About half a year ago I left the world of meat and dairy products. There were a number of contributing factors and I won't go into them in this forum, but suffice to say, this was a move I have known I would be making for some time. That little voice had been inside my head saying “you know you should …...” for quite some time. I know there is no logic behind that, and it's all a bit airy-fairy, but that is the truth of it.

My first experiment into vegetarianism ended around 35 years ago. It wasn't an experiment I really had much input on. To this day, I'm not sure what triggered my parents to step into the world of Lifestream Foods, hand-ground grains, and the absence of meat products. One day I will sit down and ask and maybe the story will end up here.

I have two very distinct memories of that time and one oft repeated family story.

The first was probably the worst example of a vegetarian burger - ever. It was, I believe, completely indigestible. I mean it had to be. The expression chewing leather fit. Am certain that many people who dabbled into vegetarianism back then, and tried one of these, has spent the rest of their life scared to death of “mission bland and un-chewable”.

The second was a camping trip I took with the Navy League Cadets. I must have been all of about ten, or so. Time came to queue up at the mess tent and “oh, um I'm vegetarian”. I still see the expressions on the adult officers' faces, eyes somewhat bulged as if they were looking at an alien, or something. I ate salad, bread and potatoes for the weekend, much to the officer's concern. I never was more than a stringy skinny kid, they were very concerned that I was malnourished.

The family story relates to a visit of Ian and Liz, my uncle and aunt from Australia, bastion of steak on the barbie. The descriptive of what they felt they were forced to eat is fairly graphic, an experience burned into their psyche. I'll omit it from today's offering. The story is re-told at every opportunity. I promise that when they return, vegan/vegetarian fare will be a completely different experience.

The world of the mid-seventies was quite a bit different then, not that I can recollect much of it. I'm led to believe that most vegetarians, if you found them at all, were probably viewed as the long haired hippies off 4^th Avenue. Much of the knowledge about how foods affect the body didn't exist in the volume and with the scientific back-up that exists today. And as Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet, Google, that great door into knowledge from around the world, was not even a twinkle in an eye, let alone a verb.

The 'bible texts' in our home then was Adele Davis' Let's Cook it Right (1947), Recipes for a Small Planet and Diet for a Small Planet both by Ellen Buchman Ewald. Standard fare that were most enjoyable were Rice con Queso and Complimentary Pie. We were lacto-ovo vegetarians then.


Through that process, and not being shy of getting in the kitchen, I learned much about 'balancing diets'.

Jump to today, and bookshelves are filled with mighty works extolling the virtues of vegan or vegetarian eating choices, offering recipes in styles inspired from every corner of the globe. There are web sites, blogs, stores, schools, and meet-up groups dedicated to helping one move into the world of vegetarianism painlessly and easily.

Most restaurants have something that is at least vegetarian, if not vegan on their menu. And unlike those decades ago, 'tofu' will not get you the 'I think you've turned blue' expression, heck you can serve it to omnivore guests and they won't think ill of you.

I give credit to two factors in the expanse of vegetarian food options available in stores and restaurants. The first is the rise in allergy awareness – peanut, mushroom, shellfish, lactose, gluten – people are aware of the consequences of eating the wrong foods for their own body, and restaurants have been forced to become adaptable. The second is the delightful expansion of truly ethnic restaurants. Foods from around the world are on your doorstep, with them wonderful tasty ways of preparing them. There is no excuse for bland any more.

So on to today, and given this grand library of knowledge. Where did I start? Where do shop? How and what foods do I prepare at home? What restaurants do I like to visit?

These stories will follow shortly with the first question first. Where did I start?

In ending each entry, I'll drop a quick note about a place I like to go for good vegan foods.

In this first entry on this blog, there can be no other place for me to start but a place I go to regularly, a small restaurant on Commercial Drive called Cafe Kathmandu. In the years, I have been going there, I have become fast friends with the owner and host Abi Sharma. We are brothers, if you will. The Momo, or steamed dumplings are legendary. His dal consistently delicious. If you like spice, Abi can make his foods as spicy as you like, and some of my friends REALLY do like spicy!