Vegetarian Star

Chef Tal Ronnen is the author of The Conscious Cook, a hot new cookbook being snatched off the bookshelves by vegetarians, vegans and food lovers in general. Tal is the chef who helped design Oprah Winfrey‘s meal plans when she went vegan for 21 days and has worked with Chrissie Hynde‘s restaurant, The Vegiterranean. He’s been a vegetarian for 19 years and a vegan for 11 years. Tal took a few moments away from braising tempeh to give Vegetarian Star an exclusive interview.

Tofu, Tempeh, or Seitan:
It depends on the application. I think my personal preference for home is definitely tempeh. It’s a less processed product. It’s fermented so it’s got nutritional benefits from the fermentation process. With that said, it has to be cooked properly. People will just cut tempeh up and sauté it or stir fry it or something like that. [But] Because it’s so dense, it’s hard to get any flavor to penetrate. Tofu just acts like a sponge, it just sucks up all the marinade. [With] Tempeh, the best way to get the flavor in there is to braise it. So cook it in a flavorful liquid and the flavors can change based on the dish that you cook. So if you’re doing something like Tex Mex or South of the Border you can braise it in a stock that’s got chilies and peppers. If you’re doing something like Asian, it can have soy sauce or ginger. When you’re cooking it in a broth, you’re able to penetrate tempeh. After it’s cooked in a broth, you start cooking with it. So I can grill it or sauté it, but the first step for me whenever I work with tempeh is to braise it.

On Guest Chefs in The Conscious Cook:
We wanted to have a really broad view of what professional vegetarian cooking looks like. And [we did this] by bringing in people who have influenced me or I’ve influenced throughout the years. All the chefs that are highlighted in the book are people who’ve been a big influence in my culinary career or someone that I’ve worked with very closely. And by doing that we’re able to really show different perspectives in the book, not just my perspective with vegetarian cooking.

Favorite recipes from The Conscious Cook:
I love the celery root soup. I love the Gardein scaloppini with the shiitake sauce. And the banana  rum cheesecake I think is really great.

Learn how Tal got a school district in southern California to put veggie burgers on the menu after the jump… (more…)

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It’s been awhile since we brought you a recipe mimicking the diet lifestyle of the stars.

Sandra Bernhard recently enjoyed some delicious split pea soup she crafted in the kitchen.

“testing split pea soup not bad if i say so myself perfect for a rainy new york afternoon lunch at cookshop with cordula fab model friend”

Apparently, Sandra is a good chef.

“dinner was delicious if you enjoy baby food split pea soup mashed squash and kale odd but tasty.”

Here’s your chance to eat split pea soup like Sandra. We found a lovely recipe at vegweb.com.

Vegweb is an excellent place for all your vegetarian/vegan recipe needs.

Grab the recipe for Split Pea Soup after the jump… (more…)

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Vegan politician Dennis Kucinich has himself a real looker.

But not only is the tall redheaded Elizabeth Kucinich as hot as her hair color, she’s also a great animal activist.

Elizabeth is the newly appointed director of public affairs for the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

She went to Capitol Hill this week to show support for the Great Ape Protection Act, which would phase out invasive medical research on chimpanzees.

“For me, it’s a moral issue, about practicing good science and moving with the times,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth, along with her entire family, went vegan after learning her mother had Crohn’s disease and learned to manage it by cutting out meat and dairy products.

Elizabeth and Dennis make one powerful veg couple!

via washingtonpost.com

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Gisèle Theriault "The Barber's Daughter" and Alicia Keys

Gisèle Theriault took her passion for crafting jewelry and turned it into a profitable business, The Barber’s Daughter.

It all started when Theriault met Alicia Keys backstage at a concert when she was just starting to operate the business.

Keys liked the jewelry so much, she helped spread the news and not only is Oprah Winfrey wearing her bling, but she has five employees and the same publicist as Keys.

But is the Barber’s Daughter also a vegan daughter?

From macleans.ca:

“A few days before the Black Ball, Theriault sat in the sun-splashed kitchen of her home—a three-storey semi that doubles as the headquarters for her company, the Barber’s Daughter—and served a slice of vegan pumpkin pie and empowering tea.”

