Vegetarians at the holiday table

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Vegetarians at the holiday table

If cooking show host and cookbook author Stefano Faita knows there are vegetarians around his table, he’ll generally prepare a dinner everyone can eat – maybe a meatless pasta main or a layered vegetable casserole, topped with cheese. There’s a recipe for a simple and zesty spaghetti dish with zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives and yogourt in his new cookbook, Je Cuisine Italien (TrÃ©carrÃ©, $19.95), that doubles easily. Another for pasta with wild mushrooms and mascarpone is rich and satisfying.

Or he might decide that a legume dish is the way to go, maybe lentils rolled, meatball-style, into balls and pan-fried, then simmered with diced tomatoes and served with rigatoni. At least half a dozen of the 60 recipes in his latest cookbook feature legumes. “In a world in which there are many food challenges and to consume less meat is a sensible choice,” he writes, “it is to our advantage to integrate legumes as much as possible into our diet.”

Give a dinner party today and it’s far more likely than even a few years ago that there will be couple of vegetarians in attendance.

If they were once dismissed as earnest Birkenstock wearers, they seem to have gone mainstream. And there are growing numbers in a new category of vegetarian: occasional, or part-time, vegetarians. A few times a week, they replace meat with alternatives that incorporate vegetables and grains, beans, soy or pasta; ultimately, then, they consume lots of plant protein and not a great deal of animal protein.

It’s estimated that flexitarians, as they’re known, make up 30 to 40 per cent of the North American population, and their numbers are increasing, as Nettie Cornish and Pat Crocker observe in the introduction to their new book, Everyday Flexitarian: Recipes for Vegetarians Meat Lovers Alike (Whitecap Books, $29.95).

Some are influenced by the growing evidence that meat-based diets are factors in heart attacks and strokes, they write, and it has been shown that a diet incorporating more vegetables, fruits and fibre and less fat may protect people against cancer and diabetes. Many meat eaters are also more mindful than ever of where and how the animals providing the meat are raised – and also of the environmental benefits of eating less meat: breeding animals leaves a huge environmental footprint, in terms of everything from soil erosion to pesticide use.

If vegetarians have gone mainstream, so have their cookbooks. Many vegetarians eat eggs or dairy products – and these ingredients are included in newer cookbooks. Cornish and Crocker use an ingenious device in theirs: they have created recipes that can be tailored for both vegetarians and those who eat meat – with instructions on when to separate the vegetarian portions, when to add the meat or fish or seafood or poultry or what to add in place of meat. Brilliant.

And in Entertaining Vegetarians (Whitecap Books, 2003), Celia Brooks Brown includes fish recipes. Technically, people who eat fish are not vegetarians. “But since when has the enjoyment of food been a technical business?” as Brooks Brown asks in her foreword. “I don’t see it as hypocrisy to eat a bit of fish. People should be allowed to make their own decisions about what they put in their bodies and why.”

As someone who eats fish occasionally but doesn’t eat meat, I don’t worry nearly as much about what there will be for me to eat as it seems my hosts sometimes do: I’m just happy to be included. I think that’s true of most of us. The people in the seats are more important than what’s on the plates. And with the holiday season upon us, that’s worth remembering.

I tend not to volunteer the fact that I don’t eat meat – and if it’s served at a dinner party, I’d rather eat around it, have the sides and the salad, than risk making my hosts uncomfortable by sitting there with an empty plate – although I know not everyone feels as I do. And I loathe the idea of having a special meal prepared for me, of feeling singled out that way.

Some hosts make a point of asking whether their guests have dietary restrictions – and that solves the problem.

“I want people to tell me about their dietary needs – and I almost always ask. I am a very conscientious cook,” said AimÃ©e Wimbush-Bourque, a professionally trained chef, a mother and a blogger (simplebites.net; underthehighchair.com).

When she has vegetarians among her guests, she often chooses to prepare a vegetarian meal and serve it to everyone, “and most people don’t mind at all. I think so many people are looking to cut a little meat out of their diet.”

Preparing a meal for vegetarians means being mindful as you’re cooking, she said. It means using a mushroom or vegetable stock for the soup, for instance, and not chicken stock. “And being aware goes hand in hand with being prepared,” she said.

To that end, Wimbush-Bourque tries to keep a wellstocked pantry and fridge, including the makings of appetizers: “the holy trinity for me is dried fruit, nuts and cheese.” She might quarter a fresh fig, for instance, and serve it with a bit of Stilton and a walnut, or stuff a dried apricot with aged cheddar and toasted hazelnuts, or a date with a chunk of Parmesan and an almond. All can be whipped up quickly.

Good meat from a reliable butcher is expensive. “And when you take meat out of the picture, you can splurge on things like fresh figs and fresh arugula,” she said.

Like Faita, she likes to use lentils in the vegetarian cooking she does. “I find that lentils, if they are bolstered by some nice mushrooms and sautÃ©ed leeks, make a very substantial meal that can be enjoyed by everyone,” said Wimbush-Bourque, whose family eats mostly vegetarian fare during the week,

She likes the idea of starting with a dish most people are familiar with, like shepherd’s pie or tourtiere, and giving it a vegetarian twist by using lentils in place of meat.

If she is serving a meat main, say a pork tenderloin, she might serve a side dish that can serve as the main for the vegetarians, “but I’ll serve it in a unique way so they feel they are special.”

She cited individual portions of risotto, served inside half a roasted acorn squash, for instance, or inside small roasted red onions that have had their inner layers scooped out. “It comes out as a very filling, meaty main dish – and it’s more formal than a big pot of risotto,” she said. “It works very well as an individual meal – and it’s adorable. My main point is that if you want something for a more formal meal for vegetarians, serve it in individual portions.”

An individual tart with a green salad or green beans could also make a vegetarian main course, “maybe a mushroom and caramelized onion tart with chevre. I love doing tarts over the holidays,” said Wimbush-Bourque.

A leek and mushroom bake (see recipe online) with polenta, for instance takes a certain amount of preparation, although the polenta and the bechamel sauce can be made in advance. “And it’s worth it; it feels very elegant.”

sschwartz@ montrealgazette.com

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