Monday, February 11, 2019

What Do Vegans Eat? A Talkie that answers that question

I finally finished my talkie (low-tech video--motion pictures or pictures not quite in motion) to answer the question "What do vegans eat?" with concrete examples from my own plates in 2018.





What do vegans eat?  I want to answer this question by showing you some of the delicious dishes I enjoyed this past year, 2018.  

Here's my answer, month by month.

In January, we had take out we got on New Year's Eve from The Loving Hut on Irving Street in SF to begin the year well!  I also show food at Nicole's--what she prepared and the two almond cakes I brought--both free of milk and dairy.  Golden-Globe related dishes...Pacific Catch on (9th Avenue in SF),  Gracias Madre on Mission near 18th, and Chew and View, a group of Francophiles and soi-disant Francophones who get together once a month--chewing good food and viewing something in French.

February:    Bursa on West Portal Avenue, lunch at Ana Luengo's, The SuperBowl at La Torres
tapas at Paula's  (quite a few), desserts at Ananda Fuara on Market Street near the Civic Center on Valentine's Day (for some reason I omitted the dinner at Millennium on Valentine's Day Eve), the Chinese banquet the SF Veg Society had at Enjoy Restaurant to celebrate the new year and the 50th anniversary of the SFVS, a  dish at the Farmshop in Larkspur, where they will prepare you a meat-and-dairy-free dish if you ask, Whole Food shopping, Ratatouille at a French restaurant in Albany, where they also have Mr. Dewie's Cashew Ice cream parlor and vegan is the default and only the Rocky Road has dairy.

March:  food for the post-Oscar dinner:  ice cream & pizza from "The Florida Project," and other food  from movies labeled, food for our meeting of CARA, California Alliance for Retired Americans, from Fuzio at Embarcadero 1, Pacific Catch again--an appetizer.  (I usually have the Teriyaki Luau bowl, which I showed in January), The Pierre Cost Dining Room at City College of SF, and Truly Mediterranean.


April (NOT the cruelest month when it comes to eating good food)  a dish I made with collard greens without the ham and lard, pastries at Café Enchanté on Geary Boulevard in the Outer Richmond of SF, an unidentified dish free of meat and diary --chick peas and beets?  Sauerkraut I made for two friends. (I like the Field Roast apple-sage sausage even though I don't usually feel the need for meat-like food.)  Humus and avocado at the Farm Shop in Larkspur, two dishes at Wellness Central served the night we watched "The End of Meat" documentary--made in Germany, the US, and the United Kingdom--which envisions a future where meat consumption belongs to the past.  One of a series of food demonstrations at SF's Civic Center for Earth Day--a fruit tart by Jullian Love,  who showed that plant-based is the best way we can eat for the planet even in terms of taste!  Desserts Libby, a devoted vegan friend, served at the memorial for her beloved husband--and no one missed the egg and dairy.  Another dish from Wellness Central's Wednesday night dinner, where there's ample food, and at the Asian Coalition dinner, where vegan choices are few.  (I hope in the future that this worthy organization will offer more dishes that can be enjoyed without causing suffering to animals and degrading the environmental   Dennis Johnson's piano recital and dishes Kathy served us at her home in Pleasant Hill.  

May:  Home roasted veggies...The Faculty Retirement party at CCSF...our dishes at June McKay's home...at Maven in the Haight Ashbury...Cookies I baked for my brother--free of eggs and dairy--the Slanted Door...Food at the Diversity and Social Justice dinner at CCSF --Appetizers KQED had for the volunteers, most of which were good for the environment and kind to animals...Lovejoy's Tea Room, where you can get vegan sandwiches and other taste treats...Shizen, named in 2016 the best Japanese restaurant, not even specifying vegan...Almond cake and tortilla de patatas I made for my son when he visited from NYC...A cookie in Healdsburg...Bursa...Gracias Madre...an OWL meeting, at Chew and View again!  At my sister Suzy's home in Oakland...At .Precita Park Cafe, and once again at Wellness Central. 
KQED

 Blueberry muffins at Whole Foods are available every month of the year...

June   A dish I found this at the cafeteria when I visited my brother at Highland Hospital in Oakland, 
a dish  at LaVier Latin Fusion a Mexican restaurant in San Rafael, where when we celebrated friend Sandy's birthday, Cybelle's Front Room on 9th near Judah June 9, where the San Francisco Veg Society had the best-tasting  meeting I've ever gone to.  The manager's daughter is a vegan who wanted to be able to enjoy everything she'd ever enjoyed before she gave up meat and dairy, so she made sure that Equally scrumptious taste sensations were available.  There's a multi-paged menu!
Marnee Thai, delicious dishes at friend  Erika's house, Shizen once again, this time for the birthday of a Japanese American friend Tom's birthday, Mexican wedding cookies, available commercially, Food for Chew and View  once again , potato, onion,  and apple-sage sausage dish, romaine salad June 25
what I made for family-- Kathy and Suzy.


