Eating Vegan in Madison: Growing Options

To say that Madison is a liberal city is like referring to the Beatles were moderately successful as a band.  Quite the understatement, indeed.  So, it’s a little perplexing why there aren’t more visible vegan options available on the restaurant scene.  Vegan options are growing, but rather slowly.  At least, the pace is a bit too creeping for my tastes.

Oh, we’ve got a few good options.  On the near east side, there’s The Green Owl, with it’s delicious blend of vegetarian and vegan cuisine.  Since “Sliding Vegan” nearly a year ago, the earthy boutique has been a personal favorite of mine, made even more convenient with my move to that general vicinity this summer.  Eldorado Grill has a handful of really tasty vegan options.  And Fitchburg, Madison’s southerly suburbia has Liliana’s, an upscale New Orleans style eatery with numerous vegan options (scattered amongst their otherwise omnivorous cuisine).

But really, other alternatives for us vegans are fairly limited in Madison.  Oh, sure, I can get pasta marinara at numerous Italian restaurants, a slice of vegan pizza at Ian’s, or a fairly mundane iceberg salad at many of the other establishments around the Isthmus.  But in most cases, I’ve found it to be somewhat hit-or-miss with where and what I can eat around town.

That is, until the recent launch of Madisonvegan.com.  This website is a godsend to Badgerland vegans!  With roughly two dozen listings of vegan-friendly dining options in the area, the site is a must-see for any vegans, a quick reference that saves both time and energy.  I love it!

There’s only one problem, though….I personally know of several other restaurants who serve some pretty good (if not standard fare) vegan entrees, but who (as of yet) have either chosen not to be listed on Madisonvegan.com or who simply haven’t themselves discovered this fantastic marketing tool.  The Great Dane, with it’s fantastic Inner Warmth Peanut Stew, or the superb veganized Vegetarian Burger at Gates & Brovi (ask them to hold the cheese and special sauce) are two examples of lost marketing opportunities.

Madisonvegan.com is still pretty new, though, so maybe in time we’ll see the site blossom to fully represent the growing choices vegans in Madison have for dining.  In the meantime, those of us who know of other great places to eat will continue utilizing our “homegrown network” to get the word out. Still, it’s a great start!

Ch-Ch-Ch…Retch!

It’s been a helluva fantastic summer…and we’re only halfway through it!  So far, I’ve sold my house in record time and at a great price!  I’ve taught two college classes.  I’ve moved all my belongings into storage.   I’ve vacationed in the Wisconsin Dells and Door County with JoDee and her family.  I’ve similarly spent three days relaxing and grading papers overlooking a northern Wisconsin lake.  But probably the biggest adventure was a 5-day backpacking trip in Isle Royale National Park, a remote island located 54 miles into Lake Superior from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Isle Royale is a phenomenal place, so let me take a moment to make a plug for this untouched piece of American wilderness.  If you’ve ever truly wanted to just get away….no email, no phone, no cars, and almost no people….a vacation to Isle Royale might just be on the ticket.  Of course, you also need to love backpacking or canoeing, rustic camping with no showers, and eating freeze-dried food during your breaks from the 8-13 miles of hiking up and down ridgelines with scenic overviews.  Oh yeah, and you need to be willing to share the island with wolves, moose, fox, and be awakened repeatedly throughout the night by the shrill screams of loons.

Well, for me, that was EXACTLY what I was seeking!  So, with a good friend, I headed north for just such an adventure.  And what an adventure it was!

From a solo backpacking trip last summer (that, you may recall, immediately preceded my 2-week hospital stay), I did have two remaining meals.  Both, interestingly, were vegan.  I hadn’t chosen them because of that, to be sure.  That was, after all, before I began Sliding Vegan.  But I had them, so into my backpack I threw them this year….Louisiana Red Beans & Rice and Katmandu Curry, both from Backpacker’s Pantry (by far my now favorite vendor!).

