Plant power

Where the kale and the broccoli roam

by Jeff mIller

Veganism is everywhere these days Even the empires built on beef are now offering Impossible Whoppers, Beyond Breakfast Sausages, Beyond Thickburgers, Impossible Sliders, etc and etc Beyonce is a vegan Our own Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossie are vegans Mark Wahlberg and Mike Tyson are vegan and they still have muscles

So it’s hip and it’s a movement

But despite all that, it can be a touchy subject . Friends can be perplexed or even annoyed when you turn down that sizzling steak hot off the barbecue . You may suffer bacon withdrawal . And you might have trouble finding restaurants that speak your language .

If you’re meatless and melancholy due to restaurant rejection, there’s hope It’s the second annual Santa Barbara Vegan Chef Challenge, which was supposed to run throughout April but will be postponed due to the coronavirus So stay tuned

The idea is behind the Challenge is, chefs in restaurants all around town, and this year into Oxnard and Ventura, create vegan dishes and the dining public votes on the winners “The majority of restaurants keep at least one popular vegan item on their regular menu after the challenge concludes,” says the Challenge website So plant-based diners get more places to go and restaurants get more business Winning!

Last year’s winning creations include the veggie lasagna at Chase and the pumpkin bbq ribs at Uncorked Wine Tasting and Kitchen Prizes are “just fun gifts” like cookbooks and tote bags, said local organizer Beth Wettstein The real prize is revenue, in the form of loyal customers .

“It’s a friendly competition, but chefs get pretty serious,” Wettstein said . And once they’ve created something delicious, they want to keep it on the menu year-round, which is a leap for a vegan like her

And like us! My wife and I went vegan a while ago and it feels good Our inspiration was a documentary called “The Game Changers,” which makes a lot of persuasive points about the health and fitness of bodies and also the health and fitness of the planet Not to mention the benefit to animals We jumped on board

And to tell you the truth, we don’t miss meat that much Even cheese, because the vegan stuff can be pretty good Also, it was fun to imagine David Attenborough spying on us from behind the drapes while he filmed one of our early efforts for an episode of “Planet Earth ”

Here we witness the couple working together to create the evening meal. It’s amusing to see them puzzle over a head of cauliflower. Is it food? A headless brain? But this is no joke. Their status as novice vegans is at stake. Now look — he carves the cauliflower into florets, she marinates them in coconut milk, garlic, and ginger. Now they add curry powder, roast them, and serve them over rice. Success! It appears they will survive until the morrow.

As for bacon withdrawal, that’s another serious matter You think you’re past it and then you walk past a window where someone is maddeningly frying up pounds of it and you have to be restrained

That issue worried Oxford University professor Charles Spence enough to make him create an arm patch you can scratch to release the heady aroma of bacon This is supposed to make you crave it less I don’t know about that but I do believe it would be hard to cook with a pack of dogs, and possibly me, gnawing at your arm