Tolerance reaches a new level when it comes to the vegan and the hunter. Kathy and John, both 60, are the owners of Healdsburg’s Clendenen Vineyard Management, and they have made peace at the table, a testament to their 37-year marriage.
Even so, cohabitating has its challenges. Kathy gets fired up when she finds bits and pieces of duck in the sink after John cleans the bird. As for John, he’s more curious than irritated by Kathy’s diet.
For the uninitiated, a vegan is one who eats no animal products, including dairy and eggs.
“I’m still kind of amazed at how simple some of her meals are, like a cooked yam with a little spinach. But it doesn’t upset me,” John said.
Kathy became a vegan in 1990 after gaining 10 pounds on a trip to France.
“I had battled weight all my life and had finally reached a point of wanting to end my unhealthy yo-yo dieting,” she said. “I discovered the McDougall Plan, a vegan, no-fat eating plan.”
When Kathy became a vegan at 39, her husband continued to be an avid bird hunter. But her lifestyle changed dramatically and that affected family dinners for their son Ross, then 10, and daughter Betsy, then 7.
“The kids were not too happy with the changes going on in the kitchen,” Kathy said. “They really missed their ‘Chinese Hamburger Casserole,’ etc. But I persevered and worked at creating meals that would somewhat satisfy their tastes. John was basically in league with what I was doing, but he struggled with it as well.”
At first, Kathy kept the status quo by cooking the same meals for her family while cooking a vegan dish for herself.
“But before long I tired of cooking two menus for each dinner,” she said. “I began a gradual transition of blending the two menus into one that would work for all of us. … Over the 21 years I’ve been a vegan, John has chosen to eat less and less meat. At this point we eat the same food, although John does enjoy cheese.”
Kathy said one of their favorite dinners is sautéed garden vegetables over whole grains. She is, by the way, never hungry for meat.
“When John returns from a bird-hunting trip, I am never involved in the cleaning, cooking or eating of the birds,” Kathy said. “I don’t understand the lure of hunting. I can’t get excited about killing something for pleasure.”
John, however, enjoys the whole hunting process — from purchasing the gear, to training the dog, to learning to shoot, to setting up the adventure, to focusing on the hunt.
“Part of the process has been to learn to choose the best area to hunt in where the birds tend to taste better and choose the best birds to shoot,” John said. “With bird hunting, the volume of the meat is not large, so for me the meat becomes a special part of a limited number of meals.”
John said if he wants more meat in his diet, he can order it at restaurants when the couple goes out to dinner with clients.
The vineyard management company has roughly 38 clients, mostly in northern Sonoma County, with 45 properties from Sonoma to Anderson Valley. Winery-owned properties include Bella Winery, Kathryn Hall Winery and Lambert Bridge Winery. John is the general manager, Kathy is the office manager, so they have a 9-to-5 give-and-take, as well as one in the kitchen.
John said when he met Kathy he was a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy and she introduced him to a broad range of fruits and vegetables.
“There’s a big difference between canned green beans and fresh or lightly cooked greens from the garden,” John said. “And spinach was poison to me until Kathy helped me understand it could be great fresh or lightly sautéed. We eat these sorts of fresh foods all the time now.”
Vegan dishes out-number meat dishes for one simple reason: Kathy does most of the cooking.
John said she’s supportive when he cooks meat, but “Kathy just gets tired of the ‘dead things’ in the freezer.”
You can reach Staff writer Peg Melnik at 521-5310 or [email protected].