To round out my food stores for this trek, I did a bit of research online about the types of freeze-dried foods available to us vegan backpackers.  Most of the pre-packaged meals, not surprisingly, consisted of all varieties of meat, cheese, and egg entrees.  But I did find a couple specialty providers who proudly marketed their vegan delicacies.  So, I choose one….quite honestly, because I could order most of what I wanted from one site.  Oops….Mistake #1.

So, the company from which I chose most of my meals was a great outfit called Outdoor Herbivore, LLC.  I found a Quinoa “Cheddar” Mac, a Blackened Quinoa, various oatmeal packets, and….woo hoo!….TONS of vegan desserts!  Yep, you heard me right!  Desserts of all varieties…Coconut Chia Peel, Appleachia, Chocococochia, Ginger Chia Gooey!  In fact, I probably went a bit crazy with my sweet breakfasts and desserts…..Mistake #2.

You see….if you spot a similarity in all my dessert choices, you’re probably more on the ball that I was.  Yep….Chia.  Now my only real knowledge of this protein-packed seed comes from the 1980s commercials for ChiaPets.  But if it was protein rich (21%) and I was headed out on a rigorous backpacking trip, that sounded like just what I needed.  And in conjunction with various apple, raisin, date, and chocolate flavors, how could you go wrong?  As breakfast or after dinner dessert, that sounds good, huh? Nope. Wrong….Mistake #3.

Anyone care to guess what happens when you add water to chia seeds?  Here’s a hint….again, think back to the ChiaPets.  Remember how in the commercial the seeds would be spread across the various ceramic molds?  It sort of stuck to the ceramic sheep, didn’t it?  Well, yes, that’s because chia, when exposed to water create a sticky, translucent gel….And while it may be great for fast-growing novelty plants, it’s not so hot as a dessert staple. (Gagging, retching sound!)

Three strike and you’re out, right?  Well, the meal situation on Isle Royale wasn’t a disaster.  Thankfully, I had planned five meals for four days (a safety measure in case I found myself stuck on the island for most than my planned length).  I shifted the Blackened Quinoa dinner to a breakfast (in fact, probably my favorite breakfast of the entire trip!).  And in fact, the freeze-dried meals provided enough food for 2-3 servings, rendering me too full for desserts most evenings anyway.

So, it all worked out okay, other than carrying around extraneous weight for several days.  And when we ran into a group on day three who were running short on food themselves (they had apparently mistakenly eaten too much of something earlier on their 14-day trip), I gladly offered up my packaged, rejected meals.  They thanked us profusely for this generosity….

But, I can’t help but wonder if they were similarly grateful when they eventually reconstituted the gelatinous goo……Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!!

Conflicted, but Delighted!

I’m torn.  Truthfully, I’m feeling conflicted; myriad emotions spinning around my head, bouncing back and forth between positivity and extreme guilt and back again to real enjoyment.

You see, I was a real jerk last night.  And guess what?  It totally paid off!!!

I imagine you’re probably wondering what I did and why I did it…..So, here’s the story.

Several nights ago, I had a delicious vegan dinner cooked for me, while I finished some work.  It didn’t take that long to make, but as we all know, time spent does not always correlate with level of deliciousness.  The meal was fantastic.  The company even more so.  As we sat sipping wine afterwards, I gladly offered to reciprocate.  Monday seemed perfect.  I’d be working from home, balancing grading of graduate student papers and preparing my house for a pre-closing housing inspection.

On Monday, I scanned my favorite cookbooks for a suitable entree.  No surprise, Chef Roberto Martinez came through again, this time with a fantastic looking Chile Relleno recipe.  JoDee thought it sounded promising, and given that she’d be at yoga later, offered to pick up the ingredients on her way back to my place.  Perfect, I thought, as I quickly typed up a list of the necessary items, lots of veggies, some barley, nothing too fancy.  So, I continued plugging away on my tasks, focused intently on finishing up at least the first half of my students’ papers.