July  Wellness Central when a group of high school students came with Acumeal, a vegan startup--July 4, a cake I got from the Wholesome Bakery on Divisadero Street  for Frida Kahlo's 111th birthday along Frida Kahlo Way July 6, vegan cookies at Simple Pleasures Cafe on Balboa Street  
Cybelle's pesto linguine, prep for enchilada pie, salad with enchilada pie, food at a retirement dinner for a dear friend and former CCSF colleague , a dish at Cha-Ya on Valencia Street between 18th and 19th St. in Sf, at another dear friend's  70th birthday party, also his son's 35th, breakfast at Stanford Inn, a beautiful eco- resort in Mendocino

August  A dish on the menu at Masala, an Indian restaurant in the inner Sunset,  my at-home effort at stuffing peppers from Farm Fresh to You, returning to the enchilada pie, what they offered at the AFT 2121 retiree meeting, some of which was vegan, an incredible pot luck for the birthday of vegan at Grape in the Fog in Pacifica--one beautiful dish after another!  a chocolate cake I made with fudge-like frosting.  (This is a good one for the kids--like US!)  Two  of the dishes they offer at the Imperial Tea Court in the Ferry Building, once again Chew and View.  (More chance to view what we chew!)  I thank  Jana  for the clever name.)  Back to Cybelle's, a gathering in August of people planning for the Global Climate Action march in September. The fact that almost everything was plant-based shows the growing awareness of how diet affects our planet.  I'm not even sure the feta was from an animal. 


September   A tee-shirt a member of the San Francisco Veg Society was wearing at the Climate march on September 8th.  It's hard to see the list, but I hope I've shown some of the answers to "What do vegans eat?"  At the Palomino Restaurant, at the Farm Shop in Larkspur, st SFSU's dining room where they practice the culinary arts, Ananda Fuara, back to Cybelle's, Chew and View again, at Kathy's in Pleasant Hill, and then New York, where my visit coincided with their "Eat for the planet week"!  Spring Natural Kitchen on Columbus, By Chloe, Le Botaniste, Pure Kitchen, Seasoned Vegan, Avant Garden, where there were a lot of delicious dishes, but it was too dark to take pictures without a flash, and flash didn't do justice to the dishes  (They look like creatures from outer space.)
At Diana's in Brooklyn!

October 2018  At Jajaja, a place you can find right off the subway--at the very top of the stairs.  Someone really nice at PS Kitchen told me about this place as well as two others.  Oaxaca Taquería, where they have signs advocating for a plant-based diet for the good of the planet and the welfare of animals as well as our own heath, Amsterdam Cafe, where I found Avocado Toast a good choice for breakfast, Lighthouse Outpost, PS Kitchen again, and an African America Vegan Starter Guide I picked up, a lasagna I made for Mothers Out Front and other planat-based dishes there, a pumpkin drink at Cybelle's  Yes, I keep going back.  I want to try all three pages of their dishes.  The ice cream at the shop across from Cybelle's on 9th Avenue, cookies and pastry at Java Cafe  on Ocean, Mel's Diner on Geary Blvd, an event the San Francisco Veg Society sponsored at Google Space for us to hear Steve Blake, when food came from Enjoy Restaurant and Cybelle's, Ananda Fuara, what I made for friends (David and Steve, Beth,) when they had us over for a movie,--vegan nachos, Chaiya Thai on Claremont, Wellness Central, Greens at Fort  Mason, the Farmshop in Larkspur, Ananda Fuara again.  Then the World Veg Fest, where they had demonstrations of food all day long.  I show a vegan take on traditional Filipino dishes and ice cream made from cashews instead of long-suffering cows!
Ripple Milk, Wellness Central, and the ice cream shop right across the street from Cybelle's on 9th Avenue--12 flavors!

November  began really well with close friends in Arizona.  We had pizza at  Whole Foods in Phoenix Arizona and several delicious dishes at True Food Kitchen in Phoenix, Arizona, 
cornbread and a chocolate cake Katherine and I made and Barry's wonderful chili as well as a delicious coffee cake Jeanne made in Bisbee and brought up for us on Election Day.  A delicious vegan dish by Ana Luengo at a Spanish poetry reading at SFSU,   Bursa on West Portal, at Bill and Tom's, at Starbelly in the Castro, an early Thanksgiving dinner at Wellness Central, at Thai Idea,  Jeremy Fox' kind-to-animals and the environment Thanksgiving dinner.   When friends came over for leftovers the next day, they too brought Jeremy Fox's dinner--very copious! At Cha-ya on Valencia, take Out or eat in at Lemonade.

December 2018  a dish at Chouquet's on Fillmore and Jackson Street --They'll make you a warm entree if you ask, but it's not on the menu.  Shanta preparing dishes at the SF Public Library.    I went from there to the gala sponsored by the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition , which served food from several restaurants in the Bay Area..  Dishes at Encuentro in Oakland,  back to Chouquet's, at the Presidio  Social Club, what I made for my tech help and friend  Efren, Chaiya Thai Restaurant on Clarement near West Portal Tunnel, secret ingredients for vegan pesto, incredible chocolates--like truffles--made by Libby, mushroom stroganoff I made, appetizers, take out from Indian Oven and chili and salad, and finally a toast to family and friends and food that tastes great and does good!

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