I even resorted to fooling myself with games like eating my vegetables first, so that I could ‘earn’ the delight of the delicious animal flesh without guilt. To sum up, if there was an organization like Meataholics Anonymous, you might find me standing up and saying: “Hello everyone, my name is Arthur, and I am a classic carnivore. “When I fill out a profile on something like Facebook, I usually answer the religion question with ‘Angus beef ’. “I’ve yet to meet a Hebrew National product that I wouldn’t go to war over.
finding my
Vegan Umami
Or: How Four Seasons Taught Me to Love the Rutabaga
I
BY ARTHUR GONICK, PHOTOS BY ALICE COREY
have always respected the power of the vegetable, and what they can bring to one’s health and nutrition. But whether it was my upbringing, a product of being bombed with advertising slogans and jingles, or other factors growing out of the American experience – I came to view that respect as one might view that of a strong foreign power whose ideology was completely different than my own. It was more of a begrudging respect than an admiring one. And yet, a growing consciousness of health and related factors led me to usually make a place for the vegetable (and its close cousins, fruit, grains, rice and potatoes, etc.) on my meal plate. I recognized a need for a balanced diet, but viewed it as an obligation, rather than a joy.
saratogaTODAYnewspaper.com
“I’d drive through a tornado for some hot new BBQ food truck.” You get the idea. For me, it simply came down to taste. First coined in the early 1900s, the term ‘umami’ in recent years has become more prominent in food discourse, where it has grown to become a co-equal to the four basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, and salty). While there is some chemistry involved, basically the term is Japanese for “savory pleasant taste”. While examples of foods that exhibit umami do include non-meat items, on Planet Arthur there really was no comparison. Meat still tasted better. Perhaps you can relate. One of the joys of this occupation is that you get to try and experience new things, and so I was thrilled to learn that some friends who were also vegans and employees of Four Seasons Natural Foods, were leading a series of cooking classes in which dishes were prepared sans meat, and each class also featured the cuisines of various regions (e.g.: Thailand, Spain, Caribbean known for its distinctive flavors). 2016 | HEALTHY SARATOGA | 17