When I looked up, it was nearly 5:30 p.m., and I hadn’t begun to start on my household tasks…namely fixing a small flaw in a wall (spackling paste and painting, required) and staining the steps off the back deck.  Crap, I thought, and jumped into motion.  A quick drive to the hardware store and I was back home in full action mode!

When JoDee arrived, she offered to get started on the chopping of vegetables, while I promised I’d quickly knock out the deck staining.  Out the door I dashed!

Well, approximately an hour later, I slunk back into the house, hands spotted with dark brown wood stain and an aching back.  JoDee was cooking full throttle, the smells of the poblano, serrano, and jalapeno peppers distinct, and the sound of the blender and food processor thrumming rhythmically.  She was half finished already!

Urging me to finish with the wall, she turned back to her dinner preparations, and off I went to the offending wall, putty knife in one hand and paint brush in the other.

When we finally uncorked the wine and sat down for dinner at 9:00 p.m., I was feeling rather sheepish.

“Hope you enjoy the meal I chose,” I muttered. “It’s delicious!”

Well, as is the case with most everything from the Vegan Cooking for Carnivores cookbook (combined with JoDee’s culinary abilities), the Chile Rellenos were fantastic!

And as wonderful as the dinner was, yes, I do feel guilty….I mean, it’s not like I was sitting around watching random YouTube video clips while she slaved away on my dinner.  And we did both love the meal….and I did make the green basil sauce we drizzled on top!

……Clearly I now owe her TWO fantastic home-cooked vegan meals!

I’ze Been Veganized!!

How there are friends who don’t yet know I’ve gone vegan, I don’t really know.  I haven’t been exactly silent about this transition.  In fact, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, while I also have not been overly militant about my positive experiences with this lifestyle, I haven’t hesitated to express my enjoyment about it either.  Some have taken exception to this, others have cheered (both vegans and non-vegans alike, I should add).

So, the girls and I were talking about the ramifications of being vegan the other day.  In particular, they were asking about a dinner party I hosted for a couple of friends several weeks ago.  They’d asked if we wanted to meet at a local restaurant, but I’d really been excited to simply have them over to my place.

“Nope,” I replied, “I’ll just cook something up.  Just bring yourselves.”

And I thought quite a bit about what to make.  You see, I realize that not everyone is vegan (duh!).  I also realize that they idea of eating a vegan meal makes some shudder (although I think that’s out of ignorance of what it even means more than anything specific to the ingredients or menu items).  But I’m much less likely to experiment with new vegan meals if I’m having guests over for dinner.  That much is true.

Several days before the dinner, I scoured my growing repertoire of vegan cookbooks for a somewhat mild version of vegan cuisine.  Vegan Southern Fried Chick’N sounded good, but still, it sounded a bit risky.  Jambalaya, however, sounded tasty and right up the covertly vegan avenue, I thought.  With an appetizer of Roberto Martin’s Stuffed Mushrooms, all I needed was a sweet and delicious vegan dessert.

Ah, yes….Baby Cakes!  A quick flip of the cover and there it was….The perfect dinner party dessert.  Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.

So, a week later when Kaitlyn and Chelsea asked about the dinner, I beamed.  In fact, it was only at the end of the dinner that even the topic of my vegan choice came up.  And to their astonishment, yes, they learned.  The entire meal had been vegan.  Nope, there was no meat sausage in the mushroom filling.  The jambalaya was made with tempeh.  And even the cake was entirely animal-product free.

Chelsea chuckled and asked, “Did you tell them, ‘You’ve been Veganized!’?”

Well, I didn’t say that, and I probably never would.  But I DO like the sound of that!

In fact, I’m willing to bet that many non-vegans have, in the course of their lives, been “veganized.”  And guess what, not only did they not know it.  They survived it.  So, yes….in this household and beyond…..we’ve all been….VEGANIZED!!!

“Vegan…You? WTF?!?!”

I think I get that reaction about a dozen times a week as people I know learn about my vegan slide.  And quite honestly, I understand the confusion and surprise.

