ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Du jour
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES
The prospect of three days of vegan meals - meaning all plant-based foods using no eggs and no dairy or other animal-derived products - sounded bland, boring and more than a little bare-boned. But that's what was served in order to accommodate most easily a group ranging from people still weaning themselves from meat to people who had never touched the stuff at the recent Summerfest '96 World Vegetarian Conference. And as an attendee, that's what I ate.
Is it politically correct for me to eat crow now? Three days of inherently healthful and downright delicious meals by award-winning chef Ken Bergeron and staff; early morning exercise sessions and lots of walking to seminars and demonstrations on the scenic campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown; plus the sheer synergy of being among nearly 1,000 friendly, intelligent, health-minded people from all over the United States and about 20 foreign countries left me feeling as if I'd just downed a good old-fashioned spring tonic.
Daily menus included offerings such as ziti marinara, spinach-pecan pesto, Aviyal vegetable curry, yellow dal, chili con corn, pinto pate, squash-almond bisque, carob-almond tart with orange sauce and seemingly limitless soups, fresh melons, salads and breakfast foods. Who knew vegan could be so varied?
Bergeron said that he's working on a cookbook, though no completion date has been set. If his conference performance was any indication of its contents, though, I hope it's finished soon.
Imar Hutchins, co-owner of the Delights of the Garden restaurants, completed a cookbook by the same name earlier this year ($15.95, Main Street Books, Doubleday). Hutchins, who has restaurants in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Cleveland, was one of several experts and authors who gave cooking demonstrations and lectures during the conference, which ran for seven days total. Hutchins showed how to eat well on raw foods.
"He was just a delight, himself," said Barbara Kyle, an attendee from Salem. "He was young in both body and spirit, so relaxed and at ease, you felt like he was in his own kitchen cooking - or, rather, not cooking - like he always does, and you just happened to be there."
Kyle was so impressed that she bought Hutchins' book and, using its recipes, didn't cook for days on end upon her return home. One of Hutchins' noncooked pies is included among today's recipes.
Helpful and healthful hints were abundant at the conference. Perhaps one of the most pertinent pertained to frame of mind. Experts Fran Costigan and Victoria Moran addressed setting up an "eco" kitchen and making peace with food and weight respectively. While their topics were very different, their final suggestions were ultimately the same: Make your kitchen/cooking time a sort of moving meditation, where - rather than resent - you revere and cherish the significance of the work.
The world conference, sponsored by the International Vegetarian Union, occurs every other year. In 1998 - actually, January 1999 - it will be in Thailand; 2000's will be in Toronto, Canada.
The 1997 location of a smaller yearly national Summerfest conference, produced by the North American Vegetarian Society, should be finalized around the end of October. Call NAVS after that time for details at (518) 568-7970.
|n n| Speaking of hints, polenta-loving reader Harriet Davidson of Roanoke, responding to a story that ran Aug. 7, called to share her secret for easily making the corn-meal vegetarian staple lump-free: Mix 11/2 cups cold water with 11/2 cups corn meal and slowly stir it into 3 cups of boiling water, sort of like making gravy, then return it all to a boil.
"This trick saved my life," Davidson laughed.
Incidentally, it does work like a charm.
|n n| If the old household hint to store onions and other produce in discarded pantyhose never quite fit your fancy, a new product may be more to your liking.
To prolong shelf life and facilitate shipping, supermarket produce is usually sold under-ripe. Placing it in a brown paper bag will most often bring it to peak within a few days, but unless you refrigerate it - in which case, it may be too cold to eat when you want it - it's generally quickly downhill from there.
However, Ripe-N-Pockets, a hanging polyester storage system from an innovative Falls Church entrepreneur, ripens the produce more slowly than a paper bag and then stores it for a few days at cool room temperature before it passes peak.
Sally Bergmoser, the inventor and a longtime Vidalia lover, was at least partly inspired by the old-fashioned use of pantyhose to store the onions. But, she contends, pantyhose do not work as well, because the knot to separate the items impedes air circulation.
"The pantyhose are also very time-consuming to put onions into, then the onions must be cut out and the pantyhose thrown away. Let's also hope ... that they are 100 percent clean," she said.
Bergmoser's washable, reusable Ripe-N-Pockets has knotless tiered pockets with slits to allow easy deposit or removal of items to be ripened or stored. The system is clean and attractive, though not nearly as good a conversation starter as a pair of produce-stuffed pantyhose. My overall reaction was favorable, although the presized pockets limit the size of the produce.
Look for Ripe-N-Pockets in Kroger supermarkets in Roanoke, where they are being sold for about $5. For more information, call Bergmoser at (703) 538-4533.
Du Jour runs occasionally in the Extra section. If you have an interesting food item or event, tell us about it. Write to Du Jour, c/o Features Department, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.
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