DISH
DISH EDITOR : MEAGHAN BAXTER MEAGHAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM
FEATURE // VEGAN
Healthy vegan meals to go VegPalette combines nutrition and convenience
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ooking for an easy way to eat just want lunches for the week can healthy with minimal effort, es- opt for the five-meal Business Lunch pecially with the arrival of the hectic plan, while those who want the litholiday season? Considering a switch eral full meal deal can choose the to a vegetarian or Stress Free plan, vegan diet? Or are 780.937.3764 which covers you just interested info@vegpalette.ca their breakfast, in trying some inter- vegpalette.ca lunch and dinner esting and delicious for the whole new food? week. The plans Jenna Carton started VegPalette for are sold in two-week packages, with all of these reasons. Carton has been a one-week trial version also availa vegan for about eight years and a able; customers either pick-up or vegetarian since elementary school, have their meals delivered on a weekbut found that she was struggling to ly basis to ensure that they are still maintain diversity and proper nutri- getting some fresh meals. Everything tion in her eating habits—a common comes in reusable containers, so you pitfall for those who switch to vegan- simply choose which to eat now and ism, especially a few years ago when which to put in the freezer for later. "The majority of my clientele aren't there wasn't as much literature availeven vegan," says Carton, who does able on the subject. "Back then, because most dieticians her cooking and pick ups out of Britfollowed the Canadian Food Guide, tany's Lounge downtown. "They're there wasn't any room for veganism just people who know that eating and it wasn't really known at that more plant-based foods is important, point," Carton says. "It had a lot of and they try to have so many days that are free of animal products— bad stigma attached to it." To resolve this, Carton worked with that's where I come in." One might expect the person bea holistic nutritionist to create herself balanced meal plans, which in- hind a business like VegPalette to cluded the creation of a stash of pre- have formal training in cooking and/ pared meals. This habit became the or a business education, but this concept for VegPalette: after offering isn't the case. Carton is completely this service to a fellow vegan friend self-taught. "My parents didn't take it seriin February 2013, interest began to grow and by May, Carton had opened ously when I went vegan in high school. They were like, 'Let's see it up to the public. Essentially a vegan "meals on how long this lasts,'" Carton notes. wheels," VegPalette consists of four "Then when I stuck with it, my mom different meal plans based around bought a series of books for me different lifestyle options: those who which I'm really grateful for—that's
PROVENANCE
ABOUT
FRUIT CAKE
Hold the butter During the Middle Ages, people in Europe were forbidden to use butter in recipes as per the church in order to regard the observance of fast. The Butterbrief (Butter Letter) was penned by Pope Innocent VIII in 1490 and gave Saxony permission to use milk and butter to make North German Stollen fruit cakes.
basically how I learned to cook." VegPalette dishes include everything from international fare like chana masala and injera berberé to "veganized" North American dishes like Tex-Mex and beet burgers. Customers can also add individuallypriced snacks like zucchini muffins and hemp protein bars to their order. Just in time for the Christmas season, VegPalette is also offering stand alone single dishes, perfect for those upcoming holiday potlucks or to help offset the burden of cooking up a huge holiday feast on your own. Wherever possible, Carton chooses local, organic and non-GMO ingredients for her made-from-scratch meals, and she already has several customers with various food sensitivities and allergies so she is able to adapt each meal to fit an individual's needs. Even if you aren't interested in pursuing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, there's no denying that most of us aren't getting enough veggies in our diets—it's just not the way most of us grew up eating. Carton hopes VegPalette will help people reinvent their approach to food. "It's definitely harder for people that have just spent their whole life with the standard [North] American diet," she says. "It's very overwhelming, because you have to start eating a lot of different cultural dishes and moving away from the meat and potatoes."
MEL PRIESTLEY
MEL@VUEWEEKLY.COM
Jenna Carton, owner and chef // Meaghan Baxter
Far-flung confection Manitou Springs, Colorado has held the annual Great Fruitcake Toss since 1995. The event takes place on the first Saturday of January and the record toss occurred in 2007 when a group of Boeing engineers launched a fruit cake 1420 feet.
You'll need more rum Fruit cake in the Bahamas gets an extra dose of alcohol. The cake is drenched in rum, but so are the ingredients—candied fruit and nuts are soaked in dark rum for between two weeks and three months prior to baking.
Cake of a different time The earliest recipe for fruit cake—or Christmas cake as it is often called in Canada and other Commonwealth countries—dates back to ancient Rome. It contains pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins mixed together with barley mash. Ingredients such as honey, spices and preserved fruit were added to recipes during the Middle Ages. V
Better with age Fruit cake can be soaked in alcoholic spirits, which is most often done in family recipes rather than commercially prepared varieties. The alcohol acts as a preserving agent, making the cake edible for years after it is prepared. A family in Tecumseh, Michigan has kept a fruit cake as a family heirloom since 1878 and it was sampled by Jay Leno on The Tonight Show in 2003. Chew carefully Barmbrack, a version of fruit cake found in Ireland, is consumed on Halloween. Rather than standard fruit and nuts, different objects are baked throughout and each signifies a fortune for the person who discovers it.
VUEWEEKLY NOV 28 – DEC 4, 2013
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