I’m no tree-hugger.  I mean, we all know it’s just those freakish, back-to-earth, violent animal rights activists and kumbaya singing dope-smokers who become vegan.  Right?  Well, it’s not been that way at all for me (nor do I imagine it has been for many vegans)….

In fact, although I attended an incredibly liberal college, I was not particularly socially or politically-minded at the time.  While I was certainly not overly conservative, either. Ask to pick an ideologic camp, I probably would have described myself as a political pragmatist, I guess.  But particular leaning really struck me as “all that,” despite being a political science major.

My identity in college?  Well, I was a fraternity boy, a football player, and a soldier…

Ahhhhh, a preppy jock gunslinger, you’re thinking, as you quickly plan your escape?

Hardly…I’d say it’s a little more nuanced than that (or at least I’m convincing myself that it is, anyway….).

You see, I don’t know that I’d have been considered particularly successful or typical at any of those roles.

Preppy – For starters, fraternity life at Colorado College was not what one usually envisions.  Far from Animal House, we had a great blend of diversity in what was a fairly fun, but somewhat subdued fraternal existence.  Few raging “keggers,” it was more of just a social club to me, and a wonderful place where I could live outside of the regular dorms with a group of guys I really enjoyed.  That said, I did attend prep school in high school, so I can’t entirely divorce myself from that moniker.

Jock – Well, let me tell you, I grew up playing all sorts of sports.  Baseball, basketball, soccer, football, track, hockey….you name it, I played it.  And I can legitimately hold my own in nearly any sport…at least at the recreational level.  Put it this way, I was never going to be a superstar at any one of them.  I could make the team, but usually had a designated seat on the respective bench.  Put better, I was an excellent practice team player….good enough to make the team, but never skilled enough to really threaten a starter’s position on the field.

Gunslinger – I’ll admit, I excelled at shooting.  Give me a rifle, machine gun, or sniper rifle, and I could hit the bullseye every time.  Not just because I had the mechanics down, but more so because I understood the intellectual side of marksmanship.  But as a soldier, the intellectual side of me also had its detractors….I questioned a bit too much, looked too closely for the logic of what we were doing, and, in the end, became a bit disgruntled when I realized most of it was illogical, at least at the individual soldier’s level.

So, no, in college I didn’t really fit the profile of an eventual vegan.  But I’m not sure I was that far off, really. Yes, I’m quite liberal now.  I do love the outdoors.  And, shudder, I do own a hemp belt.  But just as my college identities never really accurately portrayed me, neither do any of these more recent, i.e., the past two decades, items or activities.  The fact is, I’m still me, whether or not I’m eating steaks or seitan, almond milk or dairy.  In fact, the entire notion of a vegan profile seems a bit ridiculous to me now.

Perhaps it’s more born out of a misperception of what being vegan really means, though.  Some embrace the lifestyle out of a concern for animals.  For others, it’s a health thing.  And for many, it’s a combination of the two concerns.

For me, the perfect storm for my vegan slide resulted from a trifecta of conditions…..1) a sudden concern for my own health and and examination of my dietary habits, 2) an introduction to a non-stereotypical vegan, and 3) her completely non-judgmental approach to educating me about this lifestyle and what it can offer (in the ways of health, society, and simply enjoying new culinary experiences).

The point here really isn’t to highlight my own life, but rather the realization of how little I knew about veganism, until that moment this past fall when the perfect storm in my life developed.  I’d never considered going vegan before that.  When the fall began, I had my doubts about what that even meant, let alone how it would work in practice.  What a lesson for me….both about what I was missing in my own life, but more importantly, and how important it is to not be close-minded about all the different people and experiences in this world.

Being vegan seems pretty awesome to me.  I’m really enjoying these new experiences, and I love the way I feel physically these days.  I’ve truly never felt healthier.  But is it right for you?  Ask me that question, and you’re bound to get in response…

“Vegan….You?  WTF?!?!…Only you can answer that!”