Theriault’s collections includes earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings and watches.

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In a recent article on the Huffington Post, Ari Solomon, president and co-creator of eco-friendly soy candle company, A Scent of Scandal, brought up a recent comment made by celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.

On Larry King Live, Bourdain had commented that it was okay for humans to kill animals for food because humans were designed to chase down “smaller and stupider” creatures.

“It was the “stupider” remark that caught my attention, and not just for Bourdain’s obvious grammatical shortcomings,” said Solomon.

Solomon then gave some wonderful facts on the intelligence of animals:

Pigs may be smarter than Bourdain:
“Pigs have the mental capacity of a four year-old human child and have beat humans in memory games.”

Dolphins are talking about Bourdain behind his back:
“Dolphins have a very distinct language that scientists now refer to as “dolphinese” which humans can’t decipher. For all our human knowledge, we have no idea how to understand what should be, according to Bourdain, a “stupider” means of communication.”

Pigeons are like men because they don’t ask for directions:
“Did you know, for example, that pigeons can fly thousands of miles to find the same roosting spot with no navigational difficulties? Some species of birds, like the Arctic Tern, make a 25,000-mile round-trip journey every year. Many species use built-in ferromagnets to detect their orientation with respect to the Earth’s magnetic field. Can you do that?”

To read Ari’s entire article that describes animals’ intelligence, visit Huffingtonpost.com.

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Natalie Portman appeared on Top Chef last night to hang with Tom Colicchio and the burger bad girl Padma Lakshmi.

Portman warned the chefs they had better not be pulling a chicken stock in a veggie dish move.

“I love food, I love to eat all kinds of things, but I’m a vegetarian,” she said. “And if you serve me animal flesh I will thrust a light sabre through your eye.”

Point was definitely taken.

Things heated up when Natalie and guests started talking about the dish of shallots and garlic.

Lakshmi complained about the shallot, which she described as “a little sharp” when paired with garlic blossoms that she described as “very tiny in size and yet…”

“Big in your mouth?” Portman jumped in and said before Lakshmi could finish.

“It went from a little prick to big in your mouth,” Colicchio said.

“That’s what usually happens,” another guest said, which made the entire group laugh.

Hmm…never knew Colicchio had such a dirty mind.

What’s really disappointing is that Mike, the chef with the vegan mom, was sent home packing.

Not cool at all.

via eonline.com and ajc.com

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Alicia Silverstone was recently on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to talk about her new vegan diet and lifestyle book, The Kind Diet.

The lights went out during the interview segment, leaving both Alicia and Craig to chit chat by flashlight.

During the interview, Craig turned to Alicia’s Pecan Crusted Seitan recipe and was horrified!

“Seitan!” Craig said, and then proceeded to do a ritual over Alicia’s head mocking the removal of evil spirits.

Did the powers of seitan cause the lights to go out? Actually, it was probably the strong winds (70mph) that have been reported in the greater Los Angeles area.

“You can’t go eating stuff called seitan. Are you mad?” Craig asks.

Watch the clip and find out Alicia’s answer.

via accidentalsexiness.com

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Chrissie Hynde. Image Credit: Hello ChateauHo on Flickr

Chrissie Hynde‘s co-owned Vegiterranean vegan restaurant in her hometown of Akron, Ohio is celebrating Halloween in the kindest of manners this year.

Saturday, October 31, the restaurant will host a pumpkin carving contest from 5PM to 7PM. The entry fee is $10 and proceeds go to Happy Trails Animal Sanctuary, which, according to its website, “is a non-profit (501c3) organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and provides an adoption program for abused, abandoned, and neglected farm animals such as horses, ponies, pot belly pigs, farm pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, sheep, goats, and cattle. Happy Trails serves the entire state of Ohio, and works in cooperation with county humane societies, animal protective leagues, and local and state law enforcement officers.”

Prizes will be awarded.

Later at 7PM, the restaurant will have a fall Harvest dinner, then a Halloween costume party of 9PM, with appetizers, drink specials and prizes awarded for best costumes.

The Vegiterranean is located at 21 Furnace Street in Akron, Ohio.

via ohio.com

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