her restaurant, Dirt Candy.

Just take a look at these two questions they fired at Amanda during an interview.

Does vegetarian food get a bad rap?
It does, and people can’t look behind what vegetarian food is about and not what it’s not about. The reality is that most people probably, at least once a week, have a meal that doesn’t have meat or chicken or fish in it. They just don’t call that meal “my vegetarian meal of the week.”

And then they just get real honest about it.

Well, we gotta say it: Most vegetarian food is pretty terrible.
That’s a hard thing for me to agree to [laughs]. But I think vegetarian food has a built-in audience, and [people] don’t necessarily have to try to go outside of that audience. So whether or not that makes the food good or bad, it has its audience. …There’s very few restaurants in this city where they’re expected to state their politics before you even walk in the door. But that onus is put on vegetarian restaurants, and I think it creates a world where it’s hard for vegetarian restaurants to necessarily make exciting and different food.

New Yorkers, what do you think?

Does Dirt Candy change the reputation of vegetarian food, for Metromix and everyone else?

Possibly Related Posts:

• Bonnie-Jill Laflin Thinks Tofu Scores A Slam Dunk
• Linda McCartney Food Range Adds Four New Products
• Meatless Mouthful–Meagan Duhamel Scores Gold Medal With Diet
• Dr. Oz Welcomes “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Plant-Based Nutrition” Author
• Rory Freedman To Emcee LA Premiere Of “Vegucated”

Heeb magazine has announced its annual list of 100 Jewish movers and shakers in the categories of art, music, fashion, film & tv, media, books, activism, comedy, food, and entrepreneurship.

We’re thrilled to report that two movers and shakers, Gabe Saporta and Amanda Cohen, also shake up the vegetarian community.

The front man for Cobra Starship, Saporta has been nominated for PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian Contest several years in a row and starred in a PSA against fur.

Says Heeb of Cohen , founder of Dirt Candy, a vegetarian restaurant in New York City:

“Amanda Cohen, once famous for her buffalo wing recipe, found her true calling in vegetarian cuisine as the chef and owner of Dirt Candy, a vegetable-themed restaurant in New York. But don’t think that all she dishes out are sprout salads and tofu; Cohen is known for delicious snacks like jalapeño hush puppies, kimchi donuts and popcorn pudding.”

View some of the other Jewish movers and shakers at heebmagazine.com.

via heebnvegan

Possibly Related Posts:

• Jon Bon Jovi Soul Food Kitchen Could Update Its 80s Animal Product Menu
• Anthony Bourdain Vegetarian Hate Speech With Playboy
• Meatless Mouthful–Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Gets Creative With Vegetables
• Slice Of Celebrity Vegan Birthday Cake To (Drum Roll)
• Snoop Dogg Admires The Grow Your Own Peeps