Michael Pollan started it. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” he wrote in The New York Times Magazine in January 2007. The article was one of the most e-mailed stories from The Times for weeks and became the foundation for a book, “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” which rocketed onto The Times’ best-seller list immediately after it was published this January.
His clear-headed approach to nutrition was so simple and persuasive, it echoed like a mantra inside my head: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Ommmm.
It got to me. So I took a hard look at the menus at our house and decided they needed tweaking, if not a thorough overhaul.
In fairness, I’ve never eaten much processed food, and I’ve been a calorie-counter since high school, so following Pollan’s first two recommendations was easy. But clearly I needed more plants in my diet — more plants and less meat.
Meal planning no longer would begin with a decision on what type of flesh to showcase on a plate. Meat, fish and dairy products were going to start playing second violin. I decided I was going green, and not just by virtue of my choice of light bulbs and career path.
I didn’t realize then that I was part of a movement, but soon it became obvious that Pollan’s message had insinuated its way into the consciousness of my culinary network far and wide.
Not long after my own vegetarian epiphany, my friend and fellow recipe-swapper, novelist Mark Stevens, surprised me with his New Year’s resolution for ’08. He was going to cook more vegetarian entrees. His daughters didn’t eat much meat anyway and it would be better for everybody, he said.
Coincidence, I thought.
Then I was talking to my old pal, food writer John Kessler, who lives in Atlanta, and I nearly choked on my tofu when he mentioned that meat seldom is the centerpiece of his meals anymore. Most nights he prepares vegetable entrees, and when he serves meat, it’s more like a seasoning — you know, one great Kobe beef steak with lots of vegetables for the family of five, he said.
This from a guy who invented a recipe for leg of lamb seasoned with fresh garlic and anchovies and roasted under a pile of hot charcoal that’s so amazing I can still taste it.
Which brings me to an essential point here: None of us has renounced our status as lifelong, committed omnivores. We still eat meat and fish, just not so much or so often.
Instead we’re exploring new flavors.
Mark’s kids rave about his roasted tomato soup with pesto grilled-cheese sandwiches. John is inventing bizarre green smoothies for lunches and afternoon snacks. I’ve gone nuts for lentils, broccoli rabe, roasted carrots and asparagus, and anything with arugula.
This is not abstinence. This stuff is really good.
Pat Perry, owner and chef at Highland’s Garden Cafe, said she is hardly an expert on vegetarian menus, but she always has emphasized gorgeous, delicately prepared vegetables and bright, interesting salads at the restaurant.
“We probably serve only about seven true vegetarian meals a week, but on every plate that leaves our kitchen at least a third of the content is vegetables,” she said.
Then there are the sneaky ways to incorporate the best of the seasonal garden into the menu. When early peas arrived in the markets, Perry made fresh pea soup. In the summertime, she said, “gazpacho is a favorite,” as well as cold peach soup, fresh carrot soup, vegetable soup provencal with rouille and whatever inspiration comes to her at the sight of the season’s best.
Instead of using sauces based on butter and reduced heavy cream, more and more they feature fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs.
Salads also are getting center stage more often at restaurants everywhere. A recent hit at Highland’s Garden was a warm spinach salad with dates, pine nuts and roasted red peppers.
“Often diners will order a Greek salad topped with a piece of chicken or trout on the watercress salad” and call it dinner, she said.
Beef will always be a staple at Highland’s Garden, but the trend toward more plants on the plate is undeniable. It’s especially true among younger diners, she said. “I notice it in our staff. It used to be the younger ones lived for pizza. Now they fill their plates with salads.”
Some of my best plant-centric meals have come from a new cookbook from Vij’s, one of the world’s great restaurants in Vancouver, British Columbia. But all of the following recipes were big hits at my house — and I married a guy who would eat steak or Kansas City- style barbecue every night of the week if left to his own devices.
Diane Carman is a former Denver Post columnist, now director of communications for the Presidential Climate Action Project and the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver.
Learn to veg out
NEW MEDITERRANEAN MADNESS
May 6 6-9 p.m., May 8 6-9 p.m.
Sumptuous seafood, vegetables, olives and olive oils. A Cook’s Kitchen, 850 Ogden St., 303-861-4626, $85
SPRING SALADS & HOMEMADE DRESSINGS
May 15 6-7 p.m.
Spring greens, fruits and vegetables and dressings. Whole Foods, 7400 E. Hampden Ave., 303-488-2000, free
INDIAN CUISINE
May 17 2-5 p.m.
Butter chicken, chicken with coriander, dal (lentil soup), rasam, vegetable curry, basmati rice and raita (yogurt salad). Colorado Free University, 1510 York St., 303-399-0093. Class location: east Denver, near East First Avenue and Quebec Street. $64 non-member, $55 member, $15 materials fee
MOROCCAN FEAST
May 21 6:30-9 p.m.
Chick pea soup, couscous, zucchini salad, beet salad, carrot chizu salad and dessert. The Cupboard, 152 S. College Ave., Fort Collins, 970-493-8585, $59
INDIAN COOKING
May 31 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.
Tomato coconut curry, citrus basmati pilaf, aloo gobi, gujarat green beans, mint cilantro chutney, yogurt raita. Kitchen on the Green at Expo Recreation Center, 10955 E. Exposition Ave., Aurora, 303-326-8630 or , $52 ($40 Aurora residents)
PASTA-BILITIES
April 24 noon and 6 p.m.
Pesto pasta with roasted veggies, peanut noodles, artichoke spaghetti kugel with brown rice pasta. Whole Nourishment, 1140 S. Lashley Lane, Boulder, 303-938-1468, $40
Reading list
Looking to move meat to the side? These books will give you new ideas:
“Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook,” by Alice Waters. Great recipes for meatless entrees from the groundbreaking Berkeley, Calif., restaurant.
“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” by Barbara Kingsolver. The novelist recounts her family’s adventures in eating only what grew on their own farm or those nearby.
“Vij’s Elegant & Inspired Indian Cuisine,” by Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala. From Vancouver’s innovative restaurateurs.
“Vegetable Love,” by Barbara Kafka. The veteran cookbook writer looks at the wide world of vegetables.
“How to Cook Everything Vegetarian,” by Mark Bittman. An excellent reference from the author of 12 cookbooks.
