Four weeks into my vegan baking and culinary arts courses and I see a pattern. Both instructors are meat eaters. They mention meat often and when visiting chefs stop by they make jokes/comments at the expense of non meat-eaters.
It would seem there are few classically trained vegetarian/vegan chefs out there. Hence, instructors qualified to teach by the college’s standards often do not follow a plant-based diet.
I had hoped learning from professionals would help fill in the gaps of my veganizing kitchen experiments. I am finding, however, that recipes are reinventing the meat wheel but with plants. The palate of a meat-eater who reworks a dish centred around meat doesn’t always easily translate into a delicious plant-based facsimile.
The recipes in the baking course were designed by someone well-versed in a vegan diet; however, the recipes are less than appetizing. There are only so many nuts, coconut nectar and Vitamix blending that I can take.
With the growing popularity of plant-based diets there are now numerous ways to create nutritious and tasty dishes. It is time to move away from the usual approach of making meat meals meatless as well using luxury ingredients to make trendy treats. Innovation and imagination are key.
WEAL FOOD 